OLYMPIA, Wash. (Court TV) — A man is standing trial in Washington state on charges he brutally murdered his landlords and then dumped their bodies in a culvert.
Timothy Burke appears in court on May 13, 2026. (Court TV)
Timothy Burke, 47, is charged with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the deaths of Karen Koep, 62, and her husband, Davido, 68. Burke has not denied having a role in the killings but has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Deputies with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office were called to the victims’ home on Nov. 13, 2023, after an office manager reported that Koep had failed to arrive for work. Officers who arrived at the home said the doors and windows were all locked with the blinds closed, and then noticed that it appeared someone had tried to “drill” through each of the home’s exterior doors and deadbolts.
When deputies got inside the garage, they said they immediately noticed an “overwhelming smell of bleach” before advancing into the living room, where there were two large bloodstains as well as signs that someone had tried to clean up. A probable cause affidavit reviewed by Court TV detailed towels, bedding and clothing at the end of the blood with smear marks. “You can see the vacuum marks,” Thurston County Sheriff’s Detective Kyle Kempke testified on Wednesday, “where somebody presumably vacuumed after the blood stain was there, because it’s bloody trails in the shape of a vacuum.”
Bullet damage was found inside the home, but detectives were unable to locate any shell casings. While Davido’s car was parked in the driveway, detectives began searching for Koep’s vehicle.
Koep’s vehicle was found unoccupied hours later. Looking inside the car from the outside, an officer noted she saw “a significant amount of what appeared to be human hair in the car. She could also see blood in the trunk of the car, but no body.” Inside the car, investigators found five .45 caliber shell casings and a fired .45 bullet.
The bodies of the victims were found nearly three weeks later, near a rental property the couple owned. A child out looking for dirt bike tracks came across what he initially thought was a Halloween decoration, but was really Davido’s body. “It was so heavily overgrown that I’m surprised that the child was able to locate the human remains to begin with,” Kempke said. “It was pretty deep in there and it was very thick foliage and it was very difficult to kind of smash our way through the bushes and stuff to get out there.”
Once he reached Davido’s body, Kempke said he saw Koep’s legs sticking out from a culvert. When officers searched for more evidence nearby, they found a large steel bar and a shovel that appeared to have been recently left there.
Detectives said that Burke rented his home at a property owned by the victims; a review of past records from the address showed Burke had a history of calling 911. The calls revealed he may have had a history of mental issues and that he was also previously a victim of arson.
Detectives said they found evidence showing that Davido was in the process of evicting Burke when he disappeared.
The trial is expected to last for several weeks; testimony is scheduled to resume on Monday, May 18.
