Puyallup homicide victim identified. Her ex-boyfriend ordered held without bail

The 47-year-old woman found dead in a Puyallup apartment Thursday was Ethelyn Rojas, the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office reported.

Rojas, whose address was listed in Graham, died of asphyxiation, the office said Friday. The manner of her death was ruled a homicide.

Her ex-boyfriend was arrested by Puyallup police in connection with her death.

The 60-year-old man made a first appearance in Superior Court on Friday. He was not charged, but Court Commissioner Meagan Foley found probable cause to hold him on suspicion of second-degree murder.

Foley ordered him held without bail until Monday to give prosecutors time to make a charging decision.

The News Tribune generally does not publish the name of criminal suspects until they are formally charged.

More than a dozen relatives and friends of Rojas attended the brief hearing.

The News Tribune reported Thursday that police were alerted that something might be amiss when Rojas failed to show up at work Wednesday.

A co-worker told police Rojas had planned to stop by her ex-boyfriend’s apartment to pick up some things she’d left behind, Police Chief Scott Engle said. Officers found her body in an apartment in the 2500 block of South Meridian, Engle said.

Engle told the newspaper Rojas was the victim of homicidal domestic violence.

This story was originally published October 5, 2018 at 2:46 PM.