Grisly details in shopping cart murder: Victim stabbed more than 80 times
(Photo: KCPQ-TV)
SEATTLE -- Prosecutors filed a second-degree murder charge against Michael Thompson, who is accused of stabbing another man more than 80 times, then stuffing him in a shopping cart and pushing him through south Seattle.
Detectives arrested Thompson on Friday -- just a day after the body was discovered stuff in the cart.
According to court papers, Thompson is a felon who was supposed to be on electronic home detention. The day of the murder, police issued a warrant for Thompson's arrest for failing to stay in contact with his case worker.
Prosecutors say Thompson has felony convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, theft and drugs -- and 13 misdemeanor convictions including several for assault and battery.
Thompson is a danger to the community and a flight risk, prosecutors said. They are asking for bail to be set at $2 million.
Last week, witnesses told investigators they saw a man rummaging through garbage cans and confronted him, but he left the cart and walked off. That's when witnesses found Daryl Ford's body inside the shopping cart.
Detectives said the suspect and the victim knew each other.
In court documents, Seattle police said they discovered in the cart a card for South Mental Health and went to the nearest facility, Kenyon House, where they discovered Thompson lived. Detectives obtained video from Kenyon House that showed Thompson returned to his room on May 21 with another man "who strongly resembles Ford. Ford is pushing a bike."
The police say that five hours later, in early May 22, Thompson emerges from the room alone with the bike. About 15 minutes later, he returns to his room with a shopping cart. About three hours later, he is seen pushing the shopping cart out of his room. "Ford is never seen exiting the apartment."
An autopsy on Ford later showed that he had been stabbed more than 80 times, police said in the documents. "There were stab wounds to his spinal cord, left liver, both kidneys and both lungs."
Police said they found four fingerprints on the shopping car that matched the fingerprints of Thompson.