ANACORTES — The man who trained dogs for an elite Seattle clientele may have understood canine psychology better than his own sometimes volatile emotions.

T. Mark Stover’s persistence, ambition and strong-willed personality made him good at what he did but sometimes prone to confrontation.
Still, the 57-year-old was successful at creating the life he had imagined for himself — except for its final chapter.

About two weeks ago, Stover disappeared. Skagit County Sheriff’s investigators say he was murdered.

While friends say Stover seemed to be on a positive track of late, he had reacted poorly to his divorce with his wife, Linda Opdycke, who lives in Winthrop. The Okanogan County Prosecutor’s Office charged him with stalking his ex-wife.

Now it is Opdycke’s boyfriend, 41-year-old Michiel Glen Oakes, who sits in Skagit County Jail, charged with Stover’s murder. The investigation continues, as does the search for Stover’s body.

Oakes, of Kennewick, is scheduled to appear with his attorneys in court at 1:30 p.m. Friday to ask that his $5 million bail be lowered.

Finding his talent

Stover, known in his youth as “Ted,” short for Theodore, grew up on Mercer Island with his sister and mother, who worked at a furniture store in downtown Seattle. His father died when he was 2 years old, and his mother remarried multiple times during Stover’s youth, said his childhood friend Bill Maas.

Stover dropped out of high school in the 10th grade. Though he had a wild streak in his teens, Stover always had a thirst for knowledge. He was an avid reader, political junkie and history buff, Maas said.

“He was definitely different than the average guy,” Maas said. “Most people in the city are so boring, but he would have this different slice of life to offer and it was funny. He always had funny things to say or a witty retort. He was the king of one-liners.”

After high school, Stover drifted around for several years, joined the merchant marines, then found his passion and talent in the dog world, eventually becoming one of the most successful and well-regarded dog trainers in the Northwest.

He grew up with a German shepherd, Greta, who died when Stover was a teenager. His second German shepherd, Gunter, sparked his long-lasting love and understanding of the animal.

“Ted and Gunter bonded immediately,” his sister wrote Sunday on a blog created by one of Stover’s clients in Stover’s memory after his disappearance.
By age 18, Stover was breeding and training other German shepherds, and building his loyal clientele one dog at a time.

Stover graduated from the University of Washington in 1976 with a degree in psychology and a minor in history, striving to learn more about dog and human psychology to apply to his training.

The ‘dog whisperer’
At 5 feet 9 inches and 190 pounds, Stover asserted dominance over the dogs he trained, saying most people are not forceful enough with their pets.

His business grew as clients referred him to others, building a widespread following among the Seattle elite. He also trained protection and police dogs, including two for the Anacortes Police Department. Eventually he became an expert witness, testifying in dog bite cases.

“He kind of just made up his own world,” Maas said.
Stover’s Web site says he has trained over 15,000 dogs and over 180 different breeds of dogs, as well as the dogs of the rich and famous of Seattle, such as Mariners baseball star Ichiro Suzuki, Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz and Eddie Vedder, the lead singer of Pearl Jam.

“I had a dream, and I went for it. And I wasn’t going to let anyone tell me what to do,” Stover told the Seattle Times in 1991.

Commenters on Stover’s blog sing his praises over and over, almost all mentioning his wit and intelligence, as well as his talent for and dedication to communicating with dogs.

Some call him the “dog whisperer” of Puget Sound, but louder.

“Mark may have been a dog whisperer, but I don’t ever remember him whispering — that was one big booming voice,” former client Stewart Saunders wrote on Stover’s blog Friday.

Others say he transformed their dogs.

“Our dog would just listen to everything Mark said and do it,” said client Rich Bushnell, a Seattle publisher who took his old English sheepdog Moses to Stover at 2 months old. “His talent with animals was absolutely amazing.”

Meeting Linda Opdycke
In the early 1990s, Stover met Opdycke, now 45, of Winthrop. The two set up a new dog training and boarding business and lived on Kiket Island near La Conner.

Opdycke’s father Wally Opdycke, an entrepreneur and one of the founders of Chateau Ste. Michelle winery, bought the island for $1.4 million in 1982, according to the Skagit County Auditor’s Web site. Opdycke is expected to sell the island to the state this December.

Stover and Linda Opdycke transformed the island into a resort for dogs.

“For $45 a day, dogs get out three times daily for ... exercise time, running on trails, getting beach time to swim and play, plus pedicures, grooming and detailed attention to any special dietary needs,” the Puget Sound Business Journal reported in 2005. “One man insists that his dog get a sardine with every meal; another dog gets five bones a day, with meals.”

Stover drove to Seattle several times a week to meet with clients and privately train their dogs at their homes. He’d been visiting some clients for decades.
Many clients saw him as a friend but say he steered away from talking about his own personal life. Mostly, he bantered about history, politics and, of course, the dogs.

Few knew about the depth of his messy divorce or the criminal stalking charges that followed.

