Probe Turns To Earlier Slaying -- Detectives Eye Puckett In 3 Cases

Gary W. Puckett, now being studied as a suspect in a second South King County murder, displayed such deep hostility years ago that one evaluator said society might be best protected if he were locked up for life, court records show.

Kent police today said they'll examine DNA evidence to see whether Puckett may have killed Denise Elaine Simon, 31, whose body was found July 19 along a busy street in Kent's East Hill, about a mile from Puckett's apartment.

"We're definitely looking at Mr. Puckett" in the Simon slaying, Kent Police Detective Kathy Holt said today.

Puckett, who killed himself in North Dakota Sunday rather than be taken into custody, is also a potential suspect in the death last week of Alice Underdahl, 52, killed as she jogged on the Cedar River Trail. Both women were strangled.

Court documents from Gary Puckett's past paint a picture of a chronic troublemaker from an early age who blamed violence in his home and frequent family moves for his anti-social tendencies.

A runaway at 11, a delinquent at 12 and a petty criminal placed into detention facilities at 13, 15 and 16, Puckett carried the signs of a dangerous personality.

A court-ordered evaluation following Puckett's 1980 rape conviction concluded that "Mr. Gary Puckett is unsafe to be at large due to the habitual and dangerous pattern of behavior that he has evidenced over these number of years."

As officials weighed whether to place Puckett in a treatment facility or prison, the evaluator concluded Puckett might be an escape risk from a treatment facility, adding, "If he could be locked away for the rest of his life, then obviously society would be protected, and this whole issue would be rather moot."

Psychological testing at that time found Puckett was "a bright individual" with some ability to control his hostility, "suggesting that he is the type of psychopath who is able to achieve his end through manipulation rather than violence."

Puckett, 38, shot himself in his van along a North Dakota highway Sunday after being stopped by law-enforcement officers who were pursuing him in connection with the throat-slashing of a woman at a highway rest stop. She survived the attack.

DNA evidence from Puckett's autopsy will be compared with that found at the two murder scenes to see if he is the likely killer of either Simon or Underdahl.

On the night of her death, Simon was last seen alive in the 800 block of South Central Avenue. She apparently had gone with a friend to bars along Pacific Highway South in the SeaTac area, then accompanied the friend to an after-hours party, and later accepted a ride from another person to downtown Kent.

Puckett became the focus of the Underdahl investigation after three witnesses, shown his photo by police, said they had seen him near the jogging trail about the time Underdahl was attacked.

King County detectives investigating Underdahl's death were expected to arrive in North Dakota tomorrow to examine Puckett's van and items inside it.

The most serious conviction in Puckett's past was the February 1980 rape of an 86-year-old Bellevue woman. He broke into her condo, went upstairs, choked her unconscious with a pillow and later his hands, then took a ring off her finger before raping her.

According to court records, Puckett was a friend of the woman's grandson and had been to the victim's home previously. He was charged with first-degree rape, robbery and burglary, and was sentenced to life in prison.

He was first placed on parole in 1987. But after making harassing telephone calls, he was sent back to prison, completed a sex-offender program and released in 1994.

Puckett was married for the first time to a Seattle woman in May 1984, while he was in prison. That marriage ended a decade later, while Puckett was again behind bars.

For the most part, Puckett was estranged from his family. But while Puckett was at Twin Rivers Corrections Center at Monroe, he met chaplain Jerry Puckett and discovered the chaplain was a cousin of his father.

Jerry Puckett said Gary asked him to put him in touch with his father, whom he had not spoken to in years. But Gary's father rejected the contact and wanted nothing to do with his son, the chaplain said.

At prison, "everybody thought Gary was cool," Jerry Puckett said. "I didn't know he was in there for life."

Earlier this year, Puckett and his second wife, Donnette, filed for bankruptcy, listing $3,790 in assets and more than $30,000 in debt.

According to the bankruptcy filing, Puckett was unemployed at the time, receiving $1,200 monthly in government assistance. Donnette was working as a production supervisor for Goodwill Industries in Tukwila, with a monthly take-home pay of $772.00. The bankruptcy was declared final in July.

After his release from prison, Puckett was required to register with local law-enforcement authorities and to notify authorities any time he moved. He failed to do so in August after moving to Kent and was arrested, but was released two days later after officials concluded his error was simply negligence, not an attempt to hide.

During that period, officials said Puckett had been staying in regular contact with his parole officer, who believed Puckett had been making a successful transition into life outside prison.

Court documents and friends of Puckett's indicate the convicted rapist gave away his motorcycle the day after Underdahl's slaying, then disappeared.

Puckett's roommate, who asked not to be identified, said that on Sept. 24, 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 went to the apartment looking for Puckett's ex-wife. Spokesman Paul Petersen said 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.

Seattle Times staff reporters Nancy Bartley and Christine Clarridge contributed to this report.

Jack Broom's phone message number is 206-464-2222. His e-mail address is: jbro-new@seatimes.com