Neighbors speak well of families in Kitsap County slaying case

COLCHESTER, Kitsap County — There doesn't appear to be anyone in this close-knit community with a view of the Sound and Seattle who has a bad word to say about Ruby Andrews, an 87-year-old woman who was stabbed to death in her home Sunday, or the family of the teenage neighbor arrested in her slaying.

"They're both nice families," said a woman who lives in a house that's halfway between those of Andrews and the 17-year-old suspect.

"Ruby was very lovely and quiet and kind," said another neighbor, who like the first, declined to give her name.

Another neighbor explained no one in the neighborhood of teachers, police coordinators, retired Navy officers and other professionals had "any dirt" on the family of the suspect, Daniel J. Mustard. Mustard's father is a well-known Bremerton Fire Department lieutenant.

"Can you imagine how awful it is to go to work, like his parents did, and then get this kind of phone call where there's been a homicide and your kid is the suspect?"

Andrews was found dead of multiple stab wounds around 4:40 p.m. on Sunday by her husband, Earl Andrews, and one of her adult sons, according to the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office. A revolver, a 1993 Cadillac, her wedding ring and several framed $100 bills were missing, deputies said.

A couple hours later, Mustard was arrested in connection with the slaying.

On Monday, a Kitsap County Superior Court judge found probable cause to hold Mustard on $1 million bail until prosecutors could file formal charges. According to Tim Drury, the chief of the Kitsap County Prosecutor's Office felony division, Mustard is expected to be charged with first-degree felony murder Wednesday.

Because of the seriousness of the crime, Mustard, who will turn 18 in May, automatically will be charged in adult court, Drury said.

According to court documents and neighbors' accounts, the victim's husband had taken their adult son to the hospital for treatment of a chronic medical condition around 4 p.m. Sunday.

While they were gone, a neighbor saw someone drive the Cadillac out of the Andrews' garage and pull into the suspect's driveway just a short distance away, court documents allege. The car was there for about five minutes before it was driven off, court documents allege.

Neighbors were concerned enough to call around and ask each other who was driving the car even before anyone realized what had happened, one neighbor said.

Mustard was arrested around 6:43 p.m. when he returned to the neighborhood as a passenger in his aunt's car. Deputies who questioned him noted he had blood on his shoe and saw the handle of a pocket knife protruding from his pants, according to prosecutors.

Mustard, who deputies described in court documents as "shaking" and "increasingly nervous," originally told detectives he had been with a friend.

Detectives said after they contacted the friend, he told them Mustard had picked him up in a Cadillac and shown him the revolver, according to police and prosecutors.

Deputies said they found the abandoned Cadillac, with the revolver in full view, at an apartment complex near the school where the boy's aunt said she had picked him up.

Deputies found a diamond ring on Mustard when he was booked into the juvenile detention center. The ring was later identified as belonging to Ruby Andrews, court documents allege. A pair of shorts that appeared bloodstained and another knife were seized from the suspect's home, according to court documents.

Kitsap County deputies had been called to the boy's home last week after Mustard had gotten "out of control" and threatened his mother with a knife, according to Sheriff's Office spokesman Scott Wilson.

Mustard's parents attended their son's preliminary hearing Monday in Port Orchard. At one point, Mustard turned to his parents and mouthed, "I love you."

The parents declined to talk to the media.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com