Suicide Case Tied To Jogger's Death -- Man Who Shot Self Was Sex Offender

The dead man police are investigating in last week's slaying of a jogger on the Cedar River Trail was a convicted rapist who gave away his motorcycle the next day, then disappeared.

The dead man's roommate, who asked not to be identified, said today that last Wednesday, Gary Wayne Puckett left him a note in the Kent apartment the two shared indicating the roommate could have Puckett's motorcycle. Days passed with no sign of Puckett, the roommate said, and he grew worried.

On Sunday, Kent police arrived at the apartment looking for Puckett's ex-wife. Kent police spokesman Paul Petersen said today that officers did not tell the roommate of Puckett's death at that time.

The following day, the roommate went to police and asked what was going on. "At that time we felt it was not inappropriate to tell him that the fellow had shot himself in a barricaded situation," Petersen said. Puckett, 38, committed suicide Sunday in North Dakota after he allegedly slashed a woman's throat in White Earth, N.D. King County police said Puckett is now a focus in the investigation of the slaying of Alice Underdahl, 52, on the Cedar River Trail last Tuesday.

Photos of Puckett have been shown to three witnesses who have "positively identified him" as being on the trail about the same time as Underdahl was slain, said King County police spokeswoman Joanne Elledge.

A King County detective is being sent to North Dakota, and detectives are reconstructing Puckett's movements in the days leading up to and following Underdahl's death, Elledge said.

Harry Franzhein, director of human resources for Mikron Technologies, where Puckett worked as a laminator, said Puckett didn't seem to have many connections to the community but had "befriended a number of employees" at Mikron and was well-liked. Puckett's roommate described him as a good cook, who had several girlfriends and loved to fish and camp.

Elledge stopped short of calling Puckett a suspect in the Underdahl case, but said evidence from the crime scene at the Cedar River Trail and from the autopsies on Underdahl and Puckett will be studied to try to determine whether there are any links. She said the lab tests could take weeks.

Underdahl, a United Airlines flight attendant, was attacked while jogging with her golden retriever.

When she failed to return home as planned, her husband and daughter searched and found her car and the dog at the trailhead in Ravensdale. When they couldn't find her, they called police. Her body was discovered about 1 a.m. last Wednesday. The medical examiner concluded she had been strangled.

In 1980, Puckett was sentenced to life in prison - with the possibility of parole - for raping and robbing an 86-year-old Bellevue woman.

Court records say he broke into her condominum in Bellevue, raped her and stole her jewelry after choking her into unconsciousness.

She suffered a stroke as a result of the attack. Puckett, who was 20 at the time, was later arrested and charged with first-degree rape, first-degree burglary and first-degree robbery.

After his conviction, he was sent to prison, and was paroled in 1987. Within months, though, he began making harassing telephone calls and was sent back to prison for violating parole, said Kit Bail, chairwoman of the state parole board.

Once back in prison, Puckett completed a sex-offender-treatment program and "did quite well," Bail said. He was released on parole again in 1994.

Bail said that Puckett had been in regular contact with his parole officer since his release three years ago and was due for his final discharge on Oct. 14.

"Right up until now, he's done fine" during his parole period, Bail said.

In August, though, Puckett was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender after he moved from a Seattle halfway house.

But Bail said that because a parole officer had determined Puckett was simply negligent in failing to register, and not trying to hide, his August arrest wasn't considered a violation of his parole. Puckett was released on his own recognizance and was due to appear in court Nov. 10.

Yesterday police also interviewed Puckett's estranged wife.

Puckett is suspected of slashing the throat of a 35-year-old North Dakota woman Sunday at a rest area on Highway 2 near White Earth, N.D. The victim, who suffered a five-inch slash to her throat, was able to scribble down notes that led police to Puckett's van, said Sheriff Howard Soderberg of Towner County, N.D.

The van was stopped that evening at a roadblock west of Stanley, N.D. As deputies tried for about 15 minutes to persuade Puckett to surrender, he shot himself with a .45-caliber handgun.

North Dakota authorities believe the woman was selected at random. She was listed in serious condition today at Trinity Hospital in Minot, N.D.

News of Puckett's alleged involvement with the assault on the North Dakota woman hit his roommate hard.

"It's kind of freaky," he said. "You would never have known it. To talk to him you would have thought he was a teddy bear, a puppy."

The roommate said he had known Puckett for a long time and knew nothing of his past. He said Puckett owed him money.

Puckett's apartment in Kent is on North Central Avenue, an area of car dealerships, several fast-food restaurants and a bowling business.

A woman who lives in the complex remembered seeing him at night at the apartment complex's fitness center.

"He was real friendly," she said. "He'd say, `C'mon, let's jump in the pool. You only live once.' "

She described him as a big, husky guy who looked tough, "with a lot of tattoos."

Neighbors last night learned of Puckett's death from television reports. Neighbor Tracina Navarro remembered police coming to Puckett's apartment this past summer. Police told her Puckett was an unregistered sex offender and asked her if she had ever seen any children in his apartment. She said she had not.

That upset her, and even when Puckett returned home after a few days and said the whole incident had been a mistake, she wasn't convinced. But as weeks passed and she didn't hear any more from police, she started believing everything was OK - until yesterday.

"It's a relief now to know he's gone. I know that's an awful thing to say, but it is," she said.

Neighbors said they saw people coming in and out of Puckett's apartment yesterday afternoon and saw a hauling trailer parked nearby.

That Puckett had earlier been sentenced to life - not life without parole - is why he was first paroled after serving just seven years, then paroled a second time seven years later, Bail said.

"It was a pretty violent offense, but he served almost 15 years," Bail said. "This was a life sentence, not life without parole. That's critical."

Under current guidelines, he could have been eligible for parole even sooner - after serving just four and five years, she said.

Elledge said detectives have all but ruled out any link between Puckett and an attack on another woman running along the Cedar River in Renton several months earlier. Police earlier had indicated the attacks could be related.

Information from Seattle Times staff reporters Florangela Davila and Dave Birkland, and the Associated Press is included in this report.

Dee Norton's phone message number is 206-464-2255. His e-mail address is: dnor-new@seatimes.com