An Edmonds man has been charged in Snohomish County Superior Court with first-degree murder in connection with the stabbing death of his 64-year-old father Stephen Fry at his home in Edmonds’ Seaview neighborhood.

Police reported that the suspect, 24-year-old John Fry, turned himself in after walking to the Edmonds Police Station in the early hours of Nov. 21.

“He walked up to the door at 2:41 a.m. and rang the station call box, saying he wanted to report that he had committed a ‘pre-meditated homicide against my father,’” explained Edmonds Police spokesperson Sgt. Shane Hawley. “The suspect told the responding officers that he had just stabbed his father and walked to the police station to report it.”

Officers immediately went to the address supplied by the suspect, in the 18700 block of 84th Avenue West, to verify the story. There they discovered the 64-year-old male victim deceased with multiple stab wounds.  Upon confirmation that a homicide had occurred, the suspect was taken into custody at the Edmonds Police Station, Hawley said.

According to documents filed with the court, the suspect told officers that his father had “abused and molested him his entire life,” at which point the officers advised him of his right to remain silent and to have an attorney.

During several subsequent hours of interviews, the suspect described to officers the details of his alleged abuse at the hands of his father, and that last year he had tried to get a protection order against him but was denied by the court, at which point he began to have thoughts of harming and killing his father.  He also told officers that he’d been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but “did not believe it was a legitimate mental illness.”

On the evening in question, the suspect reported that he conducted internet searches on topics including “justifiable homicide,” and then went upstairs to his father’s room, confronted him, and began hitting and stabbing him. After that, he changed clothes, left two notes, and walked to the Edmonds police station to report the crime.

Edmonds police detectives were called in to secure the house and process the crime scene, where they collected evidence with assistance from the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab.

Fry is being held in the Snohomish County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond. A competency evaluation has been ordered, and a hearing set for Dec. 30 to determine if the suspect is competent to stand trial.

— By Larry Vogel