Mother, 2-Year-Old Found Murdered In Renton Apartment Police Pursue Leads, Autopsies For Pair Planned Today

Police were pursuing several leads Sunday in the slayings of a woman and her 2-year-old daughter in their apartment.

Investigators wouldn’t say whether they have any suspects in the deaths of Elizabeth Watkins, who was 38 or 39 years old, and her daughter, Nicole Watkins.

“We have several avenues we are pursuing at this point,” police spokeswoman Penny Bryant said.

Police have talked to several people who knew the victims, including the child’s father, who lives in the state, Bryant said.

Police said they do not know how the two were killed. Autopsies were planned today by the King County medical examiner’s office.

The bodies were discovered Saturday afternoon by a female friend who had planned to have lunch with the woman, Bryant said.

When the friend couldn’t reach the woman by phone and couldn’t get an answer at the front door, she entered the apartment through an unlocked sliding glass door and found the bodies.

The scene inside the apartment was “graphic,” Bryant said.

Police didn’t know what weapon had been used but it didn’t appear to have been a gun, Bryant said.

There were no signs of forced entry or a struggle. The bodies were fully clothed and there were no indications they had been robbed.

The woman, who was last seen alive Friday night, was a student at Renton Technical College and had lived at the apartment complex for about a year. She and her daughter were the only ones living in the apartment, Bryant said.