The man convicted of murdering a Sequim-area couple more than three decades ago has escaped from the halfway house to which he was paroled earlier this year.
The state Department of Corrections last week issued a parole violation escape warrant for John V. Carothers, 68, who had been living in a Seattle transitional home since April, Clallam County Undersheriff Fred DeFrang said.
Carothers had served 31½ years for killing Ronald and Wanda Buck in their home west of Sequim on Sept. 3, 1971, during a random robbery.
He was granted parole last year.
He moved to an Interaction Transitional House in Seattle in April and apparently didn’t return to it after leaving last week.
“Hopefully when he’s picked up again, this will put an end to this parole nonsense,” DeFrang said Saturday.
No family statement
Lynette Dryke, granddaughter of the Bucks, said Saturday the family did not want to make a public statement on Carothers’ escape.
Officials from the state Department of Corrections could not be reached Saturday for details of the escape.
The Buck murders have been called “thrill kills” and “random home killings” by past prosecutors, DeFrang said.
