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Page A3 WEDNESDAY, 07.30.2014
Not a word after 2 weeks
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EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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16 years in man’s death Arlington woman killed and buried her husband a decade ago
By Eric Stevick Herald Writer
EVERETT — Two weeks later, the family of a missing Everett octogenarian continues to worry while waiting for news of her whereabouts. Ethel A. O’Neil, 89, vanished July 16 while on an Ethel A. outing. O’Neil She’d planned to go shopping at the Everett Mall, just a three-mile drive from her home. Her family believes O’Neil, who has early signs of dementia, might have become lost. She was last seen in the 6700 block of 88th Place in Marysville, asking for a map and directions back to Everett. Her disappearance is a mystery to her family. See MISSING, Page A2
By Noah Haglund Herald Writer
MUKILTEO — A future parkand-ride planned on the west side of Paine Field could fill a major void for southbound commuters. It now has some financial backing after years of talk. Early plans call for lot with 200 or more spaces run by Community Transit off Mukilteo Speedway at Bernie Webber Drive. “It’ll connect predominantly to the UW and (downtown) Seattle CT bus routes,” said state See MUKILTEO, back page, this section
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DAN BATES / THE HERALD
Convicted murderer Michele Donohue reacts as someone on the other side of the room calls out to her as she is led from the courtroom following sentencing Tuesday in Everett.
By Diana Hefley Herald Writer
EVERETT — Michele Donohue made plans for her exhusband’s money. She bragged to the neighbor girl about buying a big television and toyed with the idea of installing a new jetted tub in the couple’s Arlington house. She sold off his beloved automobile collection, including a couple of muscle cars. She took half of his Boeing pension, netting her about $124,000. She also sold the property next to the house on Wade Road for about $110,000. Donohue told anyone who would listen she was a scorned woman. Byron Wright, she said, ran off with a redheaded twentysomething, driving a sports
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He was always around until Michele entered his life. — Sharon Diehl, Byron Wright’s younger sister
car. She tweaked some of the details, depending on who she was talking to. She told Wright’s sister the pair was headed to Wisconsin. She told the divorce judge that Wright left behind all of his belongings. She claimed that he’d bragged his new girlfriend was wealthy and he didn’t need his longtime job at Boeing anymore. Donohue filed for divorce in October 2004. She said she couldn’t serve Wright with the paperwork because she didn’t
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know where he was. Secretly she knew Wright’s exact whereabouts. Likely in September of that same year, Donohue repeatedly stabbed her husband, dismembered his body and buried him under 48 yards of fill dirt next to the shop. He was 53. She and her new husband burned through Wright’s money. She said they “spent the money on vacation trips and had fun.” A Snohomish County Superior Court judge on Tuesday
THE BUZZ: Tanning is blamed for a rise in skin cancer. But how do you stick a surgeon general’s warning on the sun? Page A2
sentenced Donohue to 16 years in prison. She faced up to 18 years under the law. Judge George Bowden said Donohue deserved to “be locked up,” but he also believes the community would be better off if she serves some time under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections once she is released from prison. That wouldn’t have been possible if she’d received the maximum. Donohue, 48, finally confessed to killing her husband after nearly a decade of trying to keep her crime hidden beneath dirt and later concrete. She pleaded guilty earlier this month to seconddegree murder. See DEATH, back page, this section
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