SEATTLE — A 33-year-old woman pleaded not guilty Thursday after being charged with first-degree murder in the death of her father after what police say was a violent attack at their home in early November.
King County prosecutors charged Corey Lizette Burke, 33, with the murder of her father, Timothy Burke, 67, after they got into an argument over household lights on Nov. 5. She is being held on a $2 million bail.
According to charging documents from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Corey started arguing with her father after he insisted on keeping lights on, which escalated when Burke allegedly decided she “needed to do something” about him.
After the argument, Burke went upstairs, got an ice axe, and confronted him in the basement. Detectives said she tripped him and used the axe to repeatedly strike him.
She admitted to responding officers that she strangled him with her hands and the axe while he struggled to breathe, hurting his head, back and side. Burke struck her father multiple times with the ice axe, inflicting puncture wounds deep enough to penetrate his lung and rib cage, according to charging documents.
Corey’s father also had blunt force trauma to his head and what officers described as bite marks on his back.
Burke stayed by her father’s side until he stopped breathing, according to charging documents.
Afterward, she went upstairs and smashed several windows in her home, prompting neighbors to call 911.
When officers arrived on the scene that night, they found Burke outside the home, visibly disoriented with blood on her face.
She was reportedly unresponsive to questions, saying only that she was “sick” and hadn’t eaten. Burke denied taking any substances but did not provide clear answers regarding the situation inside.
Officers detained her after she refused to allow a search of the home and requested medical attention, claiming she needed to go to the hospital.
Concerned about the welfare of Timothy, whom neighbors reported as elderly and often housebound, officers conducted a welfare check inside the home. They found him dead in a basement bedroom with obvious signs of trauma.
Police found the bloodied ice axe on the floor in the upstairs living room and shattered glass from the windows lay scattered across the front yard.
After Burke was taken to Harborview Medical Center, she was arrested in connection to Timothy’s death.
During her interview with detectives, she admitted to the killing, describing feeling overwhelmed by her relationship with her father and recounting that she “freaked out” during their argument. She also provided further details on the attack, including her decision to strike him with the axe multiple times to ensure he wouldn’t survive.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office later said Timothy died from a combination of severe blunt force trauma, puncture wounds, and asphyxiation.