Everett-area woman's car found burned, with human remains inside

The burned car belonging to Sherry Harlan, an Everett-area woman reported missing this week, has been found at a gravel pit in eastern Snohomish County with the partial remains of a human body inside, police and prosecutors said.

The woman's ex-boyfriend has been arrested and is expected to be charged on Monday with second-degree murder, according to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Craig Matheson.

The suspect, Eric James Christensen, 40, of Gold Bar, is being held in Snohomish County Jail on $2 million bail.

Matheson and the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said that while positive identification of the remains from the car are pending, the car itself has been confirmed as belonging to Harlan.

Harlan, 35, was reported missing by a co-worker on Tuesday after she failed to show up for two shifts at work.

Her car was found Thursday.

According to court documents, detectives found a bloody footprint, human tissue and blood spattered throughout Harlan's apartment, as well as signs that someone had attempted to clean it up and remove evidence.

Friends and neighbors told detectives that Harlan wanted to break off her relationship with Christensen, but was afraid because he had previously beaten her to a "bloody pulp," according to court documents.

When investigators served a search warrant on Christensen's home, they found a bloodstained pair of jeans and shoes that appeared to match the footprint in Harlan's apartment, court documents say.

Police and prosecutors say Christensen was covered with scratch marks and had an apparent stab wound on his leg.

According to court documents, he said he'd fought with Harlan in her apartment on Jan. 2 and that he may have lost a fingernail during the fight, but that he had "no idea" where she, her dog or her car were.

Christensen claimed the rest of his wounds were the result of "being jumped by some Mexican people," according to court documents.

According to police and prosecutors, Harlan's cellphone records show her phone was last used on Jan. 2 when she accepted a call from Christensen at 8 a.m.

One neighbor told police she saw a man matching Christensen's description lurking behind Harlan's 1989 Nissan Sentra. The car trunk was open and Harlan's dog, Roscoe, was tied to the inside of the driver's door, court documents say.

According to court documents, Christensen told his landlord's son on Jan. 5 that he had Harlan's dog because she didn't need it anymore.

The dog has not been found, according to police.

Friends of Harlan describe her as a tiny woman with a big laugh who was loving, kind, generous and, unfortunately, overdependent on men.

"She was too trusting of them," said John Price, whose wife was a longtime friend of Harlan's. "She had a history of meeting men in the oddest places and getting hurt."

Christensen, a Level 1 sex offender with a long criminal history that includes rape, domestic violence, assault, forgery and theft, was in Snohomish County Jail when Harlan moved into the Cedar Creek Apartments about two months ago, according to friends and neighbors.

She had intended to end the relationship, but she relented when he got out of jail in December and allowed him back into her life, a friend said.

According to prosecutor Matheson, Christensen is likely facing a "third strike" conviction that could send him to prison for life.

"I hope so," said Harlan's friend Teresa Maynard. "He better not ever get out of jail again. He shouldn't have been out in the first place."

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

Seattle Times researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.