BREMERTON, Wash. — Editor's note: The above video was published the morning of Feb. 21.
The man suspected of stabbing two people to death and wounding two others at a recovery home in Kitsap County on Feb. 19 told police he thought his roommate was surveilling and recording him without his consent.
Sterling Christopher Traven, 29, said he was "called upon by the person who created me," according to a statement of probable cause. He also admitted to using methamphetamine that morning.
Traven was charged Tuesday, Feb. 21 with first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and first-degree assault. He pleaded not guilty. Bail was set at $4 million.
Two people inside the Bremerton residence called 911 Sunday around 8:45 p.m. to report multiple people were stabbed and the suspect was still inside the home in the 9000 block of Central Valley Road.
A total of nine people live in the house. One of the residents told police he heard furniture crashing and yelling and screaming before checking the living room and seeing Sterling with a bloody butcher knife in his hand, according to the statement of probable cause. The witness returned to his room and blocked the door, which Sterling tried to open. The witness called 911 before jumping out a window and hiding in his vehicle.
Another resident was in his room when he heard screaming. He told police he heard another resident yelling that someone was hurting him. The witness saw Sterling making "striking" motions with a knife toward one of the victims. He saw a female visitor attempt to help the victim before he heard her scream, according to the statement of probable cause.
Responding Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office deputies and a Washington State Patrol trooper found Sterling, who was also a resident of the home, crawling away in the brush near the home holding a butcher knife, according to the sheriff’s office. Sterling appeared to have blood splattered on his body and an injured eye, according to the statement of probable cause.
Deputies searched the home and found an unidentified woman and a 51-year-old central Kitsap man dead and two other men injured. Those two men were flown to local trauma centers with serious, life-threatening injuries.