On Friday, April 8, Ingrid Lyne, a 40-year-old nurse at Swedish Medical Center and divorced mother of three daughters, was believed by her friends to have gone to a Mariners baseball game with 37-year-old John Charlton, who she had reportedly been dating for one month. Her kids to stayed the night elsewhere with their father. The Mariners lost 2-3 to the Oakland Athletics.

On Saturday morning, the father stopped by her house in Renton to drop off the kids. Neither Lyne nor her SUV were there.

Lyne's mother, Jorga Bass, grew concerned, accessed a shared log of calls from her daughter's phone, and called one of the last dialed numbers. After she texted that she'd called 911 to report a missing person, Bass had this exchange with a man who identified himself as John:

"911? What's going on? We went to the Mariners game last night, but we didn't stay the night together because she has her kids today … not sure what she has told you about me and our relationship."

"She's missing. What time did you see her last... A police officer needs to speak to you as you may be the last person who saw her...

Can you please call me? I know your name is John Charlton so please call me.

Please John, did Ingrid say anything about someone coming to see her after you separated from her last night. We can't find her or her car. As I said her phone and ID and purse are at her house but she and her car are gone without a trace. Any help would be appreciated. We are desperate. She would never just go off and leave her family."

He didn't respond to her pleas.

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The scene in the CD. Anthony Hecht

On Saturday afternoon, at about 4 p.m., a man living near the corner of Pine and 21st Avenue in the Central District arrived home and began pulling his recycling bin inside. The man had just returned from a funeral.

"He was pulling his recycling can in," said The Stranger Chief Technology Officer Anthony Hecht, who lives across the street, "and it felt kind of heavy, he pulled the bags out and just dropped 'em, because it was pretty gruesome."

The man, feeling shaken, called 911. After an initial visit by a single patrol car, dozens of police swarmed the area and roped it off with crime scene tape.

Police believe the human remains in the bin—a head, arm, and foot—belong to Lyne. They did not show signs of decomposition. At her Renton home, a search uncovered bits of human flesh and blood in the bathtub drain, along with a 15-inch pruning saw.

On Monday morning, police arrested Charlton in Lake Stevens on suspicion of murder. Later that day, they found Lyne's Toyota SUV parked in Seattle.

On Tuesday, he appeared in court. He is being held on $2 million bail.

Charlton has an extensive criminal history: In 2006, his parents, in Thurston County, petitioned for a restraining order against him. They said he was drunk, abusive, and that he had threatened his mother by telling her to watch Hannibal—a movie about a cannibalistic serial killer—and to "beware." That same year, Charlton was convicted in Utah of aggravated robbery. And he was convicted of negligent driving in Washington in 1998.


Also on Tuesday, police conducted an additional sweep of the Central District neighborhood where her remains were found, using search dogs.

"It's pretty intense to have that land on your door step," said Hecht. "One of the details that people were talking about was that there was toenail polish on the foot. That personalized it in a way that was kind of a gut punch."

Lyne's family issued a statement: "Thank you to all of you in what has truly been our darkest hour," they said. A GoFundMe to support her daughters has raised $115,000.

Tomorrow, Charlton is expected to be formally charged for Lyne's murder.