An 18-year-old woman slain on the Hoh Reservation last Saturday was strangled before her body was dumped into a box and left in a remote wooded area, federal prosecutors allege.
Michael W. Koch, age and address unknown, was still in federal custody Wednesday for investigation into the killing of Tawnya LaVonne Tom, the girlfriend of a Hoh tribal member.
Koch appeared in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Tuesday to be formally charged with murder.
Magistrate Judge J. Kelley Arnold ordered Koch held without bail at the federal detention center in SeaTac.
A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 6 at 1:30 p.m. before Magistrate Judge Karen L. Strombom.
Arraignment could be scheduled at that hearing, Court Clerk Donna Smith said.
Meanwhile, the FBI continues to investigate the case, Ray Lauer, an agent in the FBI’s Seattle office, said Wednesday.
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The rest of the story appears in Thursday’s Peninsula Daily News.