Double-murder suspect could face death penalty

Whether the SeaTac man charged with killing a young Canadian couple will face the death penalty is still up in the air.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese granted an extension at a hearing on Thursday that would allow the state more time to decide whether capital punishment will be pursued in William Earl Talbot II’s double-murder case. The order also allows room for the defense to find mitigating evidence, she said.

“That, I think, is the most significant reason for the extension; to prepare a mitigation packet to present to the state on your behalf,” Krese told Talbot.

The 55-year-old man sat silently in the courtroom with his head slightly bowed. He only spoke when Krese asked him if he understood what conditions accompanied her orders, which he quietly affirmed. 

Last month Talbot pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated first-degree murder. He was taken into custody in May, and is being housed at the Snohomish County Jail.

The trucker is accused of murdering 21-year-old Jay Cook and his girlfriend, Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18, while they were visiting Seattle from Saanich, British Columbia. The couple was headed to Gensco Heating the next day, and then planned to return home. They were last seen buying a ferry ticket to Seattle in Bremerton on the night of Nov. 18, 1987.

Their families filed reports they were missing and started to search the next day.

Cook’s body was found within a week, less than a mile from the old Washington State Reformatory’s Honor Farm, south of Monroe. Van Cuylenborg’s body was found two days earlier, in a wooded area off Parson’s Creek Road, between Old Highway 99 and Prairie Road in Skagit County.

She had been bound with zip ties, raped and shot in the head. Cook had been bound, beaten and strangled.

“From all information these acts of violence were as random as they were savage,” according to charging documents.

Talbot’s arrest came a month after the Snohomish and Skagit county sheriff’s offices announced they had new evidence that might close the case. The agencies released composite sketches of what the suspect could have looked like at ages 25, 45 and 65.

Virginia-based Parabon NonoLabs created the images using phenotyping with DNA evidence found on Van Cuylenborg’s body. The resulting profile was of a man of Northern European descent, according to charging documents. He was expected to have fair skin, green or hazel eyes, freckles, and hair that was red-blonde. He might also be balding.

Talbot ended up being heavier set and sporting facial hair.

The technique is not what ultimately led law enforcement to Talbot.

Genetic genealogy was used to check public databases for relatives of the suspect, according to charging documents. Investigators were able to find relatives of Talbot’s parents. They determined he was their only son; they also had three daughters.

Talbot was living with his parents in Woodinville when the Canadian couple disappeared, according to charging documents. Their address was seven miles from where Cook was found.

“One would only need to take two roads and make two turns” to get to the site, according to court documents.

Public defender Rachel Forde had requested bail be set at $100,000 on Thursday, which Talbot could potentially afford with his assets. She said Talbot had suggested alternative conditions, such as being placed on house arrest. She said he would agree to having very limited, as well as pre-approved trips out for medical appointments and to go to the grocery store.

“All the DNA does is place Mr. Talbot in contact with one of the victims, and not anything about the deaths or how they occurred,” Forde said.

She submitted a number of letters from people who know Talbot and could speak to his character. A friend from Monroe said he would be willing to take Talbot into his home, if the court agreed to the condition.

Forde said most significant was the fact that Talbot has been out in the public for decades without incident. He has been involved in his community, patronizing businesses and restaurants, she said.

“He maintains his innocence, and certainly these allegations are outside, far outside the way Mr. Talbot has conducted the rest of his life, and I think he should be given consideration for that,” Forde said.

Krese said the evidence linking Talbot to Van Cuylenborg and that the crimes in question were so violent is enough reason to keep bail off the table. She agreed with the state and said he was a flight risk due to the charges he’s facing.

“That alone raises the risk much higher than would otherwise be the case,” she said.

Krese ruled Talbot could appear in street clothes and remain unshackled in the courtroom, but would have to be shackled during transport from the jail. His trial is set for March 2019. His next hearing is set for late November.