PORT ANGELES — Ari Lee King, the Sequim man charged in the beating death of a Joyce woman in September, was booked into the Clallam County jail Friday night after a 581-mile ride in the back of a patrol car.
Two Clallam County sheriff’s deputies escorted the 41-year-old from the Malheur County jail in Eastern Oregon to Port Angeles, where he faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of Diane Cunningham.
Cunningham, 65, was found bludgeoned in her mobile home in the Salt Creek RV Park on Oct. 6.
King had been sought for questioning.
He was booked at 7:34 p.m. Friday. He is being held on a $1 million bail.
King had been living under a highway bridge with his dog, Bubba, near Juntura, Ore., about 12 miles from where Cunningham’s abandoned car was discovered Oct. 7.
An interstate arrest warrant was issued Thursday after Clallam County sheriff’s detectives combed surveillance footage, interviewed family members and spoke with cafe patrons who had seen King in Juntura.
Clallam Deputies Brian Knutson and Jeffery Waterhouse canvassed the Oregon town and helped a State Patrol trooper arrest King, who was taken into custody at the bridge without incident, authorities said.
“When King was told he was under arrest for murder, Detective Knutson saw that King bowed his head,” Clallam County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Keegan wrote in the arrest narrative.
“King did not display any signs of surprise.”
First court appearance
King will make his first court appearance Monday.
The dog, a pit bull-German Shepherd mix, was left in Malheur County.
“The family indicated they may go down and get it,” Cameron said.
An autopsy showed that Cunningham died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Her daughter’s boyfriend discovered the body in a blood-spattered bedroom in the small mobile home, court papers said.
There was no sign of forced entry, authorities said.
A lock box containing Cunningham’s coin collection — and the $1,700 in cash she was seen with Sept. 27 — was missing from the residence, court papers said.
Authorities said a search of Cunningham’s 1999 Audi, which was discovered by hunters in remote Eastern Oregon, revealed a note that said “Mom+Dad+My Sis, I know you will never understand! Hell I don’t even understand! Nothing what I do. I.”
Handwriting ‘consistent’
“The handwriting appeared consistent with Ari’s handwriting seen on other documents,” Keegan wrote in the probable-cause statement.
The statement said Cunningham was last seen accompanied by King in surveillance footage taken in the early morning hours of Sept. 28 at 7 Cedars Casino in Blyn and the Port Angeles Walmart.
King and a dog were seen driving Cunningham’s car on the Bainbridge Island ferry on the evening of Sept. 28, court papers said.
“We’ve got some forensic stuff left to do,” Cameron said Friday.
“The story will tell itself as it develops.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
