3 In Family Beaten, Stabbed -- Older Daughter Strangled In Bellevue's Worst Homicide

BELLEVUE - Three members of the family found slain over the weekend in the Woodridge neighborhood were bludgeoned and stabbed to death, an autopsy revealed.

A fourth was strangled; her body was found in some bushes at Woodridge Water Tower Park.

Police do not believe the slayings were random and are looking for suspects connected to the family, said police spokesman Lt. Bill Ferguson.

The quadruple homicide is considered the worst in Bellevue's history. Dead are William Wilson, 52, his wife, Rosilee, 46, and their two daughters, Kimberly Ann, 20, and Julia, 17.

The parents and the younger daughter, Julia were hit on the head and stabbed in the neck, according to a report released yesterday by the King County Medical Examiner's Office. The other daughter, Kimberly, had been strangled.

But details of the deaths did not break up daily routine for many in the neighborhood. Several couples last night went on their usual after-dinner walks. And children still play in the park where the body of Kimberly Ann Wilson was discovered.

"The neighborhood as a whole is not fearful," Barbara Sauerbrey, president of the Woodridge Community Association, said.

Officers are stepping up patrols in the Southeast Bellevue neighborhood to help ease the concern among those residents who are worried that a killer remains at large, police said.

Eighteen Bellevue detectives are working on the case, but so far police have no suspects, no murder weapon and no motive in the slayings, Ferguson said.

Police also have set a second meeting with Woodridge and Norwood residents tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Woodridge Elementary School, 12619 S.E. 20th Place.

Detectives and community-service officers met with Woodridge residents Monday evening in a private, hourlong meeting in a home up the street from 121st Avenue Southeast where the killings took place.

Neighbors said the Wilson family appeared close-knit but mostly kept to themselves.

William Wilson and his wife "Rose" were both accountants. He worked at Graham Steel in Kirkland. She was a supervisor at the University of Washington library since 1989.

The two sisters had both attended Bellevue High School. Kimberly, described by school officials as independent and strong-willed, had graduated in 1995 while Julia, who was considered shy and reserved, was a senior.

Kimberly Wilson had been visiting her family on a two-week leave from training in San Diego for AmeriCorps, President Clinton's national-service program.

The investigation began when children discovered her body at the Woodridge neighborhood park Sunday. Hours later, police knocked on the family home three blocks away. There they found the bodies of her parents in one bedroom and her sister Julia in another bedroom.

Police said that there was no forced entry to the home and that it had not been ransacked.