Police have arrested a man they believe killed the 24-year-old Snohomish woman found dead in Tumwater last week.
Matthew J. McCollian, 34, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Tukwila on a Thurston County warrant for second-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He is being held at the Thurston County jail.
Sophia Stutzman of Snohomish County was found by police with a gunshot wound to the chest in the early morning of Dec. 12 near a back exit of the Costco store on Littlerock Road Southwest in Tumwater. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to court documents, McCollian was Stutzman’s boyfriend and the last person she was with before she died.
Stutzman’s mother told police she dropped Stutzman off at McCollian’s apartment in Everett Dec. 11 and that Stutzman later texted her “he is so out of his mind.”
Tumwater police learned this week that McCollian rented a car Dec. 11 and later reported it stolen. Police in Bothell found the car with fire damage inside and what appeared to be dried blood, according to court documents.
A forensic pathologist determined Stutzman was likely shot in the car then left in Tumwater.
