Police: Remains found in Seattle recycling center likely those of slain Renton mom Ingrid Lyne



SEATTLE -- Human remains were discovered Monday at a Seattle recycling station, and police say they are likely those of Ingrid Lyne, the mother of three who was killed and dismembered in her Renton home April 8-9.

Police said the latest remains were found at about 11 a.m. Monday at the Republic Services transfer station in Seattle's Sodo district.

Sara Cativo said her mother was one of the employees who made the grisly discovery while working on one of the sorting lines. Cativo said her mother called her to share the disturbing news after finding what she thought to be body parts.

“She kind of sounded hysterical,” Cativo said. “She called me and told me they found a human leg and then she called me again and said they found a hand in a bag with more body parts."

Seattle Police confirmed the remains likely belong to 40-year-old Ingrid Lyne.

Brad Caldwell said he knew something was wrong when he saw at least a half-dozen Seattle Police officers combing through the trash.

“They don’t bring cops down here and coroners down here with stretchers when it’s nothing,” he said.

It’s the third time in 10 days body parts have been discovered in Seattle; first on April 9 and then again on April 15. The previous recovered human remains had been found in recycling bins in the Central District.

Police believe John Charlton, 37, who had been dating Lyne for about a month and was the last person to see her alive on April 8, killed Lyne in her Renton home, dismembered her in her bathtub and then packaged and dumped her body parts in various recycling bins in Seattle. Prosecutors have charged Charlton with first-degree murder; he is being held in the King County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail.

The latest discovery of human remains was a shock to Cativo, and for a community struggling to understand why anyone would do something so gruesome.

“It’s sad,” she said. “I find it very sad, it’s very heartbreaking.”

Police would not confirm if there could be more human remains unaccounted for in the Lyne murder investigation.

Finding the rest of Lyne's remains could be crucial for investigators trying to figure out exactly how she was killed.

Police have not speculated on a possible motive.