The community gathered in somber remembrance Tuesday evening at St. Matthew’s Church at a vigil for Ingrid Lyne, the Renton mother of three daughters whose violent death has left those who know and love her distraught.
“We’re all hurting. We got a big wound that we’re dealing with, and it’s terrible,” family friend Jim Morrell told those who filled the crowded sanctuary at the Highlands church, not far from where Lyne lived. “But the majority of us are going to get over this sooner than the family.”
Lyne’s friends organized the vigil, with photos of Lyne and her daughters as a backdrop and as candles glowed.
“She was a great mother, she was a great friend, she was a great person,” Morrell said, who loved sports and had “a biting, sharp, witty, funny sense of humor.”
Everyone then walked in the rain, under umbrellas, to her home on Camas Avenue Northeast, where a memorial of flowers is growing on her front porch.
Lyne was reported missing by her former husband to the Renton Police Department on Saturday morning; later that afternoon, what investigators believe are her partial remains were found in a recycling bin in Seattle’s Central District.
A Seattle man was arrested in Snohomish County late Monday afternoon for investigation of murder after investigators searched Lyne’s home on Camas Avenue Northeast and discovered Mariner tickets for Friday night. She had told family she was going to the game with a man named “John,” according to court documents.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office on Wednesday ruled her death a homicide but hasn’t determined the date of her death.
The suspect in her death, 37-year-old John Robert Charlton, made his first appearance Tuesday in King County Superior Court in downtown Seattle. The judge set bail at $2 million; Charlton is being held in the King County jail in downtown Seattle.
His next court appearance was Thursday, which was also the deadline to charge him.
The community vigil, organized by Lyne’s friends, at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church ended with a silent walking vigil to Lyne’s residence nearby.
Friends also have set up a gofundme account (www.gofundme.com/Ingridlyne) in Lyne’s name to help her three daughters, ages 12, 10 and 7. As of Wednesday morning, about $103,000 had been raised.
Lyne, who is divorced, was a nurse at Swedish Hospital on Broadway in Seattle.
“As you can imagine, our team is distraught to hear this news about Ingrid,” said Mary Beth Lowell, communications director for Providence Health and Services, who also was waiting for official confirmation of Lyne’s death.
“We also continue to keep her family and friends in our thoughts and prayers and are providing her co-workers here with any grief and counseling support they need during this time,” she said.
Brian Beckley contributed to this report.
