Indle King

Snohomish County, Washington
Date of Crime:  September 22, 2000

Indle Gifford King, Jr. was convicted of murdering his 20-year-old mail order bride, Anastasia Solovieva, who was from Krygyzstan in the former Soviet Union. King had met Anastasia through a magazine that advertised foreign women to prospective American men. A boarder, Daniel Larson, who rented a room in King's house, led police to her shallow grave. At the time Larson had been arrested for sexually assaulting a Ukrainian immigrant teenager. Larson said King had told him he murdered Anastasia and showed him where he buried her body. Larson later claimed he murdered King's wife under orders from King. King had no criminal record while Larson had a history of violence, sexual assault, and mental illness. In addition, Larson wrote a letter to a cult leader, Christopher Turgeon, in which he stated that he killed Anastasia alone.

The state had no evidence of motive on King's part. They made extreme assertions of jealousy on King's part, but they were just assertions. Evidence indicated that King allowed Anastasia to live a separate life. King was happy to spend some quality time with her, which Anastasia willingly agreed to. King had married a previous mail-order bride who left him after getting a green card, so there was no reason for him to be surprised if his trophy wife showed signs of straying from her marriage.

At the time of his wife's disappearance, the couple had just returned from Krygyzstan. King said he went out shopping, but when he returned, Larson told him she had left him. King said the idea that she was murdered never crossed his mind. When Anastasia was reported missing by her parents, King falsely told police she had left him during a stopover in Moscow. He said he told that statement because he was embarrassed that she left him. At trial, King testified on his own behalf and hurt his case by discrepancies in his testimony.

The only evidence of guilt the prosecution offered was Larson's self-serving and changed testimony. Larson's past record as a predator and his knowledge of where Anastasia was buried makes it reasonable to believe that Larson may have killed Anastasia by himself. Such a hypothesis creates reasonable doubt for King. At trial, the prosecution focused on King's discrepant statements as though the burden of proof was on him to prove himself innocent. King's false statements raise suspicion, but prove nothing since even innocent defendants will sometimes lie in an attempt to avoid conviction or for other unknown reasons.  [9/07]

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Reference:  American Justice

Posted in:  Victims of the State, Washington Cases, Wife Murder Cases