BONNEY LAKE, Wash. — Following pushback over the announcement that a man who murdered three people would be released back into the community, Gov. Bob Ferguson reversed his parole decision.
Timothy Pauley was convicted for killing three SeaTac tavern employees in 1980.
Pauley, then 21, tortured five people at Barn Door Tavern in SeaTac during closing time, killing three of them with his accomplice. The pair used extension cords to tie up three women and two men who were cleaning up. They forced the women to undress and brought the men into a walk-in cooler, where Pauley executed them with a revolver. One of the women was later strangled by a cord used to tie her to a bar rail, the Associated Press reported. The other two women survived.
He was serving three life sentences for the robbery, rape, and murder of those three people.
Despite the sentence, opportunities for parole have still come up for Pauley throughout the decades. In 2016, when there was a possibility for his parole, families of the victims and survivors told KIRO 7 that they were outraged and that they couldn’t understand why a life sentence didn’t actually mean life in prison.
In 2022, the state’s Indeterminate Sentence Review Board unanimously found Pauley rehabilitated. It said he completed years of counseling for drug and alcohol abuse and for post-traumatic stress disorder for a workplace injury, he suffered before the killings and was okayed to be released.
At the time, then-Gov. Jay Inslee said he did not believe Pauley’s rehabilitation was complete because he did not apologize to the victims’ families and he “distanced himself from his actions and the direct consequences of those actions...”
When Inslee left office at the end of 2024, he walked back his decision to cancel parole.
While the triple murders took place near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Bonney Lake Mayor Terry Carter said he was made aware that if released, Pauley may be living in his community.
“I only became aware of this due to social media. Pauley is said to be released to live near Bonney Lake. As the Mayor, it is my duty to attempt to protect this community from harm,” Carter said in a letter to Ferguson. “My intent in writing this letter is not to spread fear but to ask for meaningful action that you, based on your elected position seem to be the only person who can stop this. Only the Governor has the power to cancel this parole.”
The letter continued: “With your background, especially as the former Attorney General for the great State of Washington, I’m sure you are aware of the negative effects this release could pose for the community.”
On March 25, Ferguson reversed the release decision.
Under Washington law, the governor has the authority to overturn a decision by the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (ISRB)
“Since Governor Inslee’s cancellation of his parole in 2022, Mr. Pauley has done additional rehabilitative work, and has been articulate in expressing regret and remorse. One must question, however, whether this comes from a place of true remorse rather than self-interest in being paroled. Having considered the ISRB record, I am unconvinced that Mr. Pauley is truly rehabilitated and fit for release at this time. I respectfully disagree with the ISRB and former Governor Inslee and do not find that Mr. Pauley’s rehabilitation is complete under RCW 9.95.100,” Ferguson wrote in his decision.
“Accordingly, I hereby cancel the ISRB’s decision to grant parole release to Mr. Pauley.”
The issue will be sent back to ISRB for further proceedings.
“I would just like to say thank you to Governor Ferguson for taking the time to investigate this issue and make the decision for the victims, victim’s families and Bonney Lake citizens. We are truly grateful for his quick action,” Carter told KIRO 7 news in a statement on Thursday.
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