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oddball

Active Member
100107_eric_christensen.jpg
Eric Christensen
100106_Sherry_Harlan_small.jpg
Sherry Harlan

EVERETT, Wash. - Snohomish County officials are investigating whether human remains found in a burned-out car near Gold Bar are a missing Everett woman as her boyfriend was ordered held in jail on $2 million bail.
Snohomish County Sheriff's spokeswoman Rebecca Hover says the car found Thursday is too badly damaged to determine if it is the 1989 Nissan Sentra belonging to Sherry Harlan, 35, who was reported missing Tuesday.

The county medical examiner's office is identifying the body.

Detectives believe Harlan was a victim of homicide. On Thursday, they arrested her former boyfriend, Eric Christensen, 40, of Gold Bar, for investigation of second-degree murder.

Detectives began focusing on Christensen early on in the investigation based on information provided by friends and neighbors who said Harlan told them her boyfriend had beaten her before.

She told friends she was afraid to break up with him for fear he would come after her and kill her.
Another neighbor reported hearing yelling and fighting on Saturday morning that appeared to come from Harlan's apartment.

Wednesday night detectives served a search warrant on a piece of property in Gold Bar where the ex-boyfriend lives.

Detectives searched Christensen's home and car and discovered bloody clothing that appears to belong to him. He also had numerous scratches on his face, forearms, shoulder and lower back, and a stab wound on his right knee.

The ex-boyfriend was first arrested and booked Thursday morning into the Snohomish County Jail for failure to register as a sex offender. He has a 1990 conviction in Oregon for first-degree sexual abuse and is classified as a Level 1 sex offender.
Christensen has other criminal history as well, including convictions for assault and domestic violence.

Detectives and crime lab investigators also collected a large amount of evidence from Harlan's apartment, in the Cedar Creek Apartments at 11615 Highway 99, on Wednesday.

Portions of vinyl and carpet had been cut out and removed from the apartment, and there was evidence of an attempt to clean up the unit.

Detectives continue to investigate the case. Harlan's body has not yet been found.

On Thursday afternoon, investigators shut down a road in Gold bar Where a burned-out car was found. They have not said whether the car is connected to the Harlan case
http://www.komonews.com/news/81029952.html
 
Damn...I hope that they can make this stick. I have no doubt, from what I read, that he killed her. Another one who thinks he's so smart that his shit won't stink.
 
Major eeewwww:
An admittedly jealous ex-boyfriend was charged with first-degree murder Friday for what a prosecutor described as the “savaging” of an Everett-area woman.

Eric James Christensen, 40, killed Sherry Harlan in her apartment Jan. 2, apparently stabbing her multiple times, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson said in court papers.

Christensen then cut Harlan up and enlisted a friend's help for two days in trying to hide her remains at “multiple sites” near Gold Bar, including in shallow graves and in a car that was set afire, the prosecutor said.

Within days of Christensen's Jan. 7 arrest, the man who allegedly helped hide evidence led detectives to various sites where human remains were found. Those have been linked to Harlan based on fingerprints, court papers said.
[...]

Harlan's friends and co-workers became concerned when she failed to return phone calls or show up for her job at J.C. Penney at Alderwood mall. At their urging, sheriff's deputies went inside her south Everett apartment. They immediately recognized it had been the scene of a violent crime and somebody's botched attempt to eliminate evidence, court papers said.

Blood was spattered in numerous places, carpet had been cut up and the rooms reeked of bleach. A shoeprint left in blood also was found on a T-shirt.

When detectives later searched Christensen's Gold Bar-area home, they found shoes with a sole pattern that matched a bloody print. They found a pair of blood-soaked jeans and a shopping list for bleach, garbage bags, sponges and a mop. They also found receipts and later recovered store surveillance video showing Christensen after the killing at stores where those items were bought, Matheson wrote.

Detectives zeroed in on Christsensen almost immediately.
[...]

