Originally published Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Comments (38)
E-mail article
Print view
Car was in traffic stop before deadly trip to Lake Ballinger
Edmonds police pulled over a car containing17-year-old Britney Galindez and five others shortly before the group drove to a South Snohomish County lake where the girl was killed, according to charging papers filed Friday.
Seattle Times staff reporter
Edmonds police pulled over a car containing17-year-old Britney Galindez and five others shortly before the group drove to a South Snohomish County lake where the girl was killed, according to charging papers filed Friday.
During the traffic stop, Galindez became ill and vomited in the lap of Robert Langendoerfer, 21, the charging papers say.
Snohomish County prosecutors allege it was anger over the stop, as well as the vomiting, that prompted him to kill Galindez at Lake Ballinger in Mountlake Terrace.
Langendoerfer, of Edmonds, was charged Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Galindez, whose body was recovered from the lake Oct. 21, several days after her death.
The charging papers contain information police obtained during later interviews with several of the car's occupants.
They told police the car was stopped by Edmonds police just after midnight Oct. 14 and that Galindez vomited while the officer was back at the patrol car. The driver received a ticket for driving without insurance.
However, the night the car was stopped, police did not attempt to detain or question the passengers.
An Edmonds police administrator said he would not comment on the ongoing investigation but said that because of Washington state Supreme Court rulings, police are no longer allowed to ask to see IDs or contact passengers in a vehicle unless there is evidence that they are participants in a crime.
The driver later told Mountlake Terrace detectives that everybody in the car, except for him, had been drinking and smoking marijuana.
After police allowed them to drive off, five of the car's occupants were angry, screaming or crying about the ticket and "the puke," according to several of the young men in the car.
Galindez "was crying and saying she would take the blame for the ticket," prosecutors wrote in charging documents.
A short time later, according to charging documents, the group pulled into the parking lot of the Silver Dollar Casino in Mill Creek, where security officers asked if there was a problem.
![]()
They gave the group paper towels and water to clean up the mess.
The group then headed for Lake Ballinger, prosecutors said.
One of the young men had passed out drunk in the front seat.
Three of the others walked down the dock and Galindez and Langendoerfer followed, prosecutors said.
According to police, the three said they turned around when they reached the end of the dock and saw Langendoerfer "going crazy."
He was "wrestling" with Galindez, strangling her and stabbing her in the neck with a screwdriver he'd taken from the car, the witnesses said.
She was trying to hit Langendoerfer when he picked her up and threw her into the water, prosecutors say.
Langendoerfer then took off his shirt and waded into the lake where Galindez was trying to swim, prosecutors say.
They said Langendoerfer caught Galindez and held her under water for what they estimated was about five minutes.
Police and prosecutors said Langendoerfer told the others he would kill them if they spoke of what they'd seen.
Langendoerfer, who is being held in Snohomish County Jail on $1 million bail, has a criminal history that includes convictions for assault, driving with a suspended license, theft and disorderly conduct.
According to police, Galindez had been missing from her home since Oct. 12.
She was reported missing Oct. 19 and found in Lake Ballinger two days later.
Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Going to Gas Works Park? Good luck
Construction, holiday travel likely to snarl region's traffic
Alleged leader of methamphetamine ring arrested in multiple-city raid
Eyman initiative looks likely for November ballot
Global warming may impede eelgrass growth

Tribal Fireworks Rivalry
The Fourth of July marks a long-standing fireworks rivalry between two clans of a Native-American family in Suquamish.
Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
Tax tips for new independent professionals
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new compact car? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
nwhomes

Find a new home or condo that fits your lifestyle.
Search New Developments
Builder Directory
- Bicyclist killed Wednesday night is identified
- Politics Northwest | Stephen Colbert takes on lawsuit against Seattle fireworks show
- Speculation grows for Boeing 787 plant in South Carolina
- Yakima teacher reprimanded for sending 5-year-old student home with bag of feces in backpack
- Feds arrest 31 in drug raids from Lynnwood to Northern California
- 6 jurors swear a cop's wife swayed panel in Kent civil rights case
- Fire sends service providers scrambling
- Feds seize Madoff penthouse, wife leaves
- Rivals show up at Hutchison news conference
- Going to Gas Works Park? Good luck
- Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox: 07/04 game thread
340 - Palin resigning as Alaska governor
305 - Obama's own party worried health plan lacks votes
247 - Seattle Mariners see bats come alive for 8-4 win over New York Yankees
122 - Recession wipes out 9 years of job gains
85 - Yakima teacher reprimanded for backpack feces
80 - 6 jurors swear a cop's wife swayed panel in Kent civil rights case
64 - Obama's practical immigration-reform approach: Legalize status of illegal workers
64 - Global warming may impede eelgrass growth
52 - $12,500 settlement reached in case of twice-Tasered homeless felon
47
- Paddler's paradise: South Sound offers quiet and beauty
- Politics Northwest | Stephen Colbert takes on lawsuit against Seattle fireworks show
- Winter snowpack melts into waterfalls
- Speculation grows for Boeing 787 plant in South Carolina
- Jerry Large | An aging parent forces agonizing decision
- Liven up Fremont's attempt to break a world record for a 'zombie walk'
- Going to Gas Works Park? Good luck
- Lynnwood's City Bank gets tighter scrutiny
- Costco contacts customers as beef recalled
- Bicyclist killed Wednesday night is identified










