MERCER ISLAND, Wash. — The suspects accused of killing a Mercer Island man pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, kidnapping, identity theft and criminal impersonation, among other charges, after being extradited back to Washington state from California.
The defendants, identified as Philip J. Brewer and Christina Joel Hardy in court documents, are being held on $5 million bail in a King County jail. Hardy appeared in court Tuesday while Brewer had his arraignment last week.
Brewer and Hardy are accused of injecting a 74-year-old Mercer Island man with fentanyl, and then stabbing him in the neck when they realized he wasn't dead, according to court documents. Brewer and the victim, identified Curtis Engeland, met on a dating app in January. On the pair's second date, Brewer allegedly stole Engeland's wallet, keys and cellphone and made thousands of dollars in transfers using his accounts.
Just over a month later, Engeland's roommate reported him missing, and said that suspicious text messages claiming Engeland would be unable to respond for three to six weeks were sent from his phone at around 3 a.m. The text also said a woman named "Christina" would be renting out the downstairs of Engeland's home.
The roommate, who told police he was in a relationship with Engeland and in the process of moving in with him, said the texts did not appear to have been written by Engeland because they did not match how he normally would write a text message. Engeland's car was also missing, and a rental car was in the driveway that the roommate had never seen.
A note was left on Engeland's nightstand that read, "Will be back later on the week. Unexpected matters have come up [phone number] Please call me." The roommate had access to Engeland's laptop and showed detectives emails with information about money transfers to Brewer and the purchase of new Apple products, which were being shipped to Engeland's home. Engeland's luggage was still in the home, court documents say.
Mercer Island police eventually located Engeland's car in a QFC parking lot, where Brewer and Hardy said they parked it after using it supposedly with the victim's permission. The trunk contained a cardboard box with a large amount of blood and a white towel, which also appeared to be partially soaked in blood. Fingerprints found on a soda can in Engeland's vehicle belonged to Brewer, per court documents.
“When someone goes missing, and certainly when it turns into a homicide, it is very uncommon here,” said Lindsey Tusing, Mercer Island Police Department’s public information officer.
Cellphone data gathered by detectives showed Engeland's phone and Brewer and Hardy's devices all traveled together from Mercer Island down Interstate 5. They were located on Highway 101 toward Cosmopolis.
Detectives used coordinates from the cellphone data to track down and find Engeland's body, which was wrapped in a blanket.
An autopsy revealed Engeland was stabbed in the neck and had blunt-force trauma to his face and an undetermined amount of fentanyl in his system.
They allegedly fled to southern California and told someone about the murder. Police say that person told the California Highway Patrol.
“They took it seriously enough to notify our detectives in the middle of the night, and without that follow-through, I don't know if we would have them in custody,” said Tusing.
Brewer and Hardy were taken into custody at the Riverside County Jail and were extradited to Washington to face the charges.