Assault probed at killer's former home

Assault probed at killer's former home

Everett police are investigating the assault of a man who was found critically injured in his home east of Bothell on Friday morning. Shortly after 8 a.m....

By Brian Alexander

Times Snohomish County Bureau

Everett police are investigating the assault of a man who was found critically injured in his home east of Bothell on Friday morning.

Shortly after 8 a.m., Snohomish County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call from someone who found a 60-year-old relative badly injured in a home in the 4300 block of 212th Street Southeast, in unincorporated Snohomish County, said Everett police spokesman Boyd Bryant.

The Sheriff's Office asked Everett police to assume the investigation because the sheriff's major-crimes unit had been working all night on an assault at Naval Station Everett and didn't have the resources to investigate another major crime, said sheriff's spokesman Rich Niebusch.

The man, whose name was not released by police, was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he was in "very critical" condition Friday night, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Everett police started gathering evidence shortly after 2 p.m., when they obtained a search warrant. Officials did not say how the man was assaulted or whether there were any suspects.

Police were still trying to contact other family members of the victim Friday night, Bryant said.

The home where Friday's assault took place was the scene of a 1991 murder involving a nurse, Noreen Erlandson, who beat her 2-year-old daughter to death.

According to county records, the home is still owned by Erlandson's ex-husband, Douglas Erlandson, 60, though police would not say whether he was the victim of Friday's assault.

In the 1991 case, Noreen Erlandson was convicted of second-degree murder for beating the couple's daughter, Kayla, whom they adopted from South Korea.

Douglas and Noreen Erlandson were divorced after Noreen Erlandson's conviction.

Noreen Erlandson was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 1992. But she was released from prison late last year after the state Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that an assault that leads to an unintended death cannot be called a murder. That ruling placed hundreds of second-degree murder convictions — including Erlandson's — up for review.

Erlandson accepted a plea agreement for first-degree manslaughter and was released on time served in December 2004.

Police say it's unknown whether the 1991 incident is connected to Friday's assault.

Brian Alexander: 425-745-7845 or balexander@seattletimes.com