Curtis Engeland was always on the go, even when he was an old man.
CrossFit, hikes, and mountain climbing kept the 74-year-old from Mercer Island, Wash., in shape. He climbed Half Dome in Yosemite National Park last summer and Mount St. Helens last fall.
Richard Sater, 63, Engeland’s close friend and climbing partner, tells PEOPLE, “We did some hard climbs together.” “He was in great shape. He cared about his health.
Sater says Engeland had to rebuild his life after the death of his 41-year partner in 2021. One thing he did was look for someone to spend time with.
He told Sater in January that he had tried online dating and met Philip Brewer, 32, a younger guy, on a site called Scruff.
Engeland thought he would have a happy retirement, but on March 7, 110 miles away from his home in Grays Harbor County, he was found dead. He had been missing since February 24.
Laurie Goeken, his neighbor, says, “It’s awful.” “He was a youthful 74 with many years ahead of him still.”
A probable cause affidavit obtained by PEOPLE says that Engeland was the target of online criminals who met him on a dating website to steal his name and drain his accounts. Investigators quickly learned of this.
His 44-year-old sister Tara Mirante says, “It’s just so sad because he was the best.” “I liked him. He cared so much about our kids and wanted to know everything about their lives and activities. He would sit at the table and talk with my kids for hours when they came home from college.
A chance meeting on the web
The trouble for England started in January when he met Brewer online and then in person for coffee and a hike. On January 13, Brewer invited Engleland to his house to watch a movie, according to the statement.
Engeland said that he fell asleep, and when he woke up, Brewer was gone, along with his wallet, phone, and car keys.
When he found out that thousands of dollars had been taken out of his accounts, he called the police and, according to Sater, kept in touch with agents about the case from time to time.
After six weeks, Sater and Engeland’s family members got texts in the middle of the night that they thought were from him but were actually from someone else. The texts were badly written and said he would be gone for three to six weeks.
Engeland was very strict about correct English, so his family and friends knew something was wrong.
They were even more scared when Engleland supposedly said that someone called “Christina” was going to rent out his basement. They called the police and said Engleland was missing when they couldn’t get in touch with him.
Police used GPS and phone records to find his body at a dump site near Cosmopolis.
As a result of the murder probe, police began to question Brewer and a 47-year-old woman named Christina Hardy, whom they found at Engeland’s home, the affidavit says.
The statement says they told the police they were renting Engeland’s basement and didn’t know where he was.
Thought to be an attack at night
After getting a tip from a witness, the police say they think Brewer and Hardy broke into Engeland’s house in the middle of the night and, according to the statement, injected him in the neck with a very strong dose of fentanyl.
They went to Cosmopolis more than 100 miles away with Engeland in the truck of his own 2003 Camry, the statement says.
They found out he was still living when they got to the dump. The document says that Brewer then “held him down while stabbing him in the neck with a knife.”
It was March 14 when they were caught in Southern California. They admitted to murder, kidnapping, and identity theft.
Each of them has a $5 million bond and is being held in a King County jail.
The killing of Engeland has left his friends and family still dealing with the effects of it while they wait for his trial.
Goeken says, “We lost a nice person.” She remembers how Engeland would bake cookies and bring them to her house, where she and her family would also share tomatoes, peas, and strawberries.
In his honor, she still takes care of the yard he loves so much.
Her daffodils are in bloom, and she says she can’t believe someone so kind and giving died in such a horrible way.
“If it was only about money,” she says. “Why would someone die for that?”
