Man charged in 'honor killing' of brother in Lynnwood

A California man who allegedly killed his brother in Lynnwood last week over a 23-year-old insult that doomed the suspect's prospective marriage was charged Monday with second-degree murder.

Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor Travis Johnson, who filed the charge in Everett District Court, said he still doesn't know the exact insult that reportedly prompted the slaying in the victim's home on Oct. 26.

"That's the $54,000 question," he said.

A call to the detective investigating the case was not returned on Monday.

According to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, Mahdi M. Matin, 61, was engaged to be married 23 years ago when his younger brother, Isa M. Mehri, 60, said "something to Matin that was very offensive and which caused him not to marry the woman," according to a document of probable cause filed in the case.

Matin had been "tortured" ever since by what his brother said, according to the document. Matin was at his brother's home in the 19100 block of 18th Avenue West in Lynnwood on Oct. 26 when the younger brother apparently repeated the insult, the document alleges.

"This made Matin mad and he went out in the rear yard of the residence and retrieved a pipe," according to the document of probable cause.

With the pipe in hand, Matin asked his brother to repeat the "offensive remark," police said. Mehri repeated the remark and Matin struck him on the head, the document alleges.

Matin told police his brother then threatened to shoot him and turned in the direction of his bedroom, so Matin hit his brother on the head again and dragged him into the backyard. Matin then strangled Mehri with a rope, the document alleges.

Matin, who followed his brother to the U.S. from Afghanistan in 1985, covered Mehri's body with a tarp and left to spend the night at a hotel, the document said.

He returned the next day, Oct. 27, to wash the body and clean the blood from the house, according to the document.

He contemplated telling his sister but didn't want her to see the blood, according to the document. So he left and spent another night at the hotel, where he thought about killing himself, according to the court document.

Last Wednesday morning, he called police to report what he described as an "honor killing," according to the document.

Matin is being held in the Snohomish County Jail, with bail set at $1 million.

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