PORT ANGELES — A Sequim man wanted in the September beating death of a woman in Joyce has been found living under a highway bridge in a remote area of eastern Oregon.
Ari Lee King, 45, was being held without bail in the Malheur County jail in Vale, Ore., a jail spokeswoman said, after King was captured with the aid of surveillance videos in Washington state and cafe patrons who had seen him in Oregon.
King has been sought for questioning in the killing of Diane Cunningham, 65, of Joyce. He was charged in Clallam County Superior Court on Thursday with second-degree murder after he was found about 80 miles west of the Idaho border.
Court papers filed late Thursday said King was living with his dog under the highway bridge.
An interstate arrest warrant was issued Thursday by Clallam County Superior Court that will allow King to be returned to Port Angeles today (Friday) to face the charge if he waives extradition, Clallam Sheriff’s Chief Criminal Deputy Ron Cameron said.
Cunningham’s daughter and son-in-law found Cunningham’s body Oct. 6 in her mobile home in the Salt Creek RV Park west of Port Angeles after the King County couple had not heard from her for more than a week.
Cunningham’s abandoned 1999 Audi was seen by hunters near the Malheur River about 20 miles west of Vale, Ore., according to a probable cause statement filed Thursday in Superior Court.
In the probable cause statement, authorities gave an account of the circumstances surrounding Cunningham’s death.
Cunningham was seen with King in a surveillance video at 7 Cedars Casino and at the Port Angeles Walmart store on Sept. 27.
She knew her attacker because there was no sign of forced entry. She was killed in her bedroom.
King was with her from Sept. 27 to the following morning, according to witnesses and the surveillance video.
Cunningham had $1,700 in cash while King was with her.
Another surveillance video recorded King driving Cunningham’s car alone through the Washington state ferry terminal on Bainbridge Island at 6:45 p.m. Sept. 28.
A note was found in Cunningham’s car after the vehicle was recovered that said “Mom+Dad+My Sis, I know you will never understand! Hell I don’t even understand! Nothing what I do. I.”
“The handwriting is consistent with Ari’s handwriting,” according to the probable cause statement.
King, whose last known address was Sequim, was located living under the bridge with his dog fewer than 20 miles from where Cunningham’s car was located, Cameron said in a prepared statement.
Sheriff’s detectives learned from workers in a cafe in Juntura, Ore. — a hamlet on U.S. Highway 20 about 80 miles west of the Idaho border — that he had been seen in the area.
Upon his arrest, “King did not appear shocked confused or inquisitive,” the probable cause statement said.
“He instead bowed his head when told he was under arrest for the murder of Diane Cunningham.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
