Exemplary mother: this is what Ingrid Lyne used to be called. She was born on August 2, 1975, in the city of Renton, Washington.
Ingrid Maree Rounsaville’s family moved several times during her childhood, leading her to attend high school in Tucson. Since she was a child, her dream was to become a nurse.
Ingrid graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1997 from the University of Arizona, the state where she spent her childhood and teenage years.
In 2000, three years after graduating and seeking a well-paying job, Ingrid returned to Washington, where she met Phillip Lyne, who would become her future husband. The couple had three daughters, named Noelle, Brooke, and Reese, aged 12, 10, and 7 at the time of the case.
In 2014, after an amicable divorce, Ingrid and Phillip decided to go their separate ways in life, though they shared custody of their daughters and maintained a friendly relationship. Family members said they were very close, frequently exchanging messages and calls. It was common for Ingrid to share personal details of her life with Phillip, as she saw him not only as an ex-husband but also as a great friend.
Working as a nurse at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle demanded much of Ingrid’s time, and besides Phillip, she could also rely on her mother, Jorga Bass, for support. The environment they lived in was very family-oriented, but Ingrid missed having someone to share her life with.
At the time of the case, Ingrid was 41 years old, working as a nurse in a job she loved, and had already achieved financial stability. She decided it would be a good idea to open up to love again. Ingrid created a profile on a dating app and, as usual, exchanged messages with several men who might match what she was looking for: a loving partner who would accept her daughters and be interested in a serious relationship. Several attempts were unsuccessful.
A few days after signing up on the app, one man caught her attention: John Robert Charlton, 39 years old. He lived in Seattle, had a sister, and was the son of military parents, having been raised with strict values at home.
Who Was John Charlton?
John’s parents invested in his and his sister Shannon’s education, setting high expectations for their future careers. However, during his teenage years, John began to deviate from these expectations.
He seemed to harbor repressed feelings, perhaps due to a strict upbringing that left no room for questioning, or maybe because of his strong personality.
The troubled teenager grew into an adult addicted to drugs. In 1997, John began building an extensive criminal record, accumulating offenses in six U.S. states, including convictions for aggravated robbery, grand larceny, auto theft, assault, and third-degree theft.
On June 24, 2006, in Lyon, Mississippi, John had the first of many encounters with the law. A woman was sitting in her car with a baby, waiting for her husband outside a bookstore. Suddenly, John approached the car and ordered the woman to get out of the vehicle.
The police were alerted and pursued John on Interstate 15 to Riverdale, Georgia. After stopping at a store, he was arrested for aggravated theft. At the time, he was sentenced to 1 to 15 years in prison, but due to legal loopholes, he served only 21 months.
By June 24, 2008, he was free again, and just a few months later, he committed his second robbery in Montana, also facing assault charges in Idaho. John was once again behind bars, and this time, after serving three and a half years, he was released in 2012.
John was a handsome, charming, and seductive man, according to several of his ex-girlfriends who gave statements to the police. It didn’t take long for him to realize that his appearance and demeanor could grant him success in other types of crimes.
Even before being imprisoned, John led an unstable life, and this did not improve after his release. He rarely stayed in the same job for more than a few months, and it was at one of these jobs that he met a woman named “Heather.”
The two had a brief romance. Heather said John never directly harmed her, but she had a strong sixth sense telling her something was off. After a while, she decided to trust her instincts and ended the relationship.
Many women who had relationships with John, in addition to Heather, also provided statements to the police. Their accounts revealed John’s violent nature and his abuse of alcohol and drugs, which made his life unstable. Several women mentioned that it was common for him to sleep on the streets for days at a time, and he didn’t mind being homeless. Additionally, he enjoyed bragging about some of the serious crimes he had committed.
At the time of Ingrid’s case, John alternated between sleeping on the streets for days and being taken in by Heather, with whom he maintained an informal romantic relationship.
