A couple were charged Thursday in connection with a 74-year-old Mercer Island man's killing, and King County prosecutors say the homicide followed a fraud scheme to move into the man's home and take over his finances.
Curtis Engeland, who was reported missing Feb. 24, was found dead March 7 with a sharp force injury to the neck in Grays Harbor County, about 100 miles from where he had last been seen.
Philip Brewer, 32, and Christina Hardy, 47, have both been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree theft and identity theft. According to charges filed in King County Superior Court, the couple stole Engeland's credit cards and made several fraudulent purchases before kidnapping and killing him.
According to a probable cause document, Engeland reported a theft to Mercer Island police in January, over one month before he went missing. He told police that Brewer, whom he'd met on a dating app, had stolen his wallet, keys and phone, the court documents say.
The two met in person Jan. 12 and went to Engeland's home the next day to watch a movie, according to the documents. Engeland told police he fell asleep, and when he woke up about an hour later, Brewer was gone and Engeland's phone, wallet and keys were missing, according to prosecutors. Engeland had found several unauthorized transactions on his bank accounts, including transfers of thousands of dollars.
Police did a records check for Brewer's phone number, and his dating app profile picture matched his licensing photo, a Mercer Island police detective wrote in the probable cause document. Surveillance footage from a Fred Meyer where one of the fraudulent transactions occurred showed Brewer with a woman later identified as Hardy, according to the documents.
The next month, Mercer Island police received a missing person's call from a man who was in a relationship with Engeland and was moving into his home. The man said he had received a text from Engeland's number that said he would be going on a weekslong trip, according to the documents. When he tried calling the phone, no one picked up.
Engeland's sister-in-law and friend also were unable to reach him, and police found clothes that didn't belong to Engeland in his home, according to the documents. His emails showed a $3,500 transfer to Brewer, and his car was missing from his garage.
A rental car with an envelope containing Hardy's name and address was in the driveway, according to probable cause documents.
Hours later, the man moving in with Engeland called 911 a second time, and police arrived to find Brewer, Hardy and Hardy's son in the driveway. Hardy told police she met Engeland months ago through a Craigslist post for a house sitter and that they were friends, according to the court documents. She said Engeland offered to rent her and Brewer his basement for $500 a month, the detective wrote.
When police asked about the emails connecting them to Engeland's bank accounts, the couple said Engeland had added them to his financial accounts to pay for his utilities while he was traveling, the detective wrote. When asked about his missing car, they said Engeland had given them permission to drive it, according to the documents.
Two of Engeland's siblings arrived at the home and told police they thought Engeland didn't write the texts sent from his number because he always texted in grammatically correct sentences. They also said they had no knowledge of Engeland planning to leave his home or rent it out, which would be unusual for him, according to the documents.
About an hour later, police found Engeland's car in a QFC parking lot where Brewer and Hardy told officers they had parked it, according to the documents. A large amount of blood was found in the trunk, the detective wrote.
Cellphone data showed Brewer, Hardy and Engeland's devices traveling from Mercer Island to Grays Harbor County late Feb. 23 before going back east hours later, the detective wrote.
On March 7, detectives and FBI agents found Engeland's body wrapped in a blanket in Cosmopolis, Grays Harbor County, according to the documents. An autopsy found he died of a stab wound to the neck.
On Thursday, one week after Engeland's body was found, a California Highway Patrol sergeant stopped a man for speeding. The man, Hardy's daughter's boyfriend, told the sergeant he was running from Brewer and Hardy, who he had been with for the past several days in Blythe, Calif., the Mercer Island police detective wrote in charging documents. The man said the couple told him they had killed Engeland and were going to prison, according to the charging documents.
The man told the sergeant that Brewer and Hardy injected Engeland with fentanyl, according to the charging documents. Engeland was still alive, however, so Hardy held him down while Brewer stabbed him with a knife, the detective wrote in charging papers.
The two were arrested Thursday and are being held in the Riverside County Jail in California pending extradition to Washington. Their arraignment dates in King County will be set once the extradition moves forward.
King County prosecutors are requesting they each be held on $5 million bail.