He said he'd gone to her home Jan. 1 for dinner and a movie and had stayed the night. In a sworn affidavit that was filed to get a judge's permission to search Christensen's home, detectives recounted how the defendant allegedly went into detail about sexual activity while at Harlan's home. He said the visit ended badly, however, after he found text messages on her cell phone from another man, somebody he called her “sugar daddy.”

Christensen told detectives that he'd found similar messages on Harlan's phone weeks earlier and that she'd promised to cease contact with the man. To seal the deal, Christensen said he and Harlan had gone through a “blood oath” ceremony.

“He said that in ‘ancient times' people that broke similar vows were sometimes killed,” a sheriff's detective wrote of the conversation.

Christensen said that on Jan. 2, when he confronted Harlan about the messages, the argument became physical and they traded blows. He told detectives that because she'd broken the oath, Harlan “in Scottish ... would be what's known as a warlock, which is evil, a traitor, an enemy,” court papers said.

During their search of Christensen's home, detectives found a computer printout about warlocks “that contained almost identical language as that used by defendant in describing Harlan,” Matheson wrote.

Within hours of Christensen's arrest, Harlan's burned-out Nissan Sentra was found near a gravel pit outside Gold Bar. Investigators discovered partial human remains inside, including a skull with the tip of a knife embedded in the bone.

Later, Christensen's friend approached detectives through a lawyer and offered to lead them to more of Harlan's body. Matheson said prosecutors agreed not to charge the man so long as no evidence surfaced that his involvement was more than assisting Christensen in trying to hide evidence. He remains free and is being treated as a key witness in the case, the prosecutor said.
[....]

In 1994, he showed up at a Seattle bus stop armed with a rifle. He tried to shoot the woman and others, but was unsuccessful.

“I missed because the sights to the rifle were off,” Christensen said at the time. “I was on what my ancestors call a ‘blood run.' ”
http://heraldnet.com/article/20100130/NEWS01/701309925
 
Prosecutors believe modern witchcraft drove a Gold Bar man to kill his girlfriend, dismember her body and scatter her remains around Snohomish County.

Prosecutors outlined the gruesome details in the opening statements at the trial of Eric Christensen on Tuesday. Christensen has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Sherry Harlan.

Christensen met Harlan through the Internet, and the two later moved in together.

"And we know this is a significant relationship, because Eric introduced her to his friends. He introduced her to his church," said defense attorney Kathleen Kyle.

Christensen told detectives the woman took a "blood oath" to break-off a relationship with another man. But when Christensen found text messages from an ex-boyfriend, he admits he flew into a jealous rage.

"In ancient times, people who broke blood oaths were sometimes killed," Christensen told investigators. He has denied any involvement in her death, however.

But prosecutors believe Christensen not only killed Harlan, but also plotted her murder. Investigators said Christensen went to great lengths in an attempt to cover up the crime, ripping out the carpet, bleaching the crime scene and mutilating the body to further hide evidence.

The defense attorney says there's no evidence of a premeditated murder.

"(Harlan's death is) terrible, terrible for many reasons," Kyle said. "But the dispute in this case is that the terrible reasons that this crime was tried to be covered up is not evidence of premeditation."

Harlan was reported missing Jan. 5 after she failed to show up for her job at a JCPenney store.

Prosecutors called to the stand one of Harlan's co-workers, who said she thought it strange when Harlan failed to show up for several of her shifts.

"And I thought, 'OK, well, something's got to be wrong here, because she would never go all those days without keeping in contact with anybody,"' said Teresa Remtko.

Harlan's burned-out 1989 Nissan Sentra was found Jan. 7 in the Reiter Pit area near Gold Bar. Detectives later said human remains were found inside the car.

Harlan's mother, Cheryl Thomas, said the murder victim was "the love of everybody's life, a joy to have around."

"Even when she was down, she never showed that she was down. She was just a really good person, a good person," Thomas said during a previous interview with KOMO News.

