New Charges In Girl’s Death

Prosecutors Friday raised the stakes in the abductionslaying case of 7-year-old Roxanne Doll, upgrading the murder charge against Richard M. Clark to aggravated first-degree murder.

The charge is the only one punishable by death in Washington, though Snohomish County prosecutors did not say immediately whether they planned to seek the death penalty. The sole alternative upon conviction is life in prison without parole.

It will be at least three weeks before a decision is made on whether to seek the death penalty, Deputy Chief Criminal Prosecutor Jim Townsend said.

A charge of first-degree rape also was filed Friday against Clark in Snohomish County Superior Court. Court documents note an autopsy found “substantial vaginal trauma.”

Clark, charged Thursday with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping, is being held on $1 million bail. He will be arraigned Monday.

In charging papers, Townsend said the child was killed during the commission of two felonies, rape and kidnapping. Murder in commission of a felony is one criterion for a charge of aggravated first-degree murder.

The little girl died of multiple stab wounds to the neck, probably inflicted on the night of her abduction, an autopsy determined.

She had a blood type found in just 3 percent of the population, and blood of that type was recovered from a sock and a sleeping bag found in Clark’s van, according to the lab tests.In addition, witness Janice Cliatt, who lives near where the child’s body was found, has told authorities she saw a van like Clark’s at about 12:45 a.m. April 1, “parked a few yards from where Roxanne’s body was discovered,” court documents said.

Clark has been in custody since April 7 - one day before the missing child’s body was found buried under yard waste in a residential neighborhood. He was initially arrested on a witnesstampering charge.

Roxanne Doll was last seen alive when she went to bed March 31 at her family’s south Everett home. Clark, a self-employed landscaper and friend of the girl’s family, was drinking with Roxanne’s father, Tim Iffrig, that night.

On Friday, Roxanne’s father and an uncle, Bill Iffrig, displayed commemorative tattoos on their chests. The 4- by 5-inch tattoos depict a little blond girl and bear the words “Foxy Roxy.” The words “In Loving Memory” will be added later, the men told KRKO Radio.