Fatal Encounter
After a few days of chatting, John and Ingrid decided to meet to watch a Seattle Mariners baseball game on Friday, April 8, 2016. A day earlier, on Thursday, Ingrid told some friends about her plans, organized her work schedule, and arranged to have Saturday off since the date might run late. She asked her ex-husband to take care of their daughters the next day, and he agreed to pick them up.
The couple met around 7 PM and watched the game as planned. Everything seemed to be going well, so they decided to have a few drinks at a nearby bar.
Around 10:35 PM, Ingrid sent a text message to a friend saying that everything was fine and there was no need to worry. After that time, it is assumed that things began to go awry.
Disappearance
On the morning of Saturday, April 9, 2016, around 10 AM, Phillip brought the daughters back as agreed. Upon arriving at the house, he noticed that Ingrid’s car was not parked out front, and she wasn’t answering his calls.
All of this seemed very strange since Phillip and Ingrid had enough trust and communication for her to inform him if she decided to stay out or if there were any changes in plans.
Already very worried, Phillip decided to call Ingrid’s mother. She quickly arrived at the house and, using a spare key, managed to open the door. Ingrid’s purse and cell phone were inside, and Jorga began checking the call history on her daughter’s phone.
She found several records related to John and sent him a text message. John replied, confirming that they had met but claimed that after the game, they parted ways, and he went home. When Ingrid’s mother informed John that she would notify the authorities about her daughter’s disappearance, he seemed apprehensive and cornered.
Body Parts Discovered
A little over 20 km from Ingrid Lyne’s home, a man named Mike Novasion was sorting out the trash he was going to discard in the bins outside his residence. He found it odd that there were three white bags meant for organic waste in a bin designated for recyclables.
Intending to correct what he thought was a neighbor’s mistake, Mike decided to move the bags to the proper bin. However, as he picked up the first bag, he noticed it was unusually heavy and sealed in a peculiar way.
Mike realized he could make out the outline of a face when pressing against the bag. Along with a neighbor, he opened the bag and encountered something utterly horrifying.
Stunned, they quickly called the police. Within minutes, a police squad was at the scene, and medical examiners found a leg, a foot, half of an arm, and a human head.
Still unaware of Ingrid Lyne’s whereabouts, friends and family were mobilized to conduct searches and spread information that could help find her.
Meanwhile, John appeared at his ex-girlfriend’s house. She noticed that his lip was swollen, and when questioned, he claimed he had gotten into a fight defending himself from a mugging the previous night.
Communication between police districts and the widespread sharing of posts containing Ingrid’s photo quickly led authorities to piece things together. The human remains found in the garbage bin were identified as Ingrid Lyne’s.
A search warrant was issued for the victim’s home. There, investigators found a nearly empty box of garbage bags matching those found at the crime scene. Blood spatters were also discovered in the bathtub, and most shockingly, a pruning saw with traces of blood, tissue, and bone was found propped against one of the bathroom walls.
Searches on Ingrid’s personal computer allowed investigators to trace her last steps, leading them to a page for purchasing tickets to a baseball game the previous Friday.
Since many crimes against women are committed by their current or former partners, Phillip Lyne was investigated but was quickly ruled out as a suspect.
By the end of Monday, April 11, 2016, the first Monday after the crime, Ingrid’s car was found in a parking lot in downtown Seattle. Three fingerprints were lifted from the car’s handles, and a bundle of white garbage bags was recovered from the vehicle’s trunk.
John is Interviewed
Investigators accessed John’s dating app profile, where he clearly stated he wasn’t looking for anything serious and was there just to meet people.
During the interview, one of the first questions asked by the police was about John’s fixed address. He stated that he was homeless and often slept in shelters, friends’ houses, or even on the streets. The officers noticed that John had a swollen lip, a head injury, as well as scratches and abrasions across his body.
