Man wanted in Kent woman’s death arrested in California

The 40-year-old Kent man charged with first-degree murder for the stabbing death of his Kent girlfriend was arrested Tuesday after officers from three California police agencies found him living under a bridge in the small town of Willits in Northern California.

Kent Police had been searching for Shawn David Gulseth as a suspect in the death of Bonnie Peterson, 45, since officers found her body Dec. 21 at the Village at Lake Meridian apartments on the East Hill after a call from a concerned friend.

King County prosecutors filed a first-degree murder charge Jan. 11 against Gulseth for the stabbing death of Peterson.

Gulseth was in custody Wednesday at the Mendocino County jail in Ukiah. Bail was set at $1.5 million. He is expected to have an extradition hearing Thursday in an effort by King County prosecutors to bring him to Washington to face the murder charge.

King County prosecutors will schedule an arraignment for Gulseth once he has gone through extradition proceedings.

Personnel from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, Willits Police Department and the California Highway Patrol found Gulseth living under the Broaddus Creek Bridge in downtown Willits, according to a Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office media release. He was arrested without incident.

Kent detectives told the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office that Gulseth might be staying in the Willits area. Gulseth had been seen Jan. 10 at a local business in Willits, a town of about 5,000 known as a gateway to the redwoods.

Details about why Gulseth was in the Willits area are still being developed, according to a Kent Police media release. Kent detectives flew to California to meet with the arresting officers and Gulseth.

King County prosecutors said they had solid reasons to ask for a high bail.

“Given the particularly savage nature of the offense and the defendant’s lengthy and violent criminal history, bail in the amount requested is appropriate,” wrote senior deputy prosecutor Jessica Berliner in charging papers.

Gulseth has 17 convictions, including six felonies, in three states, Washington, Minnesota and California. In 2006, he was convicted in Washington of second-degree robbery, attempting to elude and second-degree taking a motor vehicle. Other convictions are for drugs and theft.

According to charging papers, Peterson and Gulseth had dated for about eight months. Detectives found out from interviews with friends or acquaintances of the two that Peterson had recently decided to break off the relationship.

Gulseth reportedly had assaulted Peterson in the past and was a known drug user who became violent when he was under the influence of narcotics.

Peterson and Gulseth had an argument at the apartment the night of Dec. 20, according to a phone call to Peterson from a friend. Peterson did not answer her apartment door the next morning when friends stopped to pick her up for work.

Detectives found bloody fingerprints as well as a large kitchen knife next to Peterson’s body. Detectives found eight prints inside the apartment that belonged to Gulseth.

They also found two men’s shoes near her body, one white and black right shoe and one gray left shoe.

Police obtained video surveillance from a business near the East Hill apartment that showed a man who appeared to be Gulseth running the night of Dec. 20 toward Kent Kangley Road wearing a black vest, jeans and one black left shoe and one gray right shoe similar to the mismatched shoes found next to Peterson’s body.

Witnesses told police that a man similar to Gulseth’s description had tried to get into vehicles as they slowed down along Kent Kangley Road the night of Dec. 20 at around the same time of the video surveillance.

Peterson was a grandmother and had two grown daughters. She lived alone in the apartment.