As part of Baxter’s plea deal, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to a joint recommendation that Baxter serve 15 years in prison.
Baxter pleaded guilty to residential burglary with sexual motivation, six counts of residential burglary, felony stalking and felony harassment. He will have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.
Detective Dave Haller said the case is one of the strangest he has seen in his 40 years in law enforcement. It began in December, when Baxter was pulled over near Tumwater with a handgun, a bag of women’s underwear and four pit bulls in his vehicle.
According to court papers:
Deputies pulled Baxter over in his GMC Yukon minutes after a man who lives on Fairview Road Southwest had interrupted a nighttime burglary of his home. As the burglar and the homeowner struggled in the dark, the homeowner recognized the intruder as Baxter, a former co-worker of his wife’s at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in South Bend.
The man said Baxter was infatuated with his wife. He added that he and his wife were friends with Baxter about 10 years ago, but that they didn’t stay in contact with Royce or give him their new address.
The husband said that about seven years ago, Royce showed up at their house unannounced, and they later learned that he had been in their house and stolen something. The couple got an anti-harassment order, but it had expired at the time of the December burglary.
During the traffic stop, a deputy also found a camera that contained photos of the outside and the inside of the victims’ home, as well as women’s underwear. Baxter also had a copy of a key to the victims’ residence. Baxter may have broken into the couple’s home as many as 28 times, court papers state.
While an inmate at the Thurston County Jail, Baxter was re-arrested in April on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder in connection with an alleged plot to kill Haller. Those charges later were amended to a charge of felony harassment.
Baxter’s attorney, Wayne Fricke, said the accusations that Baxter intended to kill anyone were untrue.
In an interview outside court Friday, Haller said his primary concern is for the safety of the victim, her husband and their family. He said he’s glad Baxter will spend a long time in prison.
“History has shown that people with these behavior problems escalate over time, and many times it escalates to a huge tragedy,” Haller said.
Baxter’s sentencing is tentatively set for Nov. 1.
Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5465
jpawloski@theolympian.com
