A 24-year-old Kent man faces charges of two counts of first-degree murder for the alleged shooting of his grandmother in Skyway and the shooting of a 21-year-old woman in Renton. Both killings were on Tuesday.
Zachary D. Craven was also charged with second-degree assault for allegedly using a gun to pistol whip and threaten his grandfather in Kent on July 2, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Craven had been staying with his grandfather.
Bail was set at $5 million for Craven, who remains in the King County jail in Seattle. He is scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. on July 23 in Courtroom 1201 of the King County Courthouse in Seattle.
A Renton family returning home from vacation late discovered the body Meagan E. Smith, 21, the house-sitter in their Rolling Hills house, according to charging papers filed Friday. The family wasn’t able to reach Smith, who was to have picked them up at Sea-Tac Airport.
Renton Police arrested Craven on Wednesday. Renton Police detectives also recognized him as a suspect in the Skyway homicide, based on alerts sent to law-enforcement agencies by the King County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s deputies had discovered the body of Craven’s grandmother, Angelika Anna Hayden, 66, in the 11000 block of Parkview Avenue South on Renton’s West Hill. Deputies have been to the residence in the past, including as recently as July 4, and the grandmother had a court order against Craven, according to charging papers.
Wyman Yip, senior deputy prosecuting attorney, wrote in charging papers that Craven is a threat to the community and has a history of abuse toward family, his girlfriend and animals. His prior convictions include animal cruelty for stabbing his grandmother’s cat to death as well as first-degree theft and domestic violence.
The girlfriend of Craven broke up with him in June after about a three-year relationship. Smith was a friend of the girlfriend and was killed in the girlfriend’s family home.
Smith and Hayden each died from single gunshot wounds to the head, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. The .22-caliber shell casings found at each site were fired from the same gun, according to a State Patrol Crime Lab forensic scientist.
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