Seattle police found 63-year-old Jennifer Ayers dead in her Lake City home Monday.
The suspect in her death, Michael Giordano, 23, was wheeled into court to face a judge Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors charged the suspect with aggravated first-degree murder, and say the crime also included robbery, burglary, arson and rape.
“The facts here are extremely violent and disturbing,” the prosecutor said to the judge.
Prosecuting documents detailed what happened in the horrific final moments of Ayers’ life.
The documents say someone by the initials of R.H. on 36th Ave NE in Lake City called 911 after seeing Giordano in the street with blood on his hands, and seeing him throw credit cards into the street and bushes.
The documents say when officers went inside they found the house ransacked, filled with smoke, and also saw "a significant amount of blood."
Officers found Ayers lying on the floor, partly on fire, with hands tied behind her back with what appeared to be X-Box controller cords.
“The officers immediately dragged the woman out of the house and into the backyard. Once clear of the smoke, officers were able to see the woman’s hands were bound behind her back, she was only partially clothed, a large knife handle was sticking out of her right buttock, and her inner thighs and crotch had been severely burned away. She was clearly deceased,” the documents read.
Documents say the victim's throat was slashed.
“In addition to suffering a multitude of stab wounds throughout her body, the victim had extremely large lacerations on her neck. There was writing on the walls inside the home and it appeared to be written in blood. In the immediate area of the fire where the victim’s body was found burning, detectives found a red plastic gasoline can,” the documents read.
In court, the prosecutor said Giordano was a stranger to Ayers.
KIRO7 talked with a friend of Ayers' before learning the details of the crimes. Thom Head says he and Ayers
were "two peas in a pod" and walked their dogs together every day for 20 years.
“I was absolutely stunned that it was Jen. And it was tough. Because I thought about all of her neighbors and her poor little dog and her son,” Head said, his voice breaking.
He and her neighbors describe Ayers as someone always helping others.
“She would bend over backwards for her neighbors,” Head said. “She was so smart, on top of it, very well informed, knew everything that was going on.”
He said he can’t help thinking about her final moments.
“Jen was a very small person, she was 4 feet 11 inches tall in her high heels so she probably had a tough time trying to defend herself ,” Head said.
The prosecuting documents say Giordano at first, told investigators he was mugged and had killed a man in self-defense. The documents say, “However, Giordano eventually admitted that those were lies he created to distract police from his real crime.”
“Giordano admitted to detectives that he picked the victim at random, based primarily on the cars parked outside her residence. He admitted that he snuck in through an unlocked door, tied the victim up with cords, stabbed her multiple times in an attempt to induce her to tell him where her valuables were located, forcibly raped her and eventually killed her.
“He also explained that he used gasoline and intentionally set the victim’s crotch on fire to destroy evidence of the rape,” the documents said.
“Additionally, Giordano admitted that the writings on the victim’s wall with blood was done by him with the specific intention of misleading police into believing that the killer was someone with satanic beliefs,” the documents continued.
In court Wednesday, Giordano looked into the KIRO7 cameras and mouthed "F--- you," and later smiled and mouthed "bye" to the camera as he was wheeled out of court.
A judge set his bail for $10 million.
GRAPHIC WARNING: The documents embedded in the tweet below contain graphic details.
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