Richard Lavietes was a 41-year-old male with a huge heart who had opened his Federal Way, Washington, home to a friend in need. He had invited Nicholas Van Cleave to live with him because Van Cleave was having trouble keeping a job. This act of kindness, however, preceded a tragic and violent end to his life.
Concern for Lavietes first arose on the morning of May 2, 2022, when he failed to show up for work.
A co-worker called for a welfare check, telling dispatchers she was worried because Lavietes had recently taken a gun away from his roommate, whom she described as mentally unstable. Police went to the apartment but received no answer. Later that day, family members, who had not heard from Lavietes since his text messages abruptly stopped the previous day, went to the apartment with a spare key.
Van Cleave answered the door and told the family that Lavietes had gone camping, leaving his car and phone behind. He claimed it would not be a good idea for them to come inside. After letting a family member in to check on a cat, Van Cleave physically blocked the stairs to the upper level. The family members went upstairs anyway, where they made a horrifying discovery in the master bathroom: two large garbage bags containing what appeared to be human remains.
An investigation by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Lavietes had been shot five times in the back of the head sometime between May 1 and May 2. After the murder, his body was dismembered. Nicholas Van Cleave was arrested and charged with premeditated first-degree murder. Prosecutors stated that Van Cleave took "extensive and extreme steps to hide the crime" and concocted an "elaborate story to cover up his act of murder." He was held on $2 million bail.
The legal proceedings took an unexpected turn as Van Cleave’s mental state was evaluated. On January 8, 2025, King County Judge Johanna Bender officially dismissed the murder charges against him. The dismissal was based on medical reports that found Nicholas Van Cleave incompetent to stand trial. Following the court's decision, he was to be committed to a state facility. The criminal case was closed as of January 2025.
