PORT TOWNSEND — A Port Ludlow man remained in the Jefferson County jail on a $1 million bond Tuesday after he was charged with second-degree murder in the strangulation death of a LaPush woman.
Evan Daniel Thompson, 33, was charged with one count of murder in the second degree-domestic violence during a court appearance Tuesday.
The charging papers filed Monday said that he caused the death of Virginia G. Castaneda, 20, who was characterized as a “family or household member.”
Deputies said he admitted killing his girlfriend, both in a note at the scene of the killing and in an interview with detectives.
The preliminary results of Castaneda’s autopsy, conducted Monday, showed that death was caused by strangulation leading to asphyxiation, according to Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Haas.
Thompson, who was transferred to the Jefferson County Jail on Monday after treatment at a Seattle hospital, is set to be arraigned on the charge at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 7 in Jefferson County Superior Court at the county courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend.
Thompson is accused of killing Castaneda early Thursday at a home at 1771 Swansonville Road in Port Ludlow.
Deputies arrived after a 5:32 a.m. call to find Castaneda dead inisde the house and Thompson lying in the back yard with cuts on his wrists and a gunshot wound to his head that investigators said was self-inflicted.
Deputies said they found at the house a note apparently written by Thompson that included a profanity as well as stating: “I killed the woman I loved.”
Detectives visited Thompson in Harborview on Friday afternoon and read him his constitutional rights which he waived and then agreed to talk, court documents say.
During a one-hour recorded interview, Thompson admitted to choking Castaneda to death, doing so after realizing she “was working a job against him,” detectives said in their report.
“During the interview, Evan communicated frequent thoughts of paranoia where many friends and family were plotting against him,” the report states.
“Evan appeared to be under the belief that Castaneda was working for a government agency to formulate a case against him.”
Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Keith Harper imposed bond on Haas’ recommendation after the prosecuting attorney cited three past warrants and two convictions for jumping bail.
Thompson’s apparent suicide attempt after the crime showed that he was a danger to himself and others, Haas said.
According to a probable cause statement prepared by Jefferson County Sheriff’s Detective Brett Anglin, the initial call to emergency dispatchers was from Tracy Thompson, Evan Thompson’s mother, who said that Thompson had shot himself, jumped out of a second story window, and was standing in the back yard holding a gun to his head.
Deputies reported that Ed Thompson, Thompson’s father, had taken the firearm away from Thompson before they arrived.
Thompson was yelling that he had killed his girlfriend because she was a spy, according to the statement.
Medical units arrived, sedated Thompson and then airlifted him to Harborview.
While a more thorough autopsy report is due this week, it will take several weeks before the final results, including a toxicology screen, to become available, Haas said.
Thompson faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, and/or a $50,000 fine plus restitution and court costs, Harper said.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
