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The developmentally disabled South Hill teen didn’t want to go with Tyler W. Savage when he asked her into an overgrown lot near her home last week, according to court records.
She tried to beg off, telling Savage she wasn’t allowed to cross 111th Avenue East, a street separating them from the lot.
Savage, an 18-year-old neighbor, persisted. Daily relented and spent 15 to 20 minutes with him among the blackberry brambles, court records show.
Then she said she needed to leave.
Savage later told detectives he didn’t let her.
Investigators believe he strangled the 16-year-old girl, molested her body, and then dragged her farther into the brambles to conceal the slaying.
He went to a friend’s home afterward to play an online video game in an attempt to forget what he’d done, court records show. The girl’s family didn’t know she was missing as he logged on, the records state.
A motive remained unknown Tuesday.
“He did not say why,” Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said after he charged Savage with aggravated first-degree murder, the state’s highest crime.
Lindquist also put Savage on notice that he might seek the death penalty.
The prosecutor has 30 days to make a decision, although that deadline likely will be extended. Life in prison without the possibility of release is the only other punishment available for someone convicted of aggravated first-degree murder.
Superior Court Commissioner Patrick Oishi entered a plea of not guilty on Savage’s behalf and ordered him jailed without bond, which is routine for defendants charged with aggravated murder.
Savage’s attorney, Jay Berneburg, did not oppose the no-bail hold but reserved his right to argue the issue at another time. Relatives of Daily did not attend Savage’s arraignment. Her father, Cecil Daily, reportedly was too upset to go to court.
Savage’s parents stood in the back row during their son’s arraignment, craning their necks to catch a glimpse of him. His mother’s eyes misted over several times, and she covered her mouth when Oishi denied bail.
When the hearing ended, they locked arms and hustled for the door. They refused to answer reporters’ questions.
Michael Von Gnatensky, who said he was the Savage family spokesman, said the couple plan to make a public statement in the future but first need to gather more details. They reportedly have been unable to speak with their son since his arrest.
“It’s a tragic, sad day not just for the two families but also for the community,” Von Gnatensky said. “The family is very upset and in shock. They’re not doing well.”
Investigators interviewed Savage on Monday, and he reportedly led them to Daily’s body, which was about 150 yards off 122nd Street East. Her body was naked and covered with her bicycle.
Charging documents state Savage removed Daily’s clothing “to make it appear to be ‘something else,’ ‘like she was raped.’ ” Daily was a Special Olympics athlete and was getting ready to start her junior year at Rogers High School. She was last seen Aug. 17 after she disappeared while on a bike ride to a friend’s house two blocks from her own.
Searchers and detectives had been looking for her since, using aircraft and search dogs. They also interviewed dozens of people in the neighborhood.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Blair said the lot where she was found is in the area where teams searched, but he wasn’t sure whether they scoured the precise area where her body was discovered.
Investigators were back at the lot near 122nd Street East and 115th Avenue Court East on Tuesday, looking for evidence, Blair said. They found a backpack believed to be Daily’s and part of a cellular phone. They still were searching for the other half of the phone.
Savage allegedly destroyed the phone out of fear that authorities would “ping” it and find Daily’s body, Blair said.
Neighbors reacted with sadness to the news Daily was dead.
“I think it’s terrible,” said Joe Owen, 80. “A little girl got murdered.”
Others said they were shocked Savage was charged with the crime.
“He’s like a family member,” said Jenny Berto, 35. “… This is so unexpected.”
Savage and Daily were acquaintances but not close friends. He told investigators the two had known each other for more than two years, charging document state. They were friends on the social website Facebook.
Sheriff’s investigators first talked to Savage on Aug. 18. A witness had reported seeing him walking with Daily the afternoon she disappeared, sheriff’s Capt. Brent Bomkamp said.
Search crews also spoke with Savage, who was in an area they were searching. He told them he’d been with Daily but that they parted ways near his house in the 11100 bock of 122nd Street East.
“He was identified early on as a person who was one of the last to see her, to be with her,” Bomkamp said.
Investigators interviewed Savage a second time and found inconsistencies in his statements, Bomkamp said.
“Red flags started popping up,” he said.
The detectives decided to talk to him a third time Monday. They initially asked him to show them where he’d last seen Daily. He eventually took them to the body, court records show.
After that, detectives took Savage to a Sheriff’s Department facility to be interviewed further and he confessed to killing the girl, Bomkamp said.
“It was basically outstanding interviewing, interrogation, that allowed us to have him eventually lead us to where he had killed her and left her,” Bomkamp said.
Staff writers Stacia Glenn and Steve Maynard contributed to this report.
