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Investigations Article

June 21, 2002

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Slayings Shock Northwest Island Town

Man Accused of Molestation Kills Fiancee and Her Mother

by Ian Ith, Seattle Times

FREELAND, Whidbey Island - Preston Dean "Hugh" Douglas charmed nearly everybody who knew him with his quiet, easy-going demeanor and his exotic Jamaican accent, acquaintances said. He wowed his boss at a local landscaping company with his flawless work ethic and his eagerness to learn.

But Wednesday, the mother of Douglas' fiancée accused him of molesting a child. So early yesterday morning, armed with a shotgun and dozens of shells, he went looking for revenge, police said.

In a little nest of tiny, owner-built homes called Vesel Court outside Freeland, Douglas, 27, shot to death his fiancée and her mother and seriously wounded two other people before turning the gun on himself in the middle of a residential street.

They were the first such killings in two decades in this sparsely populated part of south Whidbey Island, stunned detectives said, and by far the most terrible crime anyone around here remembers.

"This is sleepy Whidbey Island, where most people who live around here moved from the big city to get away from things like this," Island County Sheriff Mike Hawley said. "But this was domestic violence, and no neighborhood escapes from that."

Police arrived about 2 a.m. yesterday to find Marjorie Monnett, 55, and her 30-year-old daughter, Holly Swartz, slain in the street outside their home off Cameron Road about 10 miles north of Clinton. Douglas' body lay atop his fiancée's.

At a neighbor's home, police found Monnett's wounded 22-year-old son, Bruce Monnett. His girlfriend, 18-year-old Sierra Klug, was found bleeding in the garage of Monnett's home. Both were flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Klug was in serious condition, undergoing surgery last night. Monnett was upgraded to satisfactory condition.

Swartz's 6-year-old daughter escaped unhurt after fleeing the house as gunfire erupted. She likely did not witness the deaths of her mother and grandmother, Hawley said.

Meanwhile, as news of the tragedy rushed through the small communities on the southern tip of the island, acquaintances and even the police said they were baffled that Douglas could have been capable of such violence. He had no criminal past that police could find, and until Wednesday, police had never had any indication of domestic violence between Douglas and Swartz.

Douglas had arrived on the island from Jamaica several years ago, and though he apparently immigrated illegally, he never raised any alarms with residents.

He had been married to a much older woman, but he left her last summer to date Swartz, friends said.

Michael Orr, the owner of Sun Orr Shade Landscape Services, said he met Douglas by happenstance in 2000 when he saw the muscular man working in a field and stopped to hire him.

"He was my prodigy; I was trying to teach him everything I know," Orr said. "He was very honest and his attention to detail was phenomenal. Anybody in this business would like a guy like that to work for him."

But in March, Douglas had injured his back pushing a heavy wheelbarrow. He had been collecting state workers'-compensation benefits and popping prescription medication for pain, Orr said.

Still, Orr said he missed his best worker and was trying to get him back on the job.

"But it was always the same thing: 'I'm in pain, my back hurts, I'm on the pain pills,' " Orr said.

He, Swartz and her daughter were living together in Langley until Wednesday, acquaintances said. Swartz was a friendly, well-liked mom who worked at a local thrift store to help support her little girl.

Monnett worked for the Island County Housing Authority in Coupeville, where she helped low-income families find stable places to live.

"She liked what she was doing and was very good working with families," said Steve Gulliford, housing-authority director. Gulliford said. "We're very shocked."

Monnett was good at helping low-income people because she could relate. In 1996, the single mother of eight teamed up with a half-dozen other families through a self-help housing program. Together, they built their small houses on Vesel Court with their own hands. It took them 11 months.

"She was just a good person," said next-door neighbor Don Jefferies, who called Monnett a leader in their tight community. "She was out there trying to help people."

Wednesday night, Monnett's son and his girlfriend, Klug, a 2001 graduate of South Whidbey High School who lives in Richmond Beach, were just visiting on a whim, family said.

"They were pretty much just innocent bystanders," said Klug's 14-year-old sister, Kyndel.

But Wednesday had been hectic.

Monnett had called police in the morning to report what Hawley called "vague" allegations that Douglas had been molesting a child. Swartz confronted Douglas and he did not deny it, Hawley said. But there had never been any other domestic-violence complaints, and Douglas "didn't even have a speeding ticket" on his record, Hawley said.

"We didn't have enough probable cause (to arrest Douglas)," Hawley said. "Our primary concern was to get them all separated" while detectives investigated. So Swartz and her daughter moved to Monnett's house.

About noon, Swartz received a call from Douglas, who told her he was in Seattle and would not be back. But Douglas instead likely bought the shotgun in Seattle and returned to shoot the victims, Hawley said, because there's no indication he'd ever had a gun before.

About 1:30 a.m. yesterday, Douglas parked his rusty, light-blue van in some bushes about 500 yards up the road from Vesel Court and walked with the gun and ammo through back yards and into the Monnett house, Hawley said.

There he found Bruce Monnett and Klug in the kitchen. He shot Monnett as Klug fled into the garage. Douglas shot Klug as she tried to duck behind a car, then turned to see Monnett run out the back door and to a neighbor's house, Hawley said.

That's when police think Swartz's daughter got out of the house and ran two doors down to a house where Swartz was visiting.

Awakened neighbors could see Douglas moving from room to room through the house, Hawley said. It wasn't clear where Marjorie Monnett was then.

Then something prompted Douglas to realize that his fiancée was probably in the house two doors down. He went there and screamed for her to come out, and fired shotgun blasts in the air, neighbors said.

Inside, Swartz and her neighbors were "thinking he'd gone nuts but he was just shooting in the air," Hawley said. "They didn't know anybody had been shot."

Then Marjorie Monnett started walking toward Douglas from her home, Hawley said. Neighbors heard them exchange angry words in the street before he shot her at least twice.

Swartz rushed from the neighbor's house at the sight, Hawley said. Douglas shot her at least twice. Then he put the gun to his own head and fired.

"Everyone is pretty much in shock here," said neighbor Chris Jefferies, who ran outside to see the three lying dead in front of her driveway. "No one thought anything like this could ever happen. Not here."

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