ARLINGTON, Wash — The remains were found under a concrete slab on property in Arlington after a search warrant was served in the 8100 block of Wade Road.
According to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, investigators identified 48-year-old Michele Donohue, believed to be the victim’s wife, as a suspect. She was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on second-degree murder.
According to probable cause documents, an informant came forward on Dec. 26 and reported that he heard there was a body buried at the property. A man named Michael Hueslein had told the informant that he had helped move the body.
Under court authority, the informant wore a wire to record a conversation with Hueslein, and he stated that several years ago he helped Walter Shew and Joel Donohue, Michele Donohue’s current husband, move bags that contained a dismembered body from under dirt pile and bury it under concrete.
Detectives interviewed Hueslein Thursday and he confirmed that he reburied what he believed to be a body. He said Joel Donohue told him the body was of Michele’s former husband and that she fatally stabbed him.
After a search warrant was obtained, detectives interviewed Joel and Michele Donohue. According to documents, Joel Donohue stated that Michele Donohue said that she stabbed her husband and killed him before he met her. Joel Donohue told detectives the body was under a pile of dirt, and he recruited Shew and Hueslein to help dig up the body and bury it again, documents said.
During the search warrant, detectives removed a concrete floor, and human remains were found deep in the ground.
In addition to the remains, detectives discovered what appeared to be a chop-shop operation.
KIRO
