Murder charges filed in slaying of dog trainer

Skagit County prosecutors filed first-degree murder charges Friday against a Kennewick man accused of killing T. Mark Stover, a charismatic dog trainer whose clients included a host of Pacific Northwest celebrities including Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz and Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.

Michiel Glen Oakes, 41, the boyfriend of Stover's ex-wife, is being held on $5 million bail.

Stover's body remains missing.

According to court documents filed today in Skagit County Superior Court, Oakes had purchased three ankle weights, anchor line, a backpack, shin guards and camouflage clothes the day Stover disappeared.

He met with his ex-wife later and told her that a big and "dangerous" mission had turned into a "job gone bad," court documents allege.

Oakes also told his ex-wife, according to court documents, that he would go to prison for the rest of his life if police saw what was in his car.

In Oakes' car, detectives found, among other things, a backpack matching the receipt, two 9 mm magazines, a bulletproof vest and instructions for a .22 gun silencer, court documents allege.

According to a friend of Oakes' family, Oakes met Stover's ex-wife, Linda Opdycke, when he was hired as a bodyguard to protect her.

Opdycke, the daughter of wealthy Eastside businessman Wally Opdycke, had filed for an order of protection against Stover in April 2008.

She claimed he had hidden on her property in Winthrop and pointed a gun at her.

According to court documents filed in King County Superior Court two years ago, the couple's divorce started off amicably, but several of Stover's friends said it became ugly.

Recently, Stover had threatened to sue the Opdycke family over the proposed sale of Kiket Island, where he and Opdycke had opened a dog retreat and training center after they married, several friends said.

After the divorce, Stover moved to a property south of Anacortes and resumed his training operations.

Stover, 57, was last seen by his employees Oct. 28, according to the Skagit County Sheriff's Office, when he was believed to be headed off to visit clients in Seattle.

That same day, a woman reported seeing two vehicles — that later turned out to be registered to Stover and Oakes — parked illegally behind the Summit Park Grange, a half-mile from Stover's house.

The two cars were parked back to back in an area of the grange that had been closed off with a locked chain, the woman told police, and there was clear plastic stretched between the two cars.

The following day, Stover was reported missing after his employees arrived at his home in the 13100 block of Thompson Road to find his dog had been wounded by a gunshot.

Deputies found blood outside and inside the house. They also noted the bathroom was unusually clean and it smelled like "fresh bleach."

A few hours later, Stover's station wagon was found abandoned in the parking lot of Northern Lights Casino, on the Swinomish Indian Reservation, about three miles from the grange.

Police found what appeared to be bloody fingerprint smears in the station wagon.

According to Chief Criminal Deputy Will Reichardt, Opdycke called the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office when she learned Oct. 29 that her ex-husband had been reported missing. Oakes and his car — the same one spotted near the grange — were at her home when Okanogan deputies arrived, according to charging documents.

According to court documents, when deputies arrived Oakes excused himself and said he needed to get some medicine from his car.

Prosecutors allege in charging documents that a deputy watched as Oakes retrieved a white plastic bag from his car and threw it over an embankment.

When police retrieved the bag, according to charging documents, it contained a .22 caliber semiautomatic pistol and smelled like bleach.

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