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Carpet knife attack kills mother, injures daughter at Snohomish home

SNOHOMISH, Wash. — A mother died, and her daughter is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, after they were attacked with a carpet knife.

Snohomish County detectives arrested two men in Everett Sunday night in connection with the homicide, but one man is considered to be a witness.

When officers arrived at the home along 212th Street Southeast in the Echo Lake area around 3 p.m., they found a 78-year-old woman dead.  Her 62-year-old daughter had been assaulted.

The son of the 78-year-old woman identified her as Barbara Decker. The survivor, his sister, Janine Shaffer, said she knew the attacker.

Family members say the suspects are a contractor and his nephew.

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said the 46-year-old contractor had been hired to do construction work on a bathroom at the victims' home and brought his 31-year-old nephew to help.

Both victims were at the house while the work was being done. Investigators say some sort of fight began between the victims and the nephew. The nephew then attacked both women, killing Decker.

"The reports were the suspect attacked both victims, slashing them with a carpet knife -- a box cutter sort of knife," said Shari Ireton with the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

Decker died from her wounds. Her daughter was able to call 911. She remains in the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The uncle told detectives he and his nephew fled the home and that his nephew threw a knife out of the vehicle as they were driving. The uncle dropped his nephew off at his home, where detectives found and arrested him.

The nephew was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for suspicion of first-degree murder and first degree assault.

The suspect's uncle, who police say witnessed the murder and assault, was booked on outstanding warrants.

"His story at this point was that he was in the residence and witnessed the attack on the daughter but not the mother," said Ireton.

Authorities say the uncle is being called a witness in the case.