Update: Soldier Held at JBLM Named Person of Interest in Paxton Slaying

A U.S. Army soldier in custody at Joint Base Lewis-McChord for repeatedly going absent without leave has been identified as a person of interest in the Nov. 30 stabbing death of 19-year-old Scarlett Paxton of Kirkland.

Joe Piek, a spokesman for the base near Tacoma, said Tuesday morning that Kirkland Police notified the Army the day of the murder that the soldier was a person of interest.

The soldier is 19 years old, has been in the Army about a year and has never been deployed, Piek said. He has not been charged and has not been named. But Kirkland Police Lt. Mike Murray said that while there is no known connection between the soldier and Paxton, the soldier is from the Eastside.

"We have not been able to to find a link between her and him in any way, shape or form," Murray said. "But he is an Eastside resident. I don't know if he is from Kirkland, but he is from the area."

Piek said the solider had missed a mandatory unit move, and the Army has no plans to release him at this time.

“Because he had been AWOL several times over the last several months, his unit considers him a flight risk,” Piek said. “While the unit is investigating the issue, he is in custody at the regional corrections facility here on the base.”

Murray said the fact that the soldier is in custody had allowed the Kirkland Police to carefully build their case, and it could be turned over to the King County Prosecutor's Office within days.

"We've been able to put together our case stronger, and we're working real closely with the prosecutors," he said. "We've been assured by the military that he won't be released, or that we will be notified and would be able to take him into custody ourselves."

Kirkland Police say Paxton was killed by a wound to the neck at about 2:50 a.m. while returning from a walk with her boyfriend to their apartment in the Hidden Firs complex in north Juanita on 100th Ave. N.E. The pair had split up after the walk, and when her boyfriend, 19-year-old Michael Lawson, returned to the complex, he found her on a stairway and called 911. An aid crew was not able to save her.

Murray earlier Tuesday that the person of interest was contacted and questioned the day of the slaying on an unrelated 911 call.

Friends have recently expressed frustration that no arrests have been made in the death of Paxton, a BEST High School student who as beautiful, creative, kind and spontaneous

But Murray said police have been in close contact with her family.

"They know we're putting together the strongest case possible," he said. "Friends, they probaby don't know that, and that's the cause of their anxiety."

Services for Paxton have been scheduled for this  Saturday, Dec. 17, 1 p.m., at the Life Community Church in Kirkland, 232 5th Ave. S. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that memorial donations in her name be made to Families & Friends of Violent Crime Victims, 1-800-346-7555, fnfvcv.org.