Mill Creek, WA: 2 dead in Mill Creek: pregnant woman in apartment, husband in crashed car

A 27-year-old pregnant woman was found dead inside a Mill Creek apartment early Monday and her husband, who was driving a black car that sped from the scene, died after crashing the vehicle into the back of a parked semi truck, according to police.

On Tuesday, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office identified the slain man as Sean McIntyre, 29. An official at the medical examiner's office said they're completing his wife's autopsy and have not released her name.

However, according to court records, McIntyre was married to Sandra Perry McIntyre. The couple married in July 2011, according to King County records.

The medical examiner's office expects release cause and manner of their deaths later Tuesday.

Witnesses told detectives the couple had spent part of Sunday with friends watching a football game, then went to dinner and consumed alcohol, according to Mill Creek police spokesman Officer Ian Durkee. That night, the woman called friends to come to her apartment because her husband was acting strangely and had armed himself with a loaded shotgun, he said.

All but one of the friends left the apartment after the situation de-escalated; when the last friend briefly left to buy cigarettes, the husband is believed to have assaulted his wife, causing her death, Durkee said. She suffered a severe head wound, he said.

Neighbors called 911 shortly after midnight after hearing "yelling and sounds of a physical disturbance" coming from an apartment in the 14700 block of Main Street, according to Durkee. When no one answered the officers' knocks on the door, they peered through a window and could see a woman lying on the floor, he said.

They forced entry into the residence but locked down the crime scene after determining the woman was dead and no one else was inside, Durkee said.

Around the time that officers were responding to the apartment, a black car was seen speeding away, he said. A Snohomish County sheriff's deputy spotted the vehicle leaving the area and attempted to pursue it, but the deputy and a Mill Creek officer weren't able to catch up to the car. They found it crashed in the 18500 block of 35th Avenue Southeast in unincorporated Snohomish County, about three or four miles from the apartment building, Durkee said. The 30-year-old male driver was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.

The husband owned several firearms, including handguns, Durkee said. A loaded shotgun was found inside the apartment, but detectives didn't know whether it was used in the assault on the woman, he said.

Durkee said it does not appear that officers had previously been dispatched to the apartment for domestic disturbances. Durkee said the crime is indicative of "how domestic situations can spiral out of control very quickly."