The Murder of Ingrid Lyne
Warning, this case discusses murder, dismemberment, alcoholism and drug use.
For this case, I watched an episode of Sex and Murder. It’s season 1 episode 1, titled ‘Date with the Devil.’
A single mother of 3 is reported missing the day after she went on a date with a man she met online.
Background
Ingrid Rounsaville was born on August 2, 1975. Ingrid lived with her 3 young daughters in Renton, Washington, about a 32 minute drive from Seattle. Ingrid worked as a nurse at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. She had just gone through a divorce from a man named Phil Lyne, who was the father of her children. Ingrid and Phil shared custody of their daughters.
Ingrid was described as a small woman with a big personality. She loved her daughters, and would’ve done anything for them.
Ingrid Lyne
The Disappearance
On April 8, 2016, Ingrid went on a date with a man she met online. The two went to the opening game of the Seattle Mariners. It was also reported that Ingrid and her date also went to a bar after the game, where the date’s sister worked.
The next day, April 9, Phil arrived at Ingrid’s to drop off their daughters. He noticed that Ingrid’s 2015 silver Toyota Highlander was missing. There was no answer when he knocked, and Ingrid wasn’t answering her phone.
Phil reached out to Ingrid’s mom. She had a spare key, and let herself into the house. Inside, she found Ingrid’s computer, purse, wallet and phone. But, there was no sign of Ingrid, or her car. Ingrid’s mom contacted the police.
Ingrid’s mom also remembered that she and her daughter shared a Verizon account. Ingrid’s mom accessed her phone records, and did a Facebook search for the most recent phone number. The phone number was on a profile for a man named John Charlton, who was revealed to be the man that Ingrid had gone on a date with the previous night.
Ingrid’s mom also texted John, asking if he had heard from Ingrid. She revealed to him that she called 911. John asked her why, and said that he did go out on a date with Ingrid, but didn’t spend the night.
The Discovery
Just 6 hours after Ingrid was reported missing, a man named Mike Novasio called the police. Mike lived about 1o miles from Ingrid. He said he was taking his recycling bin out, and saw what looked like human body parts in white trash bags.
Mike became very emotional when he was speaking in this episode. He said he saw a head, and painted toenails, and said he became ill. He said that whoever had put these parts in this bags had wrapped them very precisely and professionally.
The police and medical examiner arrived shortly after the call. The trash bags were opened, and inside was a head, part of a leg, and arm. There wasn’t any decomposition, so the police were able to identified the parts as belonging to Ingrid.
The Person of Interest
The police looked into Phil, but he was immediately ruled out.
Next, the police interviewed John Charlton, who was known to be the last person who had seen Ingrid alive. John’s online dating profile said that he wasn’t looking for anything serious, but he seemed like a regular guy.
The police asked John for his address, but he said he was homeless. He seemed to be annoyed that he was there being asked about Ingrid. John said he and Ingrid met online about a month earlier. He was asked what they did when they hung out, and he replied, “adult stuff, I guess.”
John said they went to the Mariners game, and had been drinking all night. John said they took the bus home, went to Ingrid’s, and she dropped him off downtown. John said when he woke up, he was lying on the sidewalk outside of a building. John admitted that he thinks they had sex, but he didn’t know because he had blacked out.
John was asked what his last interaction with Ingrid was, or what he remembered. John said he had sent Ingrid a message that morning asking how she had slept. John told the police that he didn’t stay over the previous night because Ingrid didn’t want to introduce him to her kids. The police asked why, and he said “probably because I’m homeless.”
John admitted that he wasn't “a normal person.” The police also discovered that when John wasn’t sleeping on the streets, he would stay over at his ex-girlfriend’s house. John said he and his ex had a romantic relationship, but it was complicated.
John eventually asked for a lawyer. The police left the room, but the cameras continued to record. The cameras caught John rolling up his sweatshirt that he used as a pillow to take a nap on the floor.
The Evidence
The police obtained a search warrant for Ingrid’s home. Inside, they found an almost empty box of garbage bags. The bags were similar to the garbage bags found in the recycling bin.