During the initial investigation, detectives began focusing on Christensen based on information from friends and neighbors who said Harlan told them her boyfriend had beaten her before. She told friends she was afraid to break up with him for fear he would come after her and kill her.

Another neighbor reported hearing yelling and fighting on Jan. 2 that appeared to come from Harlan's apartment.

On Jan. 6, detectives searched Christensen's home and car and discovered bloody clothing that appeared to belong to him. He also had numerous scratches on his face, forearms, shoulder and lower back, and a stab wound on his right knee.

Christensen initially was arrested and booked Jan. 7 into the Snohomish County Jail for failure to register as a sex offender. He has a 1990 conviction in Oregon for first-degree sexual abuse and is classified as a Level 1 sex offender. He was later charged with second-degree murder, which was upgraded to first-degree murder.

The trial is expected to take two weeks. The prosecutor has a long list of witnesses to call. The defense attorney hasn't said whether she plans to call Christensen to the stand.
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/94883429.html
 
Slaying victim's body treated same as ‘trash,' says witness

A witness tells a jury he saw a murder suspect dispose of the remains of Sherry Harlan.
EVERETT — A Monroe man can’t get the images out of his mind.
Ryan Gesme saw Eric Christensen take a plastic garbage bag and shovel out of the trunk of a car and disappear into the woods. Christensen returned a short time later with the shovel and an empty bag.
At some of the stops Gesme could make out body parts secreted in the white bags. At other stops, he didn’t watch.

Christensen carried the bags “like you would take out the trash,” Gesme told a jury on Wednesday.
Christensen was disposing of Sherry Harlan’s dismembered and mutilated body.
Twice he saw Christensen remove body parts from the bags and throw them into the woods, Gesme said.
I wish I could just forget about that day,” Gesme said.

Gesme said he drove Christensen around east Snohomish County for several hours Jan. 4 and 5.
[...]
Harlan and Christensen met online in April 2009. They lived together for a short time. Harlan moved into her own apartment last fall while Christensen was in jail.
Christensen’s attorney has told jurors that there is no evidence that her client planned the killing.
Gesme said Wednesday that Christensen called him Jan. 3 asking for help. He said he’d locked his keys in the car. Gesme showed up at a park-and-ride lot in Monroe and found Christensen with Harlan’s car. That’s when Christensen admitted he killed Harlan, Gesme said.
Gesme told jurors he wasn’t thinking straight. He didn’t call police. He also didn’t tell his grandparents with whom he lives. Instead, he agreed to help Christensen the next day.
They went to the park-and-ride Jan. 4. Gesme saw linoleum, carpet and a butcher block with knives in the backseat of Harlan’s car. He agreed to drive because Christensen doesn’t have a valid driver’s license, Gesme said. He headed out of Monroe toward Gold Bar. That’s when Christensen asked him “how does it feel to drive a car with a dead body in it?” Gesme told jurors.
The men stopped in Sultan for corn dogs and then headed out on Reiter Road just east of Gold Bar. Christensen told him to pull over at several locations. He would take the bags from the trunk one by one and head into the woods, Gesme said.

Gesme said he waited with the car and smoked.
He agreed to drive Christensen around the following day. He watched him dispose of more remains, Gesme said.
Christensen eventually told Gesme that he killed Harlan because she broke the “blood oath,” Gesme told jurors.
He never heard Christensen talk of any plans to kill her, Gesme said.
Prosecutors agreed not to prosecute Gesme in exchange for his testimony against Christensen. They have no evidence that he helped kill Harlan or knew about the murder before Christensen asked him to help dispose of Harlan’s body. He told jurors he refused to help Christensen get rid of Harlan’s car. Police found Harlan’s burned-out car Jan. 7 off Reiter Road. Her skull and numerous knives were discovered inside. Gesme eventually led detectives to several of the dump sites where investigators located Harlan’s remains.
[...]
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100603/NEWS01/706039909/0/SPORTS010
 
What is it with these 'friends' who help people 'dispose of bodies'???

