Federal Way woman, 85, charged in shooting death of roommate over fear of eviction
An 85-year-old woman suspected of fatally shooting her roommate was upset because her Federal Way house was foreclosed on and she was afraid of being evicted, according to court documents.
King County prosecutors have charged Beverly Jenne, 85, with first-degree murder and first-degree assault in the Dec. 19 shootings in the 2000 block of SW 306th Lane.
Janet Akinyi Oyuga was killed and her sister, both in their 30s, was shot and wounded.
Jenne is being treated at St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way and is expected to be jailed upon release. She is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 6.
Prosecutors are asking for her bail to be set at $1 million.
Charging papers give this account:
Jenne lived in her home for 40 years, but it went into foreclosure and somebody bought it at an auction in November.
Oyuga and her sister moved into the house with a lease-to-own agreement with the new owner.
The sisters agreed to let Jenne continue living there while she looked for new housing arrangements so she would not be homeless.
Despite that, “the defendant clearly harbored significant animosity towards Ms. Oyuga that culminated in shooting her multiple times (including in the back) and killing her,” prosecutors wrote in a probable cause statement.
Police were called to the house about 12:30 a.m. by Oyuga’s sister, who told her landlord she’d been shot after returning from work and walking up the stairs to her bedroom.
Responding officers saw Jenne sitting on a bed in the living room and ordered her to come outside.
She ignored them.
When police saw Jenne stand up and fall to the floor, they forced their way inside and found the 85-year-old lying on the ground with an electrical cord wrapped around her neck.
A revolver with six spent cartridge casings was found on the bed where she’d been sitting.
The surviving sister was found in an upstairs bedroom with a gunshot wound to the back.
Oyuga was found lying on the floor between the rec room and garage door. She’d been shot multiple times, authorities said.
A bloody hammer and bloody screwdriver were found on the kitchen counter, records say.
In Jenne’s 1979 Chevrolet Malibu parked in the driveway, detectives found a handwritten note signed by Jenne and dated less than two hours before the shootings.
“Janet is not a very nice person, she drove me to this,” Jenne wrote, accusing her roommate of taking her belongings and nearly pushing her down the stairs. “I think she was getting ready to evict me and I’m 85 and no place to go.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 10:38 AM.
