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No-contact order offered no protection for slain Auburn woman

AUBURN, Wash. — An Auburn woman who filed restraining orders against her ex-boyfriend is dead, allegedly at the hands of the man she feared, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

Tricia Patricelli, 33, hoped the protection order against Scottye Miller would make her safe.  But according to police documents, Miller violated a no-contact order and stabbed Patricelli to death in her Auburn apartment Tuesday morning.

"He just wanted to be with my daughter, but that wasn't the case.  He just wanted to kill her," said Cathy Harper, the victim's mother.

Bail for Miller was set Wednesday at $1 million.

Police said Miller confessed to the killing.

Miller has been arrested dozens of times by police from multiple jurisdictions throughout King County. His history of violence -- especially violence against women-- is well-documented, said KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Amy Clancy.

According to records uncovered by KIRO 7, Miller's rap sheet includes domestic violence assault, violating protection orders, interfering with domestic violence reporting, harassment, trespass, firearms, burglary and more.  But not one of those cases, according to the King County Prosecutor's Office, led to a so-called "strike," as in "three strikes you're out."

Patricelli's mother said that even when Miller sat in jail recently for assault and harassment, he threatened her daughter.

"He's been sending letters from jail, saying that he was going to kill her and the kids, and they (did) nothing about it. And now he's been out for, like, eight days, and this is what happened," she said.

Miller got out of the King County Jail two weeks ago.