Yellow Pages
One week after a highly regarded dog trainer was last seen at his Anacortes-area home, the search for the suspected homicide victim’s body continues.
Investigators suspect T. Mark Stover, 57, met his demise at the hands of his ex-wife’s boyfriend, 41-year-old Michiel Glen Oakes, who remains in jail on a $5 million magistrate’s warrant.
Though Oakes is charged with second-degree murder in Skagit County District Court, the warrant gives the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office 30 days to file charges in Superior Court.
Two helicopters searched Tuesday near Stover’s home for his body. On Wednesday, investigators searched Oakes’ Kennewick home, said Will Reichardt, chief criminal deputy with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office.
Earlier searches for Stover’s body in the Swinomish Channel and around his home came up empty.
Deputies have also searched Stover’s property south of Anacortes for other evidence, as well as the Winthrop home of his ex-wife Linda Opdycke. Reichardt said the suspect had recently been staying at her home.
Investigators have searched three cars seized in the case, including those of Oakes and Stover’s. Reichardt would not say what the searches revealed.
Officials arrested Oakes on Thursday night at Opdycke’s home after Stover was reported missing earlier that day. Investigators found blood in Stover’s home and bloody finger smears on his car, which was abandoned at the Northern Lights Casino.
A witness reported Oakes’ and Stover’s vehicles parked together illegally near Stover’s home with plastic in between them shortly after Stover’s disappearance.
Opdycke had a protection order issued against her ex-husband in April 2008. She had previously reported that he came to her Okanogan County home, hid in the bushes and pointed a gun at her, Oakes’ arrest affidavit states.
Two lawyers have been hired to represent Oakes in the case: Corbin Volluz of Mount Vernon, and Seattle criminal defense attorney John Henry Browne.
They are scheduled to appear in District Court on Friday to ask for Oakes’ bail to be reduced.
n Tahlia Ganser can be reached at 360-416-2148 or at .
