In the quiet, early morning hours of October 8, 2020, a tragedy unfolded in a Bellevue, Washington home that ended the life of 63-year-old Kay Saw. A female, she was fatally shot with a 12-gauge shotgun while she lay sleeping in her own bed. The incident was brought to light not by a witness or an anonymous tip, but by a chilling 911 call from her husband.
Thomas Jarboe, a 75-year-old retired University of Washington professor, calmly informed the dispatcher, "Yeah, I just shot my wife."
This confession led to his immediate arrest at their residence. When police arrived, they discovered Saw deceased in her bedroom, with two fired shotgun shells nearby. A 12-gauge shotgun and an unfired shell were also recovered from the study. Neighbors reported hearing gunshots, with one estimating they were fired within 10 to 30 seconds of each other.
The King County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Saw's death a homicide. An autopsy revealed she had been shot in the face and neck from a distance of less than four feet. The forensic pathologist could not definitively determine if more than one shot had been fired into the same area. Following his arrest, Jarboe was transported to Overlake Medical Center for "medication purposes" where he reportedly made several suicidal statements to an officer.
King County prosecutors charged Thomas Jarboe with premeditated first-degree murder with a domestic violence enhancement. He was jailed with bail set at $2.5 million. Reports at the time mentioned that Jarboe suffered from advanced Parkinson's disease and amnesia, though authorities did not officially confirm this information. The University of Washington, where Jarboe had been a professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics since 1989 before retiring earlier in 2020, expressed their disturbance at the news and extended their condolences to the victim's family.
