Man pleads guilty to Seattle-area dismemberment slaying

SEATTLE – A man accused of killing and dismembering a woman in her suburban home and dumping her remains in a Seattle recycling bin pleaded guilty Monday to first degree murder.

John Robert Charlton, 38, admitted in King County Superior Court to killing Ingrid Lyne, 40, a registered nurse and mother of three whom he had just started dating, The Seattle Times reported. He also pleaded guilty to theft of a motor vehicle.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys say they will recommend a prison sentence of 27 years and nine months when Charlton is sentenced Jan. 5.

Authorities say Charlton dismembered the Renton woman before driving her remains to Seattle.

A homeowner called police April 9, 2016, after finding three plastic garbage bags in his recycling bin containing what he believed were human body parts. A medical examiner later confirmed they belonged to Lyne.

Lyne was reported earlier that day when her ex-husband dropped off their three daughters at Lyne’s Renton home and she wasn’t there. Her SUV was missing but her purse and phone were still in the house.

When interviewed by police, Charlton told detectives that he and Lyne met on a dating site and had been in a relationship for a month.

He told police they went to a baseball game on April 8, 2016, the night before she was reported missing, according to court documents. Charlton, who said he was a day laborer and homeless, told police the two went to a bar and later to her house.

He said she dropped him off in Seattle and he ended up sleeping on a sidewalk and that he was too intoxicated to remember most of the evening.

Seattle police detectives searched Lyne’s home on April 10 and found a 15-inch pruning saw near the bathtub, and an empty box of plastic garbage bags identical to the ones containing Lyne’s body parts.