Murder charges filed on Tuesday against two Olympia teenagers accused of killing a 51-year-old man in Orting have revealed new details in a case that first came to public attention on the suspicious disappearance of a teenager.
The charging documents allege the boys, Gabriel Davies and Justin Jiwoon Yoon, both 16, broke into the Orting man’s home through a dog door while wearing gloves and gloves. dark clothes. Records show Davies’ father told law enforcement the teens were ordered to steal something from the house by the victim’s “biker buddies”, who allegedly threatened to hurt them if they did not follow up.
Davies and Yoon have been charged Pierce County Superior Court for first-degree murder, second-degree murder and first-degree burglary — all cleared with firearm upgrades — as well as two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
They were arraigned Tuesday afternoon and Superior Court Judge James Orlando set bail at $1 million. The teenagers, who are being held at Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center, were automatically charged as adults due to the seriousness of the offenses and their age.
Pierce County Assistant District Attorney Lisa Wagner cited the defendants’ alleged “level of planning” and their efforts to conceal evidence in seeking $1 million bond for the two teens.
Wagner also said the two defendants posed a flight risk. She alleged that Davies staged her disappearance to avoid prosecution.
The News Tribune generally does not name minors charged with crimes. In this case, the names are released due to recent coverage of Davies’ disappearance as well as the seriousness of the alleged offences.
The two teenagers hired private lawyers. Davies’ attorney, Brett Purtzer, declined to comment on the case. Yoon’s attorney, Angela Horwath, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The families of the defendants attended the hearing via Zoom but did not make a statement.
Wagner said authorities are still working to locate the victim’s family.
Davies came to the public’s attention last week when he disappeared on his way to soccer practice. His vehicle was found – with blood inside and a smashed mobile phone nearby – and a two-day search ensued. The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office led the effort with assistance from the FBI and other agencies.
Those worried about Davies’ return found relief after midnight Thursday when the sheriff’s office announced he had been found. But the story quickly took a turn. Earlier today a man was found dead from a gunshot wound in Orting. Davies and Yoon were arrested for the man’s murder the following night.
The victim and Davies knew each other, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Darren Moss told The News Tribune. According previous report, additional property, and Pierce and Thurston county court records link the home where the murder took place to a 51-year-old man with longtime ties to Davies and his mother. All have lived at the address for several years. Davies’ man and mother were a couple, according to statements filed by the two individuals in a long-running family law case.
Man found shot, stabbed
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was found dead Thursday morning by Pierce County deputies conducting a welfare check at a house in the 21700 block of East 190th Street, about 5 miles east of east of Orting. Records indicate the man had not reported for his last four shifts.
The man was found in the laundry room, with a “significant amount” of blood near his body and splattering onto the washing machine. According to the charging documents, he could have been dead for four days before he was found. The decomposition made it difficult to identify some injuries.
Fire personnel arrived and found a spent cartridge case near his body and a possible gunshot wound to his temple, according to the probable cause determination statement. Further investigation by a medical examiner revealed defects on the man’s stomach and chest believed to be stab wounds.
No firearms were found near the victim, but other shell casings and “numerous” gun cases and ammunition loading equipment were found around the house and in an isolated garage. According to the probable cause document, a .45 caliber shell casing and a 9mm shell casing were found, indicating that two guns may have been used. Two empty gun cases were also found.
It was later determined that the defendants stole two firearms from the residence and disposed of them in Thurston County.
Investigators link the disappearance to the murder
Investigators began linking the man’s murder to Davies’ disappearance after detectives learned that the man once had a relationship with Davies’ mother. According to the probable cause document, detectives believed this was important information because Davies had been reported missing. Deputies contacted Thurston County detectives, who said Davies’ vehicle was recovered near Tenino with exterior damage and blood on the steering wheel.
A Thurston detective investigating the teenager’s disappearance was contacted by the father of Davies’ friend, Justin Yoon, records show. The father claimed to have information about a crime in which Davies was involved.
As part of the missing person investigation, a detective spoke to family members of Davies, who said he and Yoon went camping in Panther Lake, Mason County, on the 27th and August 28. In Davies’ bedroom at his home, detectives found a single 9mm casing, but it was not recovered. According to the document, the victim’s death was unknown to any police department at the time.
Davies was found around 10 p.m. on September 1, about three miles from where his vehicle was found abandoned. Records say he was not wearing a shirt or shoes, but he had no injuries that would indicate he had been walking in the woods during the 36 hours of his disappearance.
“Davies initially told a detective that he had no recollection of what happened to him or where he was when he disappeared,” prosecutors wrote in the charging document. “He later said he couldn’t say what happened to him because people were going to hurt him.”
Video captures the break-in
Surveillance footage from a DVR found at the victim’s home showed two “skinny young men” approaching the house from the backyard at around 1:59 a.m. on August 28. The two crawled into the house through a dog door. One of them appeared to have pepper spray on his belt.
About 40 minutes later, the victim can be seen exiting his detached garage. He “stumbled” in his residence, prosecutors wrote in the charging document. Six minutes later, the victim’s dog ran out through the hatch and the suspects soon after exited through a side door. The pair ran back and forth to the garage before fleeing around 2:52 a.m. with several items in tow, including a “possible handgun.”
Detectives obtained photos from the State Licensing Department for Davies and Yoon and compared them to the footage. It appeared to be them, prosecutors wrote.
The defendant’s father calls the detective
On September 2, a Thurston County detective received a call from Davies’ father, who told him, “Gabe was involved in [the victim’s’] death,” the recordings say. He went on to say that the victim’s ‘biker buddies’ approached his son, telling him to steal an item from a safe in the man’s house and threatening to hurt him if he didn’t. didn’t.
Davies told Yoon about it, the father said, and the teens developed a “plot” to take the item. The two went to the man’s house on the night of August 28 or the following morning. The item was not identified in the charging documents.
“The father reported that his son knew where the victim’s gun was and said that ‘when the victim entered the house, Justin ran after him and stabbed him’, and said that ‘then , Gabe heard a gunshot,” state records.
Davies went to the garage to retrieve the item they were to take when he heard a second shot, the father told the detective. His son told him that the firearm used in the incident had been abandoned near his home. According to the probable cause document, Davies, with the help of his attorney, then showed investigators where the weapons had been deposited. A 9mm handgun and a .45 caliber handgun were found in a military-style ammunition box, along with loaded ammunition magazines. More than a dozen knives were also found.
The father also reported that the victim’s “biker buddies”, who he said were members of an “outlaw motorcycle club”, attacked his son days after the shooting. He said bikers followed Davies on Wednesday and pulled him out of his vehicle to where he was later found abandoned.
“Defendant Davies told his father that the blood in his truck came from the bikers who smashed his face into the interior of the car,” the records show. “They also allegedly put him in a Suburban and drove him around, abusing him before releasing him.”
Davies also allegedly told his father that the bikers took his shirt and shoes and then searched his vehicle for what was taken from the victim. However, according to the document, Davies told his father that the bikers took nothing.
This story was originally published September 6, 2022 1:10 p.m.
Peter Talbot covers crime and breaking news in Pierce County. He started with The News Tribune in 2021. Before that, he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Indiana University. While in college, he worked as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C. He also interned for the Oregonian and the Tampa Bay Times.