BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Bellingham Police Department (BPD) Spokesperson Lieutenant Claudia Murphy issued a press release Friday, March 25th, regarding a series of incidents that led to Joseph William Warren, age 42, of Bellingham, being arrested for several crimes but not for a double homicide he reportedly confessed to.
The afternoon of March 24th, Warren walked into the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) and confessed to killing 2 women. Through a joint investigation, BPD and WCSO detectives were able to quickly determine the women were alive and uninjured. Through interviews with Warren and the 2 women, detectives considered he may be suffering behavioral health issues.
Since no crime had been committed, Warren was not detained further and allowed to leave.
According to the press release, Warren has an anti-harassment order with 1 of the women and has violated the order 3 times in the span of 14 days during March by texting, calling and visiting her. BPD officers arrested him via summons process in each case.
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Click for more informationBPD detectives asked BPD patrol officers to pay additional attention to the Bellingham neighborhood where the woman with the anti-harassment order lives. As a result, officers were nearby when dispatched shortly after 3am the next morning to a burglary reported at the residence. They arrived to find Warren had broken into the residence and was calling the woman’s name. Officers arrested Warren in the driveway without incident.
Warren was booked into Whatcom County Jail on March 25th charged with suspicion of residential burglary, stalking, malicious mischief and violation of an anti-harassment order.
As of March 27th, Warren remained in custody pending being able to post a $250,000 bond according to jail records.
Warren has previous felony convictions for possession of a controlled substance (heroin) and with the recent arrest has had his drug offender sentencing alternative (DOSA) revoked on a recent conviction.