Everett police launch homicide investigation after body found

EVERETT — A homicide investigation was launched by the Everett Police Department after a body was found in Skagit County.

Police believe Howard Benzel, 67, of Mukilteo was killed over the weekend after visiting a tenant he was renting to in Everett, the Skagit Valley Herald reported.

The wife of the landlord went looking for her overdue husband Saturday after he went to check on one of their commercial properties, the Everett Daily Herald previously reported.

The woman told authorities that her husband’s truck and cellphone were outside and she saw a tenant cleaning up drops of blood outside their rental property. She told dispatchers that she believed the tenant had killed her husband after being told his lease was not going to be renewed.

A passerby reported Benzel’s remains near Highway 9 between Highway 534 and Big Lake Boulevard, authorities said.

The Snohomish County medical examiner’s office identified Benzel.

The suspect, who is 40, was not identified. He was booked into the Snohomish County Jail before detectives found the body. His bail was set at $500,000.