Amount of Blood Found in Home of Washington Couple Who Vanished Was ‘Unsurvivable’: Prosecution

So much blood was left behind in the suspected attack on missing Washington couple Davido and Karen Koep that it’s almost impossible they survived, a prosecutor said Monday.

Timothy Burke, 45, is being held without bail for the killing of the missing couple, but authorities still don’t know the whereabouts of the Koeps. The couple was reported missing in Lacey, Washington on Nov. 13 after Karen Koep didn’t show up for work.

Police found significant amounts of blood at their home when conducting a welfare check, but didn’t find the Koeps’ bodies. They also found the couple’s abandoned vehicle in an intersection following the welfare check.

“The amount of blood that was in the home was unsurvivable,” Thurston County Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Lord said Monday in court, KIRO reported. Police said Friday they believed the couple was dead.

Burke is being held on murder charges because “it’s the state’s perspective, based on the quantities of blood and the opinions of the professionals involved in the determination of facts and evidence in this case, that murder is the appropriate charge rather than assault,” Lord said, according to the Olympian. 

“Further, there was blood found in both Mister Burke’s vehicle,” Lord added.

Burke had been a tenant living in a property owned by Davido Koep, authorities said. He apparently became upset with his landlord and accused him of tainting his water. David Koep had been planning on evicting him, authorities said, citing a close friend.