Scarlett Paxton Murder Suspect Court-Martialed, Headed to King County

The suspect in the Nov. 30 killing of of Kirkland’s Scarlett Paxton, U.S. Army Pvt. Dakota Miles Wolf, has pleaded guilty in a court martial, and will receive a bad conduct discharge and be sent to King County on July 16 to face murder charges.

Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield, an I Corps spokesman at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Lakewood, said Monday that Wolf, who is also from Kirkland, pleaded guilty on April 20 to charges of being absent without leave, missing required unit movements and disobeying superiors.

He was sentenced to nine months confinement with credit for time served, loss of nine months pay at $994 per month and a Bad Conduct Discharge. Dangerfield said Wolf will be transferred to authorities in Washington state on July 16. His case will be transferred to King County Superior Court, where Wolf in December was charged with first-degree murder in the brutal stabbing death of 19-year-old Paxton in the early morning of Nov. 30 outside her north Juanita apartment.

Dan Donahoe, a spokesman for the King County Prosecutor's Office, said Wolf has been taken to the King County Jail and will face arraignment several days later. "No trial date has been set," he said. "We've been waiting for the matter to be resolved by the military."

Wolf has been in custody at JBLM since Dec. 1, when he was arrested by Kirkland Police. Charging documents by the King County Prosecutor’s Office indicate that Wolf, 19 at the time of the murder and now 20, told Kirkland Police during their investigation that he was addicted to the herbal/synthetic marijuana substitute known as spice and was suffering from anxiety, paranoia and hallucinations.

The charging documents indicate Wolf had been staying at a home in north Juanita not far from the murder scene, owned by the parents of a friend. They allege a bloody palm print and fingerprint found in an alley near the apartment complex, the Hidden Firs along 100th Avenue Northeast, matched Wolf’s. The documents also state that a butcher knife found at the murder scene was the same brand as several knives found at the home where Wolf was staying.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that Paxton died of wounds to her neck, and the charging documents indicate she also suffered cuts to her leg, chin and left hand, the latter consistent with defensive wounds.

Paxton was a BEST High School student and former Kirkland Junior High student who as beautiful, creative, kind and spontaneous. She had been living in the north Juanita apartment with her boyfriend.

For previous Patch stories about the murder, click here.