The tone of the conversation began to shift, and when investigators mentioned Ingrid’s name, John appeared visibly uncomfortable. Contradicting the version he told via SMS to Melissa, he claimed that after the baseball game, he and the woman he had just met took a bus to her house.
Somewhat confused, he told police that he believed they had intimate relations but couldn’t recall clearly due to the alcohol he consumed that night. Ingrid supposedly told him to leave, as she didn’t want to introduce him to her daughters, who would arrive the next morning.
She then drove him downtown and dropped him off in front of a building. John added that the next morning, he sent a text message to Ingrid asking if she had slept well. Moments later, he requested the presence of a lawyer.
What happened next raised further suspicions about John’s erratic and impulsive behavior. As soon as the officers left the room, the homeless man spread out a coat on the floor and took a nap.
Meanwhile, forensic results revealed that one of the fingerprints lifted from the car’s door handle belonged to John. Based on this evidence, his preventive detention was ordered, with bail set at $5 million.
Other Body Parts Found
After John’s arrest, some friends and ex-girlfriends approached the police to assist with the investigation. Despite being in custody, there was still no concrete evidence placing him at the crime scene or directly identifying him as the perpetrator. On April 12, 2016, the presiding judge rejected the defense’s request, stating that John Charlton would remain in custody due to probable cause linking him to Ingrid Lyne’s homicide.
On April 18, a man received a call from his neighbor, claiming to have found “human remains” in his trash bin. A torso with a belly button piercing was again wrapped in a white bag, and the body matched the victim’s description.
This prompted a renewed search for evidence connecting John to the crime. Forensic teams returned to Ingrid’s house to conduct a more thorough search for clues and attempted to construct a timeline to determine the time and cause of death.
The bathroom plumbing was removed, and a significant amount of blood was found in the drain trap. A reagent called BLUESTAR®, used to detect the presence of blood plasma, was applied to the bathroom floor, revealing an attempt to clean up using bleach and other cleaning products. The preliminary autopsy report indicated the cause of death as “homicidal violence”; however, with each new examination of the body parts, the forensic team uncovered more details, such as petechiae in the eyes and marks on the neck.
In addition, the toxicology report revealed that Ingrid had not used drugs or taken any medication. The tests only detected a moderate amount of alcohol in her blood.
It didn’t take long for the forensic experts to conclude with certainty that Ingrid had been suffocated to death and subsequently dismembered inside her own home.
Trial
On October 2, 2017, John pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Ingrid Lyne. While this act might seem to indicate remorse or regret, it was merely a defense strategy to expedite the trial and potentially reduce his sentence.
The victim’s family was profoundly devastated during the deliberation, as the gruesome details of the crime were presented by the prosecution. In the months leading up to the trial, friends and family held vigils and tributes for Ingrid. She was remembered as a dedicated mother and a kind person, always willing to help not only her patients but anyone in need.
The sentencing hearing took place on January 5, 2018. With his parents Ray and JoAnn present, John gave a brief statement during the trial. He did not apologize, simply stating that nothing he could say or do would alleviate the suffering of the Lyne family.
Phillip Lyne was granted the right to speak in court. He accused John of robbing his daughters of their childhood, depriving them of their mother’s presence as they grew up. He added that Ingrid was a good person who never deserved such a horrific fate.
Nancy, one of Ingrid’s closest friends, called John a coward. She said that, besides murdering a defenseless woman, he tried to absolve himself of responsibility by blaming alcohol during his police interrogation. Finally, John Charlton was sentenced to 27 years and 9 months in prison. Despite all efforts by his defense to reduce the sentence, Judge Julie Spector upheld the prosecution’s recommendation, imposing the maximum penalty allowed under state law.
The sentence was poorly received by the public; many considered it extremely unfair that someone who committed such a heinous crime could be back on the streets at 66 years old.
John never revealed the motive, the timeline, or the location of the remaining body parts. He is currently serving his sentence at King County Penitentiary in Washington.
