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Washington State man facing murder charges in 1987 killing of Victoria couple

Two counts of aggravated first-degree murder filed against William Talbott II in Snohomish
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William Earl Talbott II, 55, of SeaTac, is led into court for arraignment in the 1987 death of Tanya Van Cuylenborg at the Skagit County Community Justice Center on Friday in Mount Vernon. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)

By Caleb Hutton, reporting from Everett, WA.

A Washington State truck driver has been charged in the 1987 deaths of a Saanich couple, one month after new DNA technology led to the manB次元官网网址檚 arrest.

Two counts of aggravated first-degree murder were filed against William Talbott II Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court.

In April, the Snohomish County SheriffB次元官网网址檚 Office released digital sketches of the suspectB次元官网网址檚 face created through phenotyping, a technology that can estimate a personB次元官网网址檚 appearance based on DNA.

Talbott , after detectives were given dozens of leads. At that time he was charged for the alleged murder of Tanya Van Cuylenborg.

Since then, former friends of Talbott have come forward to say they knew him when he was a delivery driver in Seattle in 1987. One of TalbottB次元官网网址檚 routes at the time went along Sixth Avenue S. in SoDo B次元官网网址 a destination Cuylenborg, 18, and Jay Cook, 20, , according to the charges.

A week later, a man collecting aluminum cans found the body of Van Cuylenborg in woods off a rural road south of Alger in Skagit County. The date was Nov. 24, 1987.

She had been shot B次元官网网址渆xecution styleB次元官网网址 in the back of the head, wrote Craig Matheson, Snohomish CountyB次元官网网址檚 chief criminal deputy prosecutor. Forensic analysis showed the muzzle of the gun was less than two inches away when fired.

There was evidence sheB次元官网网址檇 been raped. Investigators say that evidence provides a direct link to Talbott.

Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg, of Vancouver Island, were found slain in Washington in 1987.


A spent .380-caliber shell casing was found near the body, along with zip ties that had been fastened to form apparent bindings.

An autopsy listed Van CuylenborgB次元官网网址檚 date of death as Nov. 19, the day after the coupleB次元官网网址檚 ferry was supposed to arrive in Seattle.

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Cook was beaten with rocks and strangled. His body was found Nov. 26, 1987, near the High Bridge south of Monroe. Zip ties were nearby.

B次元官网网址淔rom all available information, these acts of violence were as random as they were savage,B次元官网网址 Matheson wrote in the charges.

Talbott was 24-years-old at the time of the alleged crime and is believed to have lived in the Woodinville area of Washington State in 1987. His parentsB次元官网网址 home was approximately 10 km from where CookB次元官网网址檚 body was found.

Police look to former friends of Talbott for information

The deaths remained a mystery for more than 30 years, until DNA led to a major breakthrough. A genealogist, CeCe Moore, worked with experts at Parabon NanoLabs to build a family tree for the suspect, based on the genetic evidence recovered from the crime scenes. They used data that had been uploaded by distant cousins to public genealogy websites. They pinpointed a suspect, Talbott, a trucker living north of Sea-Tac International Airport.

Police kept him under surveillance until a paper cup fell from his truck in Seattle in early May. A swab of DNA from the cup came back as a match to the evidence that had waited 30 years. Before then, Talbott had never been considered a suspect. Days later he was in handcuffs.

Talbott faces life in prison if convicted.

The , and investigators asked others who knew Talbott to come forward B次元官网网址 to help piece together a profile of the suspect and his activities in the 1980s.

Another friend had been a roommate in 1987, until Talbott lost his job and moved back to his parentsB次元官网网址 home off Woodinville-Duvall Road. The man recalled seeing a van B次元官网网址 the same distinctive bronze Ford Club Wagon that was taken by the killer B次元官网网址 at the Talbott home that year, according to the charges.

After the slayings, the van was found in Bellingham, but Van CuylenborgB次元官网网址檚 Minolta camera was missing.

The man shared other memories.

Earlier that year, he recounted, he and Talbott had driven about six miles from the parentsB次元官网网址 home to the High Bridge to snap photos. They were avid about photography. They walked along the river until they reached a vantage point where they could see the Monroe prison, according to the charges. They took a photo. Talbott told him to hang onto the picture. So he did.

He kept it for more than 30 years. This year he dug it out and handed it over to a detective.

Keri Coles of Oak Bay B次元官网网址 and Rikki King of Herald Net contributed to this report.



ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca

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