Suspect Skips Murder Hearing

An arrest warrant has been issued for a woman who failed to attend a court hearing on charges that she killed her estranged husband.

The warrant, carrying $5 million bail, was issued Thursday after Teresa Gaethe-Leonard, 34, failed to appear at a pretrial hearing in Snohomish County Superior Court.

Judge Linda Krese also ordered forfeiture of the $500,000 cash bail posted earlier by Gaethe-Leonard’s boyfriend to keep her out of jail pending trial.

Gaethe-Leonard is charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 20 shooting death of Chuck Leonard, 53, an Everett middle-school counselor.

Both defense attorney John Henry Browne and deputy prosecutor Michael Downes said they didn’t know where Gaethe-Leonard was.

“Her apartment is empty. It has been cleaned out,” Downes said.

Gaethe-Leonard and her husband were going through a divorce at the time he was slain. Prosecutors allege Gaethe-Leonard shot him as he slept because he stood in the way of her moving to Hawaii and marrying a boyfriend.