EVERETT — Another person has been arrested in connection with the killing of a homeless man whose body was found in a swamp April 7.
Christine F. Simpson, 49, of Everett, was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Friday evening.
She was being held for investigation of first-degree murder and felony criminal solicitation.
The woman is suspected of involvement in the death of David A. Webster, 54, whose body was found in a sleeping bag partially submerged in a marshy area near a homeless camp. He died from homicidal violence that included asphyxia.
Everett police detectives now suspect Simpson orchestrated the killing, although she denies this.
“New information revealed that Webster owed Simpson a drug debt and when he refused to pay it, she enlisted the help of her boyfriend” to collect, police said in a press release.
Simpson’s boyfriend, James Daniel Archer, 46, already has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing and remains jailed on $1 million bail.
Archer, a transient and convicted felon, allegedly admitted that he assaulted Webster during a confrontation over money he claimed had been stolen from his girlfriend.
Police say Simpson participated in hiding Webster’s body. She also allegedly tried without success to get another person to help collect the drug debt. That’s the basis of the criminal solicitation allegation.
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