PORT ANGELES — Ari Lee King will be arraigned Friday for second-degree murder in the bludgeoning death of 65-year-old Joyce resident Diane Cunningham.
King’s arraignment at 9 a.m. Friday in Clallam County Superior Court was set Monday at his first court appearance.
He remains in the Clallam County jail on $1 million bail.
The 41-year-old King, whose last address was in Sequim, was not charged with first-degree murder because there is no evidence the crime was premeditated, Prosecuting Attorney William Payne said Monday.
“We charge everything based on the evidence we have,” Payne said.
Cunningham, her skull fractured, was found in the bedroom of her mobile home in the Salt Creek RV Park on Oct. 6 by her daughter’s boyfriend after the couple had not heard from Cunningham for nine days, according to the motion for determination of probable cause.
Her fully clothed body was found under bedding, clothes and a bloodied, broken folding chair, according the probable cause motion.
There were no other visible injuries and no signs of defensive wounds.
Investigators also found no signs of forced entry.
King and Cunningham frequented casinos together, according to a relative of King’s authorities interviewed.
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.
An interstate warrant for King’s arrest was issued Thursday after Clallam County sheriff’s detectives combed surveillance footage, including recorded images from 7 Cedars Casino, the Washington state Department of Transportation’s state ferry system and the Walmart in Port Angeles.
Several items of drug paraphernalia were found in King’s RV, according to the probable cause motion.
They also interviewed family members and friends of King’s and spoke with residents of Juntura, Ore., about 12 miles from where Cunningham’s abandoned 1999 Audi was discovered Oct. 7.
Residents said he had been in the area for about a month.
King’s family had reported him as a missing person.
King was arrested Thursday without incident while living under a bridge with his dog, Bubba, where employees from a Juntura restaurant would deliver him food, according to the motion.
He spent Thursday night in the Malheur County jail before being transported Friday to Port Angeles and being booked into the Clallam County jail at 7:34 p.m.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