They tie the knot
After living together for years, Opdycke and Stover married on May 17, 2002, in a small wedding at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas.
“All of a sudden she was there,” Maas said. “Everything was going great until this dark cloud.”

Friends, who asked not to be named for this story, said within a couple years of their marriage, Opdycke delved into horse racing and would be away from home for long stretches of time. Opdycke and Stover separated in April 2006. Opdycke filed for divorce, which became final in January 2008.

Opdycke started a relationship with one of Stover’s best friends, according to unnamed friends. The pair have since broken up, and her new boyfriend Oakes, of Kennewick, is now in jail, suspected of killing Stover on Oct. 28.

As part of their divorce, Stover bought out Opdycke’s part of the business for $100,000, according to divorce papers. Opdycke got the SUV and horse trailer; Stover kept the Porsche and BMW.

In September 2007, Stover started showing up, uninvited, at Opdycke’s Winthrop home. Opdycke told police Stover exposed himself to her, according to Okanogan County District Court documents.

Opdycke told police from then until March 2008, Stover stalked her, snuck into her home, stole her garbage and left lewd voicemails for her, court documents say.

She also told police he hid in the bushes at her home, pointed a gun at her and watched her as she got out of the shower, the Okanogan court documents say.

‘You’re wrecking my life’

On January 22, 2008, Stover declared war against his ex-wife.

“You know I can hurt you too, and I know how to do it,” Stover said in a voicemail to Opdycke, according to police reports. “This is war, this is goddamn war. You’re wrecking my life, you’ve wrecked my life enough.”

By March of 2008, Stover had called Opdycke 82 times since her attorney had told Stover not to contact her in November 2007, the documents say.

On Stover’s 56th birthday, March 18, 2008, he left a disturbingly distraught voicemail for Opdycke. Opdycke told police she thought Stover was suicidal.

“I can’t find a piece of property and they are not giving any permits,” he said. “My world is falling apart. This may be my last birthday ... What am I going to do?

... and the economy is crappy, and nobody wants to loan anybody any money ... There’s not a lot of positive things for me now ... I don’t know what I am about any more. But I am about to give up.”

The Okanogan County prosecuting attorney filed criminal theft and stalking charges against Stover in May 2008. Stover accepted a plea agreement in the case in December of that year, entering an Alford plea to stalking. The theft charge was dismissed. An Alford plea is a guilty plea in which a defendant does not admit to the charges but rather concedes that a judge or jury would convict him.

“I am making an Alford plea because I did not intend to frighten Linda, nor do I think that my actions did actually cause her fear,” he wrote on the plea agreement. “Rather they angered her.”

He was sentenced to 365 days in jail with 335 days suspended on the condition that he undergo a domestic violence mental health evaluation and comply with the treatment plan. He was allowed to serve the jail time by home monitoring.

In a petition for a restraining order, Opdycke said Stover owned more than 15 firearms and always carried one by his side.

Stover, a self-described libertarian, a hunter and a firearm collector, was ordered not to possess firearms until 2010.
Friends said the order shook him up.

“He was really nervous about that,” Maas said.

Things were looking up

After the divorce was finalized and the criminal case closed, Stover settled into his new home in Anacortes. Things started looking up.

Client Bushnell last saw Stover when the trainer came to Seattle on Oct. 14 to pick up Bushnell’s dog, Moses.

“He was in very good spirits, making jokes,” Bushnell said. “I was happy to see that he seemed happy. We had no idea there was any trouble brewing.”

He had struck up a relationship with a woman and recently asked her to marry him.

“That was just blossoming as this happened,” Maas said.

Stover and his fiancee would talk several times a day.

In August, the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office received an anonymous phone call, saying Stover had drugs. A deputy pulled him over and found a small amount of what appeared to be marijuana.

Though the Sheriff’s Office won’t go into details about the stop, Chief Criminal Deputy Will Reichardt said it could have been a setup. The deputy did not arrest Stover.

Just weeks before his disappearance, Stover also fired one of his employees. Reichardt said investigators do not believe the firing is related to Stover’s death.

When Stover wouldn’t answer his phone for two days, his fiancee knew something was wrong and reported him missing, documents show.

Evidence of murder

Skagit County Sheriff’s deputies found blood in Stover’s house — evidence he had been shot. His protection dog, Ding — one he and Linda bought together — suffered a shotgun wound but survived.

Stover’s employees last saw him the morning of Oct. 28. He planned to go to Seattle with Ding to meet with clients but never showed up.

Friends and family want answers to his disappearance, but the Sheriff’s Office is releasing limited information as its investigation continues. Stover’s loved ones are left to speculate on the details of his disappearance and presumed death.

“This kind of open thing and his last moments realizing that his dog got shot ... what kind of terror he went through. It fries me,” Maas said. “He had a great future to go. It wasn’t his time. He didn’t deserve it.”