The two were seen leaving the victim’s motel room on Aug. 18 hours after he had told the manager he was going to take a nap. The 48-year-old’s body was found the next day, police said.
A man who said he planned to take anap in his motel room on Aurora Avenue North on Aug. 18was found the next morning tied up with a plastic bag over his head, dead from multiple stab wounds, according to King County prosecutors.
Jonathan Finney, 48, was killed in an apparent robbery with cash and a large stash of methamphetamines stolen from his room, according to charging documents filed Tuesday against his alleged killers.
Elder Carceres, 29, and Luci Lucarelli, 32, have each been charged with second-degree murder, though prosecutors may amend the charge to first-degree murder depending on results of the criminal investigation by Seattle police, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Scott O’Toole wrote in charging papers.
Carceres was arrested Thursday after a short foot chase in Ballard, police said. Lucarelli was arrested Friday, also in Ballard, when she was recognized by officers.
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Both suspects are being held in lieu of $2 million bail, jail records show.
Carceres, who was sentenced to jail last year for dealing heroin, was convicted in 2009 in Atlanta for illegally re-entering the country after being deported on another felony charge, according to court records in the 2016 drug case. The records don’t indicate where Carceres is originally from.
Additionally, he is under investigation for a domestic-violence assault in July involving Lucarelli and for allegedly setting fire earlier this summer to a tent while Finney was inside it, O’Toole wrote in charging papers.
On Aug. 18, Finney paid his rent at the Emerald Motel, 12045 Aurora Ave. N., and told the manager around noon that he was going to take a nap, charging papers say. According to witnesses and video-surveillance footage, Carceres and Lucarelli arrived at Finney’s room around 3:30 p.m. and Carceres left 19 minutes later wearing different clothing, the charges say.
The clothing Carceres was seen wearing into the motel room was later found covered in blood by police at the crime scene, say charging papers.
Lucarelli was inside Finney’s motel room for another half-hour before she left, according to the charges.
Carceres and Lucarelli the went to a nearby doughnut shop, where a witness later told police the couple claimed Finney had given them a large amount of meth and his phone, charging papers say.
Carceres and Lucarelli are to be arraigned Sept. 11.