A 43-year-old man pleaded guilty last week to second-degree murder with a deadly weapon for the Dec. 21, 2010 stabbing death of his former girlfriend in her Kent apartment.
Shawn D. Gulseth, faces a sentence range of 26 to 35 years in prison for the death of Bonnie Peterson, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors will ask for a 35-year sentence when Gulseth is sentenced at 1:45 p.m. Dec. 6 before King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvas at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
According to charging papers, Gulseth brutally beat and stabbed to death Peterson, 45. Gulseth and Peterson had dated for about eight months. Kent detectives found out from interviews with friends or acquaintances of the two that Peterson had decided earlier in December to break off the relationship.
Gulseth reportedly had assaulted Peterson in the past and was a known drug user who became violent when he was under the influence of narcotics.
Peterson and Gulseth had an argument at the apartment the night of Dec. 20, according to a phone call to Peterson from a friend. Peterson did not answer her apartment door the next morning when friends stopped to pick her up for work.
Detectives found bloody fingerprints as well as a large kitchen knife next to Peterson’s body. Detectives found eight prints inside the apartment that belonged to Gulseth.
California police agencies arrested Gulseth Jan. 11 when they found him living under a bridge in the town of Willits in Northern California. Gulseth waived an extradition hearing Jan. 13 in Mendocino County, Calif., that allowed King County authorities to transport him Jan. 21 to Washington.
Kent Police had searched for Gulseth as a suspect in the death of Peterson since officers found her body Dec. 21 at the Village at Lake Meridian apartments on the East Hill.
Gulseth pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in February 2011.
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