Man stabbed to death in Bonney Lake is identified
A 47-year-old man stabbed to death outside his Bonney Lake home Monday has been identified as Richard Gene Wilt, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Wilt went outside about 5:15 a.m. to meet two acquaintances in the 9400 block of 202nd Avenue East and was stabbed multiple times.
One of his roommates called 911 and police responded, finding Wilt unresponsive in a living room chair.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives used surveillance footage to identify a GMC Yukon the suspects drove away from the scene and arrested three men later that night in an Auburn casino parking lot.
On Tuesday, Donovan Bateman, 19; Julian Leong, 36; and Brody Nelson, 26, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and first-degree robbery.
Bateman and Leong were ordered held on $2.5 million bail. Nelson is jailed in lieu of $2 million bail.
The suspects were looking for someone to rob and chose Wilt as their target since they believed he had been intimately involved with Nelson’s ex-girlfriend, according to charging papers.
Bateman is accused of stabbing Wilt after a fight broke out between Wilt and Nelson.
The men also stole a bag of methamphetamine from Wilt when they fled in Leong’s SUV, records say.
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 11:24 AM.
