Bail set for Whatcom man suspected of murder; sheriff searching for second suspect
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help to find a man they suspect is involved in a planned robbery that ended in the death of a woman in Acme over the weekend.
The sheriff’s office is looking for 25-year-old Payton T. Mulryan, a white man who is 6 feet tall, 160 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes, according to a sheriff’s office press release.
Mulryan normally frequents Lynden, Everson and Bellingham, the release states. He is suspected to be involved in the homicide of 21-year-old Darian Sather of Sedro Woolley.
Brent Scott Gerber, 47, of Maple Falls was arrested Monday, April 6, by the sheriff’s office on suspicion of first-degree murder. Gerber is suspected of driving the vehicle that hit and killed Sather Saturday morning, April 4, at the South Fork County Park in Acme, according to Whatcom County Superior Court records.
Whatcom County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Gordon Jenkins asked Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Lee Grochmal Monday afternoon in court to set Gerber’s bail at $500,000. Whatcom County Public Defender Nicole Murray said Gerber has lived in the county for four years, and Washington state his whole life. She asked Grochmal to set bail at $50,000.
Sather’s brother, Eli, told the court it was a tragic situation.
“I don’t think until we know for sure whether he did it or not, I don’t think it’s good to let someone that is capable of committing such brutal crimes to a human being be able to go on the streets and potentially run or cause more crimes,” Eli Sather said.
Grochmal set Gerber’s bail at $250,000 and told Eli Sather she was sorry for his loss.
The crime
Alerted by two dog walkers at South Fork Park Saturday morning, sheriff’s deputies found a woman’s body in the middle of the road and blood on the gravel underneath it, the court records state. The woman, later identified as Sather by the tattoos on her body, had suffered significant trauma to her head and body, the records show.
The sheriff’s office identified two friends who were with Sather at the time of her death, including one whose cellphone was found near her body. The friends told investigators that both of them, along with Sather, drove up to the park to buy illegal drugs from an unknown source.
When the three arrived at the park Saturday morning, a white compact truck with an extended cab with three men inside was parked at the end of the road. The friends parked behind the truck and Sather got out with $250 to purchase drugs, the court records state.
The friends said they saw Sather walk to the passenger side of the truck and stick her arm in to exchange the money for drugs. The friends told investigators the truck took off at roughly 30 to 40 mph with Sather hanging onto the passenger side, court records show. The friends said the truck was “driving ‘crazy’ and ‘out of control’,” the records state.
The friends said it appeared as if the men had pulled Sather into the truck and were holding on to her. They tried to keep up in their vehicle, but the truck was driving too fast, the friends told investigators, according to court records. One of the friends said he saw the passenger door open and Sather fall to the ground before the truck drove away, the court records state.
The friends determined Sather had been run over and was dead, and left the scene “because they were scared,” the court records state.
On Sunday, April 5, the sheriff’s office determined Gerber had a white truck that matched the description of the vehicle that allegedly hit and killed Sather, the court records state. Gerber had also allegedly told friends he was in the Acme area “when something bad happened to a girl,” court records show.
Gerber was arrested without incident in the 8400 block of Harborview Road in Blaine minutes after 2:15 a.m. on Monday. During an interview with sheriff’s office investigators, Gerber said he was at a friend’s house on West Pole Road when he met up with Mulryan. Gerber told investigators Mulryan asked Gerber to give him a ride to the park in Acme to meet with a girl who “had apparently done something to him in the past,” court records state.
Gerber said he agreed to give Mulryan a ride, and knew Mulryan intended to rob Sather of $250 after setting up a fake drug deal. Gerber said Mulryan offered him money for the ride to the park, court records state.
Gerber, Mulryan, and an unknown man seated in the back drove to the park just before dawn Saturday. Gerber said he didn’t know Sather or her friends, court records state.
Gerber said Sather spoke with Mulryan before giving him money, but that Mulryan then yelled at him to leave. As he started to drive off, Gerber said he saw Sather reach into the passenger window in an attempt to get her money back, court records state.
Gerber said he accelerated to roughly 30 mph, but that Sather was holding onto the truck and standing on the truck’s running boards. Gerber admitted to “swerving and driving fast” in an attempt to get Sather off his truck, according to court records.
Gerber told investigators that while he was swerving, Mulryan and the other man were hitting Sather in the face and body, and at one point, the man in the back attempted to use a Taser, or electric stun gun, on Sather, court records state. Gerber told investigators he remembered the passenger door opening and Sather falling to the ground.
Gerber told investigators he wanted to stop to see if she was OK, but Mulryan told him to keep driving, court records state. Gerber said Mulryan gave him $50 cash “for his efforts,” which was taken from the money they allegedly stole from Sather, the records state.
According to court records, Gerber was previously charged with one felony — a second-degree assault charge from April 2002. That case was dismissed Oct. 7, 2005.
The sheriff’s office is asking anyone who may have information about Mulryan’s location, or about what happened at the park between 6 p.m. Friday, April 3, and 8 a.m. Saturday to call 911 or the tip line at 360-778-6663.
This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 3:50 PM.
