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Kent man sentenced to 31 years for I-5 stabbing death


Nov 20 2009

A 43-year-old Kent man was sentenced Friday to 31 years in prison for the stabbing death of his Kent girlfriend last year on Interstate 5.

Christel David Murphy was sentenced at the King County Courthouse in Seattle by Superior Court Judge Palmer Robinson, said Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

Murphy stabbed 42-year-old Jane Kariuki 31 times with a 4-inch dinner knife Oct. 16, 2008 as the couple rode in a sport-utility vehicle driven by a relative of Kariuki’s southbound on I-5 in North Seattle, according to charging papers. Kariuki died later that evening from stab wounds to the chest at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Murphy sat in the back seat of the SUV and stabbed Kariuki as she sat in the front passenger seat, according to charging papers. The driver pulled over to the side of the freeway during the attack and called 911.

According to charging papers, Murphy has a long history of domestic violence, including fourth-degree assault in 2007 and third-degree assault in 2006 against Kariuki at the Kent home they shared. Murphy also had a pending charge against him in Kent Municipal Court for violation of a no-contact order as well as a valid no-contact order against him in place at the time he stabbed Kariuki.

Murphy reportedly walked out of the car, threw the knife on the ground, leaned against a guardrail and lit a cigarette.

Washington State Patrol troopers arrested Murphy Oct. 16, 2008 on I-5 for investigation of murder. Police found the dinner knife on the pavement.

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