Judge finds Anthony Garver guilty of premeditated murder in 2013 case

A judge on Tuesday found Anthony Garver guilty of 1st-degree premeditated murder for the killing of a Snohomish County woman.Garver killed 20-year-old Phillipa Evans-Lopez in 2013. His trial had been delayed by questions about his mental health and then by his escape from Western State Hospital.

EVERETT, Wash. -- A judge on Tuesday found Anthony Garver guilty of 1st-degree premeditated murder for the killing of a Snohomish County woman.

Garver killed 20-year-old Phillipa Evans-Lopez in 2013. His trial had been delayed by questions about his mental health and then by his escape from Western State Hospital.

Phillipa Evans-Lopez, 20, was found stabbed to death in her Lake Stevens home on June 17, 2013.

Evans-Lopez was found tied to a bed in her home. Her throat was slashed and she had been stabbed more than two dozen times.

After weeks on the run, authorities caught up with Garver at a McDonald’s in Snohomish County, where he was arrested.

Cops said they found a folding knife in his pocket, and prosecutors say it’s the same weapon used to kill Evans-Lopez.

Court documents say Garver’s DNA was found on the electrical cords used to bind Evans-Lopez.

Prosecutors have said Garver aspired to emulate Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, and that he has studied al-Qaeda training manuals, even downloading bomb-making information from the Internet.