Hello? Why on earth would you do that? :stupido3:
 
What is it with these 'friends' who help people 'dispose of bodies'???

Hello? Why on earth would you do that? :stupido3:

Because friends help you move and real friends help you move bodies, I suppose.

And that's cool with me when it is the body of a child killer or baby raper. ; ) Not cool with me when it is the body of an innocent woman.
 
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Eric Christensen Dismembered Girlfriend Because She Broke Wiccan Blood Oath

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Prosecutors in Everett, Wash., say a Gold Bar man murdered his former girlfriend last month because she broke a "Wiccan blood oath" to break off a relationship with another man.

Eric Christensen, 40, was charged Jan. 29 in Snohomish County Superior Court with first-degree murder in the slaying of 35-year-old Sherry Harlan. On Monday, Christensen entered a not guilty plea and remains jailed on $5 million bail. His trial is set to begin March 19.

Prosecutors say Harlan's body was cut up and left in various locations in the area.

"Both Christensen and Harlan were members of the Wiccan church, and Christensen had Ms. Harlan enter into this blood oath in December 2009, promising not to see this other fellow -- her sugar daddy," Craig Matheson, Snohomish County senior deputy prosecutor, told AOL News. "She promised to do that during the course of this oath that was witnessed by another Wiccan."

Prosecutors say Eric Christensen, left, murdered his former girlfriend Sherry Harlan because she broke a "Wiccan blood oath" to end a relationship with another man.
Representatives of the Wiccan community have reacted strongly to what they say is a misguided rationalization for the slaying involving practices that are not condoned by the religion.

Harlan was reported missing Jan. 5 when she failed to show for work. When police questioned her friends, they said they were concerned for her safety because she had recently told them she was worried that Christensen would "beat her to a bloody pulp" if she broke up with him, police said.

Read more here:

http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/murder-suspect-eric-christensen-had-wiccan-blood-oath-with-victim-police-say/19343623
 
MONROE, Wash. - The distraught mother of a woman who was murdered and dismembered says she can hardly believe her daughter's killer isn't facing the death penalty.

Cheryl Thomas is an emotional wreck the day after Eric Christensen, 40, was found guilty of first-degree murder for the brutal killing of Thomas' daughter.

On one hand she's pleased with the guilty verdict at the Snohomish County Courthouse. But on the other hand she wishes Christensen was eligible for the death penalty.

"Oh my God," she says, crying.

In an exclusive interview with KOMO News she said she wishes Christensen could be put to death for killing and dismembering Thomas' daughter, Sherry Harlan, 35.

"He's not gone. He's not dead. My daughter's dead," she says.

But the death penalty wasn't on the table since Christensen wasn't charged with aggravated murder. Instead he faces a long prison term when he is sentenced June 18.

"She was ripped out of my life. I don't have another daughter," says Thomas.

She was angry when she Christensen laughed as he was led from the courtroom after Friday's guilty verdict.

"It wasn't funny. There is nothing funny about him taking Sherry's life," she says.

Harlan was killed sometime between Jan. 2 and 3 by Christensen after he found a text message from another man on her cell phone.

According to court papers, Christensen told police that Harlan had broken a "Wiccan blood oath" she had made to break off a relationship with the other man.

Christiansen told investigators, "In ancient times, people who broke blood oaths were sometimes killed," according to court documents, adding the discovery of the text message made him angry.

But Harlan's mother says that's nonsense.

"It made me so mad. I wanted to go over there and choke him to death," she says.

After the killing, prosecutors said, Christensen dismembered her body, then asked a friend to drive him around the Gold Bar area to help dispose of the woman's remains.

Harlan's body was cut up into nine pieces. Her skull was found in her car, and Christensen set it on fire to hide evidence.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/95701799.html
 
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