In an unrivaled year of deadly violence, 17 lives were cut short at the hands of others this year in Skagit County.

Six people, including a Skagit County Sheriff’s deputy, were killed over the course of a few hours Sept. 2 as Isaac L. Zamora wandered in and out of homes in his Alger neighborhood shooting people at random and continuing down Interstate 5, according to charging documents in Skagit County Superior Court. In preparation for his trial, Zamora is receiving forced anti-psychotic medication at Western State Hospital.

An elderly woman died in January from the injuries she suffered after she was pushed to the ground by a man fleeing the police.

Several other people were discovered dead, victims of violent crimes — a broken neck or gunshot wounds.

Four people died in motor vehicle accidents that State Patrol deemed vehicular homicides. Sedro-Woolley and Burlington had their first fatal shootings in more than five years.

“It gives you a feeling of, what’s going on out here?” said Skagit County Coroner Daniel Dempsey.

Dempsey has watched the victims come through his office one after another — mostly because of gunshot wounds.

Telling a family member that their loved one has died is the worst part of a coroner’s job, Dempsey said. Homicide makes it harder. This year, that nearly became a common occurrence.

Even without the six deaths that left Skagit County reeling with grief in September, the number of homicides spiked this year.

“It was a very, very bad year,” said Will Reichardt, Skagit County Sheriff’s Office chief criminal deputy.

The total number of deaths ruled homicide or manslaughter by all law enforcement agencies in Skagit County this year was 17. The homicide count hasn’t reached the double digits in at least 10 years.

“What gets our office the most is the senselessness — why do people have to do this?” said Skagit County Coroner Daniel Dempsey.

The year of homicides began with the death of Clara Thorp Jan. 11. The elderly victim died of injuries she suffered when an alleged robber pushed her to the ground months earlier, breaking her hip while fleeing the police, according to Superior Court documents. When she died, charges against the suspect, Ricardo Mejia-Cruz, were upgraded to murder.

In late February, cleaning staff at a Mount Vernon hotel room found Patrick Brady, of Stanwood, dead. He had died of a lethal mix of heroin cocaine and alcohol. Tarah Lynn Deutsch was arrested four days later. The 20-year-old is now serving a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter in Skagit County Superior Court in May.

In April, a Bellingham teacher was found dead, shot in the head, on Blanchard Mountain. No one has been arrested in the deadly shooting.

In May, Ben Price led investigators to the remains of ex-girlfriend Dawn Ruger, who had been missing for more than a year. He then told investigators that he broke her neck sometime around New Years Eve 2006. He is now charged with murder and is also at Western under treatment for competency before he stands trial. He will likely plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

While on a hike on Sauk Mountain in August, Pamela Almli of Oso was shot and killed by a 14-year-old hunter who mistook her for a bear. The teen now faces a manslaughter charge.

In another homicide, Walter Chacon-Villanueva, of Sedro-Woolley was shot and killed in Burlington in June as he drove his truck through Burlington. Police say that was a case in which dirty looks escalated into a fatal shooting. The man who authorities say pulled the trigger, Luis Ugalde, is being brought back to Skagit County after turning himself in at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas in mid-December.

Two other men who were in the car with the alleged shooter were arrested. One pleaded guilty to tampering with a witness. The other awaits trial for second-degree murder.

In the most recent shooting, a man trying to rob a Sedro-Woolley friend was shot during the attempt. The victim, Kyle Leander, died later that day at the hospital. The suspected shooter, Spencer David Metcalfe, remains in the Skagit County Jail on drug charges.

Four people died in vehicular homicides this year.

Duane Lyon was walking along Avon-Allen Road the morning of Aug. 2, when he was hit by a passing vehicle. The driver left Lyon there, where he died. The State Patrol continues to seek the suspect in a fatal hit-and-run.

Two people died in a two-motorcycle and two-vehicle accident on Highway 20 near Sedro-Woolley in early October. Vehicular homicide charges are pending on the driver who State Patrol has said caused the wreck and was drunk at the time. One motorcyclist, Anthony M. Burwell, died at the scene. Another driver who suffered head injuries in his car died several days later.

A fourth victim, Mary Mortensen, was killed after what State Patrol deemed a vehicular homicide at the intersection of Highway 20 and Carter Street in Sedro-Woolley in October.

Law enforcement agencies do not have answers to why 2008 was possibly the most violent in recent history.

“The numbers come and go,” said Skagit County Prosecutor Rich Weyrich. “2008 was a bad year for everyone.”

Weyrich said he has watched as homicide numbers waver up and down in Skagit County. But with the Alger shootings, he said, this year has been unprecedented.

“That was something that touched the whole community,” he said. “You read about these tragedies where there are a number of people killed, and you feel bad about it ... but when it hits close to home and everyone you run into knows someone or knows someone who knew someone it’s different.”

LIST OF THE DECEASED, DATE DIED

Victim Date of death or date found

Clara Thorp DOD Jan. 11

Patrick Brady DOD Feb. 23

Jeremy Scully FOUND April 27 — unknown date of death

Dawn Ruger FOUND May 12 — unknown date of death

Walter Chacon-Villanueva DOD June 13

Pamela Almli DOD Aug. 2

Duane Lyon DOD Aug. 16

Anne Jackson DOD Sept. 2

LeRoy Lange DOD Sept. 2

Greg Gillum DOD Sept. 2

David Radcliffe DOD Sept. 2

Julie Binschus DOD Sept. 2

Chester Rose DOD Sept. 2

Anthony M. Burwell DOD Oct. 1

Shawn Tygret DOD Oct. 7

Mary Mortensen DOD Oct. 22

Kyle Leander DOD Dec. 15