MONROE — Detectives believe a prisoner serving time for manslaughter has killed again.
An inmate in the Special Offenders Unit at the Monroe Correctional Center allegedly hit, kicked and stomped on a fellow prisoner May 9. Inmate Gordon Powell, 45, suffered head injuries in the attack. He never regained consciousness and died in an Everett hospital Monday morning.
The suspect — Benjamin C. Price, 35 — has a history of mental illness and violent assaults.
“I hit him because I knew he was Satan,” Price allegedly told a corrections lieutenant after Powell was beaten.
Price reportedly demanded to speak with police in the weeks before the attack, even if it meant he had to kill someone to make it happen, according to court papers.
In 2008, Price was charged with second-degree murder in Skagit County. Price eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter after an extended stay at Western State Hospital. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and was ordered to receive mental health treatment while incarcerated.
Price strangled his girlfriend Dawn Ruger, 44, in 2006, claiming she was putting demons in his head, according to news accounts at the time. He hid her body in rural Whatcom County. In 2008, he walked into the Bellingham Police Department to confess and led authorities to the body.
In 2011, while at the Stafford Creek Correctional Center in Grays Harbor County, Price attempted to strangle his cellmate, records show.
He told correctional staff at the time: “I had a dream that the devil would be my new cellie this morning. I was told the only way I could stop the devil from hurting my daughter and me was to kill him.”
That’s when he ripped a piece of sheet from his bunk, put it in his pocket and waited for his cell mate to show up, according to court records. He then wrapped it around the man’s neck but wasn’t able to follow through.
The cell mate told corrections staff that Price called him the devil and said he was going to kill him.
Price also has a prior conviction for second-degree assault and served extra time for a firearm enhancement.
In the May 9 assault in Monroe, Price allegedly waited for Powell while inmates were returning from the dining area. The attack lasted nine seconds, according to surveillance video.
Witnesses told detectives that Price threw a punch that knocked Powell to the floor and then continued to beat him when he was on the ground.
Powell was taken by ambulance to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett where a hole was drilled into his head to relieve pressure from significant brain swelling. For days he was hooked up to a life-support machine. Powell had been sentenced to prison for burglary and assault in Lewis County.
The suspect was considerably taller, heavier and stronger than Powell, said Monroe Police Department spokeswoman Debbie Willis.
Price is being held in segregation while law enforcement and prison staff investigate.
“We are in no hurry to rush through this,” Monroe detective Barry Hatch said. “Nobody is going anywhere.”
Among other things, detectives have been asking court permission for access to Price’s medical and mental health records as well as to his cell and the contents inside.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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