PORT TOWNSEND — A 34-year-old Port Ludlow man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the July killing of his 20-year-old girlfriend.
Evan Daniel Thompson, whose trial was initially scheduled for Feb. 15-16, will next appear in court Feb. 17 for sentencing.
Thompson remains in the Jefferson County jail in Port Hadlock, where he was taken after the July 23 incident, under a $1 million bond.
Thompson pleaded guilty Friday to one count of second-degree murder-domestic violence in the strangulation death of Virginia Guadalupe Castaneda, of La Push.
Since the crime, Prosecuting Attorney Michael Haas had been negotiating with defense attorney Scott Charlton about a possible outcome to the case.
A mental illness component was being discussed, Haas said, until Thompson said he wanted to plead guilty.
“I think he wanted to take responsibility for what he had done,” Haas said.
He said he was satisfied by the outcome.
“The troubling part is the loss of a beautiful young woman who died way too early,” he said.
“But from a legal perspective, this was about as good as we could get.”
According to court documents, the standard sentencing range for the charge is 10 to 18 years followed by 36 months of community custody, while the maximum sentence is life in prison and/or a $50,000 fine.
On the day of the killing, sheriff’s deputies arrived at Thompson’s house in the early morning and found Castaneda dead inside the house.
Thompson was lying in the backyard 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.”
Thompson was sedated and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He was visited by detectives the following day. He then waived his constitutional rights and admitted to killing Castaneda, according to detectives.
Thompson admitted to choking Castaneda to death after learning she “was working a job against him,” detectives said in their report.
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 Thompson had shot himself, jumped out of a second-story window and was standing in the backyard holding a gun to his head.
Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Keith Harper will receive recommendations from the Department of Corrections, Haas and Charlton prior to passing sentence, Haas said.
The victim’s family also will have input on the sentencing, he said.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
