A Washington state man was sentenced on Friday to 15 years in prison after killing his half-sister. Defendant David Haggard, 48, was convicted in October for murder in the second degree. Victim Jamie Haggard, 27, was found burnt and dismembered in a suitcase by State Route 522 in Snohomish County in May 2018, according to KING.
King County prosecutors sought 22 years behind bars. Jamie, a mother of two, went missing on June 9, 2016 from the home the half-siblings shared in the city of Kenmore. Her father reported her missing, King County deputies said.
“During the investigation, Major Crime’s detectives spoke with numerous witnesses who said Jamie had a volatile relationship with her brother David,” authorities wrote. “On numerous occasions, Jamie told her boyfriend she feared David was going to kill her.”
When found dead by a roadside cleaning crew, Jamie was so badly decomposed that deputies could not even tell her sex, according to KCPQ.
Evidence against David Haggard included him burning construction equipment to hide his fingerprints from law enforcement, the outlet said. Also, he texted family, pretending to be Jamie. When witnesses believed they saw the missing woman, he said it “was not possible.”
[Screenshot of David Haggard via KING; image of Jamie Haggard via King County Sheriff’s Office]