Peter Alex Keller Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Peter Alex Keller - Research Paper Example Peter Alex Keller, 41, a resident of North Bend Washington, was formally charged with first degree murder and first degree arson on Wednesday, 25 April in King County Superior Court, after he shot his wife , Lynnette, 41, and daughter, Kaylene, 18 with .22 caliber gunshot and fled to the woods. After murdering his family and pets, Keller torched his rental home at 47227 S.W, 159th Street North Bend before heading on The Rattlesnake Ridges to hide in a bunker he spent eight years in building. According to court documents, Lynette and Kaylene died due to injuries from gunshot wounds to the head, inside. The week following the murders, the police searched the whole area for the forty-one year old suspect. Meanwhile, the county prosecutors were compiling a case against the suspect who was missing after the police discovered bodies of the two victims at the burned down North Bend house. Keller’s disappearance added fuel to the speculation about the real identity of the killer and i f the police found him, he would be sentenced to 51 to 65 years in prison. Due to the discovery of Keller’s car, the police knew he was hiding in the woods and warned hikers as well as community members that a killer was on the loose in the woods. (Anonymous, 2012). The Investigation According to the court documents, Keller had been planning to murder his family and pets since quite a while. Using an Issaquah branch of Chase Bank on Friday, April 20, withdrew $6,200. The same day in the evening Keller switched off his cell phone. Furthermore, he took Monday, Thursday, and Friday before the murders off from work. According to court documents, Keller when questioned by a co-worker about when he was going to return to work, he replied, â€Å"I may not come back next week, the week after that, or maybe never†. The court records also state the fact that one Keller’s co-workers reported about the firearms Keller possessed which included high powered rifles with scopes , and silencers. According to the co-worker, Keller had not informed his wife about the silencers because they were excruciatingly expensive. The police during their search of the burned house, found two empty boxes for silencers on the master bedroom’s floor. The police also found on the bedroom’s floor, one box of .22 caliber bullets, spent .22 shell casings along with few empty firearms boxes. (Anonymous, 2012). At the crime scene, detectives found that the shed door was open which suggests that it was most probably used by Keller to hide plastic gas cans filled with gasoline. During the crime scene investigation, the detectives found seven cans of gasoline which had been placed in different parts of the house. The reports of arson investigators suggested that the house was deliberately set on fire. This was a very important piece of evidence which proved that Keller was the murderer. The investigators found that the fire was initiated by placing a one gallon plasti c gas on a skillet which was placed on the stove. The burner ignited fumes inside the can and the fire spread quickly which damaged the kitchen roof and it collapsed partially. According to the evidence found inside the house, the arson investigators concluded that the fire started to spread within half an hour after the gasoline can was placed on the burner. The firefighters found and removed two five-gallon gas cans and three two-gallon gas cans from different strategic locations inside the house. After the fire was put out, the firefighters removed the two victims. The firefighters who found Kaylene on top of a bunker bed stated that her body was limp which meant that she had died a short while ago because rigor mortis had not set in. According to the charging papers, the firefighters stated that â€Å"death had occurred within a short period of time†. Lynette’s hair contained a spent shell and there were two gunshot wounds on her head. Of the two gunshots wounds, o ne was behind her right ear