Man charged with killing his parents at their Pierce County home
A man who killed his parents at their home near Bonney Lake suffered from mental health problems and attacked his mother and father because he believed they’d stolen his house, according to court documents.
Zachary Steve Rorvik, 29, was charged Tuesday with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf at arraignment, per procedure. Pierce County Superior Court Commissioner Craig Adams ordered Rorvik held without bail, “due to danger to self or others at present,” according to court records.
His 61-year-old mother and 59-year-old father have not been publicly identified.
Rorvik was arrested Sunday morning outside his parents’ house on 171st Avenue Court East near state Route 410 after a neighbor spotted Rorvik stabbing his father and intervened.
Charging papers give this account of the double homicide:
A neighbor said he heard screaming about 9:30 a.m. Sunday and walked down his driveway to see what was going on. After seeing Rorvik holding a machete and his father hiding behind a car, the neighbor returned to his house to call 911 and grab a pistol.
He then walked back to where Rorvik was, fired a warning shot from his pistol and ordered him to back off. When Rorvik walked back into the home, the neighbor tried to help the wounded father but heard a woman screaming inside.
Deputies arrived and found Rorvik’s father standing at the top of the stairs, covered in blood and suffering from puncture wounds to his face, neck and head.
He was taken to an area hospital, where he died.
Investigators followed a trail of blood and found Rorvik’s mother dead on the ground outside. A machete and blood-covered tree branch were nearby.
“... it appears that he used knives, scissors, a machete, a drill, a wheel chock and a tree branch to assault and kill his parents,” prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
Rorvik was taken to a hospital and treated for a laceration on his head that required six stitches.
A security guard overheard him say, “I hired myself to kill them,” records say.
In an interview with detectives, Rorvik allegedly said he walked to his parents’ house around midnight and waited on the back porch for hours because he was nervous to confront them since he was “pretty sure he was going to kill them,” according to charging papers.
He eventually let himself in and was confronted by his mom, who allegedly tried to push him back outside. That’s when he stabbed her in the head and stomach with a knife and then attacked his father, records say.
Rorvik was angry about being kicked out of the house two years ago because he believed he owned the home and his parents lied about them being the owners, prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
Two of Rorvik’s sisters said he suffered from mental illness. One said he had recently become more aggressive and was paranoid and delusional. The other said he recently was diagnosed with schizophrenia but refused to take his medication and suffered hallucinations as a result.
Staff writer Alexis Krell contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 1, 2021 at 12:29 PM.
