Suspect in killing near Lake Stevens had previous murder conviction

LAKE STEVENS — Authorities believe an Arlington man previously convicted of murder fled to Mexico after killing a woman near Lake Stevens in August.

On the night of Aug. 20, a neighbor found the body of Katie McQueen, 37, in the 11800 block of 84th Street NE, north of Lake Stevens, according to a police report.

When Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies arrived, they found McQueen’s naked body, according to the police report. Investigators found footprints near her body. She was covered with brush, leading detectives to believe her killer tried to hide her body.

McQueen’s body had decomposed, making it difficult for Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office investigators to determine how she died, according to court papers.

On Nov. 5, the Washington State Patrol’s crime lab was able to pull DNA from a swab of McQueen’s right wrist. The DNA matched Mark Downey, 56, police said.

Downey, a registered sex offender, was living at the time in group housing for sex offenders on Smokey Point Boulevard, according to court papers. In mid-September, during a routine probation check, the house manager had told Arlington police Downey no longer lived there. He said Downey had left about three weeks earlier, en route for Arizona or Mexico.

Police found Downey had been arrested in Mexico for violating his probation on Aug. 25, less than a week after McQueen’s killing, according to court documents. Authorities transferred him to custody in Arizona.

Last week, he was brought to the Snohomish County Jail. On Friday, he reportedly gave a 5½-hour interview with detectives.

In the police interview, Downey reported going to Mexico on Aug. 13 or 14 for a medical procedure. He told detectives it would be cheaper to do it in Mexico, police said.

Detectives showed Downey three photos of McQueen. He denied knowing her, according to the police report.

Investigators told Downey his DNA was found on McQueen. Still, he reportedly denied knowing her. He said he didn’t want to violate his probation conditions by having contact with women. In November 2022, a judge sentenced Downey to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to molesting a girl in Mountlake Terrace. Downey told police a man had been kicked out of his Arlington group home for having a woman over.

Later, Downey changed his story multiple times, according to police.

In one version, he reported McQueen and a man approached him near a bus stop on Smokey Point Boulevard. He said she started kissing him and he left because he didn’t want to violate his probation, according to the police report.

In another, Downey reported giving McQueen and the man a ride to a gas station near Granite Falls and then he left, police said.

In yet another, Downey reported the man was actually the same man who’d been kicked out of his group home. He said he saw the man stab McQueen in the throat, so he fled in fear for his life. But police records reportedly showed the man was in custody from July to October, so couldn’t have been the one to kill McQueen.

Detectives confronted Downey about the inconsistencies in his stories. They asked if things got heated between he and McQueen, according to the police report. He replied that Washington has no self defense law. When the detectives corrected him about that, he reported McQueen had attacked him.

Downey told police he’d solicited sex from McQueen in exchange for $20. But after they drove out to 84th Street NE, he changed his mind, he reported. She punched him in the nose, he reportedly said. He told detectives she came at him with a knife, but she instead stabbed herself in the throat.

As the questioning continued, Downey’s story continued changing, detectives said.

Eventually, he acknowledged killing McQueen, according to police. He reported she wanted to have sex on the hood of his car, but laughed at him when he couldn’t get aroused. This hurt his feelings, so he stabbed her in the throat with a knife he had in his pocket, Downey said.

McQueen bled out quickly, so the suspect rolled her into some bushes, police said. He reported taking her clothes and throwing them in a Safeway garbage can.

The next morning, he fled to Mexico, according to the police report. He said someone stole the clothes he was wearing at the time of the killing, as well as the knife, the night before authorities arrested him in Mexico.

In 2005, a Whatcom County judge sentenced Downey to nearly 18 years in prison for killing Kathy Lynn Erickson, 35, in Bellingham. Downey also has a previous felony sex crime conviction from 1998 out of Nebraska.

On Monday, he remained in the Snohomish County Jail with bail set at $500,000.

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; X: @GoldsteinStreet.