The police also found a pruning saw propped up in the bathroom. In the teeth of the saw, there was blood, tissue and bone. There was also blood found in the bathtub drain.
On April 15, 2016, more of Ingrid’s body was found in a recycling receptacle. A man named Michael Mullen had received a phone call from his neighbor. Inside his recycling bin, a torso with a pierced bellybutton was found. Ingrid had a pierced bellybutton, so it was determined to be hers.
On April 18, a human leg was found at a Seattle recycling plant.
The police went back to Ingrid’s home. This time, they removed the plumbing, and found more blood in the now dismantled drain trap.
A reagent called BlueStar was also used. There was evidence that the crime scene had been cleaned up.
What Really Happened?
At first, Ingrid’s death had been ruled as homicidal violence. But, the medical examiner had taken a closer look, and found petechia in Ingrid’s eyes. They also found hemorrhaging on Ingrid’s neck. Ingrid had been strangled, and dismembered in her own home. The toxicology report showed that Ingrid had no drugs in her system, but her BAC or BAL (blood alcohol level or content) was .074.
A few days after Ingrid went missing, her car was found in Belltown, about a 6 minute drive from Seattle. The police lifted three fingerprints from the car under the handle of the drivers door. The fingerprints were a match to John Charlton. There were also the same white trash bags found in the car.
The police interviewed John’s ex-girlfriend. She said John was supposed to come to her house on Saturday morning, the day after his date with Ingrid. She said John had told her that something came up, so he arrived later than planned. She noticed that John had a fat lip, which he claimed he had gotten when someone tried to rob him at the bar.
When John was questioned by the police, they also noticed that he had an abrasion on his head, chin, and had scratches on his chest and arms. He was arrested, and charged with Ingrid’s murder.
John’s History
John Charlton had a pretty extensive criminal history expanding to 6 states. He had charges for grand theft, attempted robbery, battery and assault for third degree larceny. His own parents had filed a restraining order against his, which was later dropped.
John’s other exes had come forward. One ex revealed that John had choked her during sex, and that he kept squeezing until she couldn’t breath. Another ex said that John had confided in her that he had killed someone in Florida. The Seattle police couldn’t verify his claims.
Some of John’s former friends revealed that John had stayed with them, and seemed to keep to himself. One friend said that John became a different person when he was drinking and doing drugs. John had revealed to the police that he had a problem with alcohol.
John’s claim that he had blacked out just didn’t match with the evidence from Ingrid’s house. He had killed Ingrid, dismembered her, and cleaned up the house. The police also didn’t know why John had left Ingrid in recycling bins. They thought it was either for shock value, or because he wanted to be caught.
The Plea and Conviction
Before John’s trial he shocked everyone when he decided to plead guilty. On October 2, 2017, John pled guilty to first degree murder and theft of a motor vehicle.
On January 5, 2018, John was sentenced to 27 years and 9 months in prison. This outraged many people because John could be released in his 60’s. There was also no motive as to why John killed Ingrid. Not all of Ingrid’s remains have been found.
John Charlton
Ingrid’s friend, Nancy, confronted John in court. She said:
“Ingrid wasn’t just murdered, “Her body was brutally violated and discarded like she was nothing. She fought to live and you forced her to die. You smothered her laugh, you crushed her smile.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
I believe John was an evil person, and just decided to kill Ingrid. He obviously had an extensive record, and probably was an alcoholic and drug user. It seemed like John was evil drunk or sober. He had abused women before, and claimed to have killed someone else. Ingrid wanted to start dating again, and sadly, she met the wrong person. John should’ve been honest with Ingrid, because I don’t believe she knew he was homeless, or sometimes living with an ex. My heart breaks for Ingrid’s family, but especially her daughters, and I hope their dad is taking amazing care of them.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ingrid_Lyne
https://komonews.com/news/local/man-who-killed-dismembered-renton-mom-gets-nearly-28-years-in-prison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNYSA5kA9Yo&t=152s
