A year ago, Mark Stover, a dog trainer whose clients were in the thermosphere of Seattle's class atmosphere (Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Howard Schultz, Ichiro Suzuki), disappeared. The authorities believe that the boyfriend of Stover's ex-wife, Michiel Oakes, killed the dog trainer. The ex-wife, Linda Opdycke, is the daughter of the man who played a leading role in establishing Washington's most powerful winery (Chateau Ste. Michelle), and her boyfriend is a professional bodyguard. The bodyguard is on trial and claims that he killed the dog trainer in self-defense. His picture of how things went down is pure noir, Northwest noir:

(Seattle Times) Oakes testified that he met several times with Stover before the shooting, in unsuccessful attempts to placate Stover's obsessive demand for wedding photos that Stover believed his ex-wife had.

Oakes told jurors that Stover ordered him to show up at Stover's home on the morning of Oct. 28, 2009, with the photos in hand. Oakes said when he showed up without the photos, Stover became enraged.

The dog trainer told Oakes to wait in a basement washroom, then took his protection dog outside and came back with a revolver in hand, Oakes said.

Oakes, a slight 5-foot-6 bodyguard who said he has trained police officers in hand-to-hand combat, said Stover fired as Oakes lunged to disarm him - and in the process, both men got shot.

Oakes said he was saved by the bullet-resistant vest he was wearing, but Stover collapsed and died. He said he dumped the body and the gun in the sea from a dilapidated dock behind a nearby tribal casino.

..."He fell - he, um, fell, and I was left holding the gun," Oakes testified.