Seattle Police say they have evidence that Liam Kryger, the First Hill resident jailed and charged in the bloody ax killing outside Seattle’s Town Hall in February, also used the weapon to slaughter a man sleeping in a 12th Ave alley 12 days earlier.

Detectives say mobile phone and video evidence shows Kryger carrying the ax behind the office building of the Seattle Men’s Chorus where 68-year-old Paul Ewell was found murdered early on February 10th with injuries “created by a heavy sharp object similar to a hatchet, axe, or maul” indicating “there were at least three such strikes to his head.”

Police said Kryger would strike again less than two weeks later when he killed 52-year-old Daravuth Van with an ax as he camped near First Hill’s Town Hall event venue.

Kryger, 25, pleaded not guilty in March to the charge of first degree murder for the Van killing. He has not yet been charged for the Ewell murder but the new allegations have come to light as prosecutors moved to have the suspect’s $5 million bail in the case strengthened and to have Kryger held without bail.

The spree of violence took shape as SPD investigated a series of attacks targeting homeless victims sleeping outside in February including the two murders and an early February 24th assault that left a man in critical condition in Cal Anderson Park.

Kryger was arrested by Seattle Police on March 3rd. Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz said detectives had been on the lookout for weeks for a suspect possibly preying on people unhoused when they spotted a man carrying an ax and lost track of him near Freeway Park overnight that weekend.

Diaz says the suspect was able to escape but dropped the ax.

Police were able to trace the ax to a February purchase at the Lowe’s store on Rainier Ave. Kryger was identified as the purchaser after a department of corrections officer recognized him from images police obtained of the home improvement store transaction.

Diaz said that SPD detectives were watching area streets and parks at night looking for a suspect but did not warn the public.

“We don’t know if would be homeless or anybody walking in that area at night,” Diaz said of the suspect’s possible targets during a press conference announcing Kryger’s arrest. “He was potentially looking,” Diaz said. “I think that potentially stopped what was another homicide,” he said.

A representative from SPD’s public affairs unit later said decisions related to his unit’s activities and notifying the public about the possible killing spree were dictated by detectives and focused on “protecting the integrity of the investigation” and limited to “the information at that time.” “Public safety is a primary concern in all SPD information bulletins and press releases,” the representative said. “Information that we do and don’t provide is on the advice of detectives.”

Kryger was wearing the same “blue knit hat with red stripe, blue jeans pants, jacket and boots” at the time of this arrest as seen on footage from security videos capturing the suspect at the time of the Town Hall murder. Police say that when they showed the images to Kryger, he “admitted that the person in the photos was him.”

According to the new court filing, police now have more physical evidence connecting Kryger to the murders. Detectives searching his First Hill apartment found a laptop stolen during a break-in at the Seattle Men’s Chorus office prior to the Ewell killing.

They also found evidence that the suspect had been following news coverage of the killings. On his phone, investigators found “web history data files related to the murder at the Men’s Chorus, including articles about the murder on mynorthwest.com, komonews.com, king5.com, capitolhillseattle.com, and seattletimes.com.”

Cell phone records also trace Kryger to the Rainier Lowe’s around the time of the ax purchase, the 12th Ave alley when Ewell was murdered, and outside Town Hall during the killing of Van. “Records indicated the device returned to the area of both murders after the attacks,” prosecutors say.

The murders and the way SPD handled public communications around the investigation have also raised questions about the city’s approach to the ongoing homelessness crisis.

“The memory of Paul Ewell and Daravuth Van points to something we can’t lose sight of: When we dehumanize unhoused people, the stakes are literally life and death,” a remembrance of Van and Ewell from the United Way King County reads. “The memorial is a call to action—we cannot afford to continue this way. We must use our grief as a reminder of our sacred duty to each other.”

Kryger’s path through the justice system will involve questions of mental health. Prosecutors say Kryger was previously arrested in 2018 for a violent burglary and stabbing in North Bend that placed him in a treatment program under supervision of the King County Mental Health Court. Kryger failed to attend a scheduled review hearing in late 2019 but managed to steer clear of the law until his arrest this winter.

Mental health competency procedures can take years to play out in the court system. In 2009, CHS reported on the long process that led to restored competency and a guilty plea in the 2007 murder of Capitol Hill resident Shannon Harps.

In March, defense lawyers attempted to have the suspect’s bail reduced and his confinement moved to electronic home monitoring but the motion was denied. We’re checking on the prosecutor’s efforts to have Kryger’s bail strengthened. UPDATE: A spokesperson said the prosecutor is planning make a motion to amend the charges against Kryger next week. The week will also bring a hearing on the bail motion.

Court records show Kryger remains held in jail on $5 million bail as the legal process continues.

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