Prosecutors accuse defense attorneys of “altering the crime scene,” violating a court order during their investigation into a chilling case in Fall City, Washington, in which a 15-year-old boy allegedly murdered his family.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office alleges the defense team mishandled evidence during an unsupervised search.
The boy, whose identity is being kept secret due to a court order, is accused of murdering his parents, Mark Humiston, 43, and wife Sarah, 42, along with his younger siblings: Benjamin, 13, Joshua, 9, and Katheryn , 7.
The gruesome murders took place in the early hours of October 21 at their $2 million luxury lakeside mansion on Lake Alice Road Southeast.
The sole survivor, an 11-year-old girl, escaped after being shot and took refuge in a neighbor’s house.
According to court documents, the teen allegedly staged the crime scene to implicate his 13-year-old brother.
He then called 911 and claimed his younger sibling had shot the family before turning the gun on himself.
However, investigators quickly debunked his version of events citing autopsy results and ballistic evidence.
Electrical engineer Mark Humiston, 43, and his registered nurse Sarah, 42, were found dead in the home along with three of their children
The teens’ three siblings, Benjamin, 13, Joshua, 9, and Katheryn, 7, were killed in the shooting. His 11-year-old sister survived
Last month, on October 28, Judge Veronica Galvan granted a motion allowing the defense team unsupervised access to the home.
They were given ten hours the next day to take photos, perform 3D scans and search the boy’s bedroom.
However, strict conditions were imposed: they were only allowed to examine objects in plain view and were prohibited from removing or searching ‘filing cabinets, containers, drawers, digital devices and the like’.
But in a motion filed Nov. 5, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Jason Brookhyser alleged the defense violated those terms.
Prosecutors presented photographic evidence showing that items, including a bottle of Clorox wipes and children’s backpacks, had been completely moved or removed.
“It is clear that the defense and their agents exceeded the authorized scope of their search ordered by the Court,” Brookhyser said in the filing.
The prosecution is now seeking an order compelling the defense to turn over all materials collected during their search.
They argue that the court should have access to this evidence to determine whether the defense acted appropriately.
Lawyers for the 15-year-old boy (pictured) accused of murdering his parents and three siblings in Fall City, Washington, claim his brother committed the crime
Prosecutors accuse defense attorneys of “altering the crime scene,” violating a court order during their investigation into a chilling case in Fall City, Washington
While the defense tries to preserve its ability to argue for its client’s innocence, the prosecution remains focused on what they see as a clear breach of trust.
Brookhyser has emphasized the importance of complying with court orders, noting, “The State is entitled to possession of that material within the timeframe of counsel’s mutual discovery obligations.”
In an earlier motion, attorney Amy Parker stated, “The state’s theory is that (15-year-old) was involved in a mass murder of five people with firearms locked in a basement. There is no evidence that we have received at this time that the (15-year-old) had blood on him.”
Parker also advocated the importance of unbiased investigations: “In my experience, it is beneficial to the defense in this case to have the opportunity to examine the crime scene free from (law enforcement) bias,” she wrote.
The couple were extremely religious and imposed a highly controlled existence on their five children, including dictating who they could be friends with and homeschooling them.
Defense lawyers were given 10 hours to take photos, perform 3D scans and search the boy’s bedroom, but they are now accused of ‘mishandling evidence’.
According to detectives, the 15-year-old also tried to stage the crime scene to lend credibility to his story that it was a murder-suicide committed by Benjamin.
The report noted that a black Glock pistol had been placed in the child’s hand, but forensic investigators noted that the weapon had not been fired and that blood spatter from a fatal wound to the boy’s face was in the wrong place .
Despite these claims, Parker and co-counsel Molly Campera withdrew from the case without supervision shortly after the search.
The teen is now represented by a new attorney, Kristen Gestaut of Obsidian Law Offices.
The prosecutor is calling for the case to be moved to adult court, given the seriousness of the charges.
According to investigators, the 11-year-old survivor told detectives that she witnessed her brother’s family members being shot and then checked their pulses to make sure they were dead.
According to investigators, the 11-year-old survivor told detectives she witnessed her brother shoot family members and then checked their pulses to make sure they were dead.
Her older brother then went back into her bedroom, where she closed her eyes and held her breath as he stood next to her bed.
When her brother left her room and she could hear him on the phone upstairs, she used the window to escape before running to her neighbor’s house and ringing the doorbell incessantly – fearing her brother would come looking for her.
The surviving daughter, who was bleeding from her neck and hand, told neighbors her family was dead at the hands of her own brother before they called police.
Additionally, she said the teen was the only sibling who knew the combination code to the gun safe.
She played dead before escaping the massacre through a “fire window” in her room and running to a neighbor’s house about a quarter mile away.
In a disturbing detail, she remembered her brother leaning over the three family members he shot in the hallway before touching their bloodied bodies to make sure they were actually dead.
Documents obtained by DailyMail.com show that the accused gunman tried to blame Benjamin for the murders, claiming that his younger sibling shot the family members and committed suicide after being caught watching the night before porn.
Only oneutopia reports further contradicted the teen’s initial claims.
Benjamin was shot multiple times, including a fatal shot to the back of the head from more than two feet away.
Police say it was the 15-year-old who slaughtered almost his entire family using his father’s Glock pistol, while his younger sister – the sole survivor of the massacre – said it was her eldest brother who shot two fired at her and hit her. the neck and arm.
The teen’s lawyers insist his murder-suicide theory is “forensically viable,” according to court documents obtained by The Seattle Times.
The case continues to unfold as both sides prepare for a legal battle that will determine the teenager’s fate in what has become one of the most disturbing cases in recent history.