Sarah Humiston and her husband, Mark, have been identified as the adult victims of the tragic murders that rocked Fall City by Lake Alice in Washington, leading to the deaths of five people.
Sarah and Mark Humiston were shot and killed by their 15-year-old son following a misunderstanding, according to police. He then proceeded to shoot and kill three of his siblings, all juveniles.
One sibling escaped and called 911.
The shooter was taken into custody by police shortly after. He faces charges of five counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree attempted murder. The Kings County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has yet to make a determination over whether he will be tried as an adult.
Who were Mark and Sarah Humiston?
Mark and Sarah Humiston were a wealthy and affluent couple living in a multi-million dollar home in Fall City, which according to data ranks as one of the cities with the highest cost of living in the entire United States.
Mark, originally from Texas, was a 42-year-old software engineer who was an Associate Principal at Hargis Engineers.
He joined the company in April 2006 as a project manager and worked there till his death. He was promoted to Senior Associate in 2013 after nearly seven years before being promoted to his current Associate Principal position in January 2020, once again after seven years in his previous position.
He was Associate Principal at Hargis for nearly five years before his death, marking nearly twenty years at the company.
The company released a statement following his death: “We are blindsided and saddened by the tragic events that have led to the loss of a respected colleague, mentor, and friend, as well as the loss of immediate family members, the statement read. Mark’s leadership and vision were integral within our firm, and he will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with his surviving family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.”
Previously, Mark Humiston worked as a consulting engineer for Abacus Engineered Systems. He was educated at the University of Texas at Austin where he graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree in 2004.
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Meanwhile, his wife, Sarah Humiston, was a registered nurse. Her nursing license expired at the end of 2022 and does not appear to have been renewed.
The couple had five children, only one of whom survived the attack by their teen son. The family reportedly generally homeschooled their children and were well known in the homeschooling community in their local area.
The crime
At around 4:55 a.m. on Monday, October 21, 2024, multiple people called 911 reporting a shooting in the Lake Alice neighborhood.
Arriving Deputies found two adults and three juveniles dead in the home. The victims were a couple and their three children, with the crime committed by their brother.
A teen boy was arrested and booked into the King County Juvenile detention center. Another teen, his sister, was given medical aid by a neighbor. She was reportedly shot twice but is in stable condition.
The Valley School District confirmed that at least two of the victims are “school-age” but said they did not attend schools in the District.
However, “we recognize that events like this can affect all of us, including our students,” the district wrote.