Woman found slain in Lake Stevens house

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LAKE STEVENS -- Police in Lake Stevens are searching for a killer.

A woman in her 20s was found dead in a home Monday on 15th Street Southwest.

The 911 call came in about 9:30 a.m. Monday, with a man reporting a deceased woman in the home.

"When police officers arrived, they did go inside the house.  They did find a female in her 20s that was deceased,” Snohomish County sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Brand said.

Police say it was obvious she had been slain, so they immediately backed out of the house to wait for a search warrant.

Neighbors have a lot of questions and few answers early on in the investigation.

"What happened? Who died? How it happened? It's a pretty safe neighborhood. I've never been scared in this neighborhood at all.  My kids go to school right up the road here.  I let them come out and play... never thought any of this would happen,” neighbor Millie Smith said.

Neighbors say the young woman and possible a boyfriend moved into the house just last month.

Few people knew them well or what was going on inside the house.

"It was abandoned, I think, and then we kind of saw different people come and go,” neighbor Jailine Vergara said.

This latest homicide comes a little more than two weeks after a random drive-by shooting that killed a 15-year-old Seattle girl, Molly Conley, in Lake Stevens.

Molly was shot June 1 as she walked along a neighborhood street with a group of friends. A march was held in Lake Stevens Monday night in her memory, to raise awareness and to hopefully help find Molly's killer.

It has been a difficult 17 days for people in Lake Stevens who are unaccustomed to this kind of violence in their own back yard.

"I think it's surprising to everyone.  We're all like, we should lock up our cars and make sure nothing gets stolen out of the cars because things are starting to happen around here in my neighborhood and we're like, what's happening to our little town? It's really shocking, actually,” Lake Stevens resident Michelle Stoll said.

Lake Stevens police have asked the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office to take the lead in the investigation of the latest murder.

Anyone with information is urged to call 911.