Man, stepdaughter in romance, wife says

A Colville man and his stepdaughter who were found fatally shot last week were in a romantic relationship and practiced a pagan religion, according to the woman who was the man’s wife and the girl’s mother.

Ann Lykke said she discovered the affair between her husband and daughter after they disappeared.

“This came as much of a shock to me as anyone else,” she said.

Authorities think the deaths of Jason Lykke, 32, and Alora Smith, 14, were either a murder-suicide or a double suicide, Stevens County sheriff’s Capt. Andy Harbolt said Thursday. They do not think there is a third person involved in the deaths, he said.

The bodies were found April 28 on Bradbury Beach, south of Kettle Falls. Both had been shot in the head. They were reported missing on April 26.

Ann Lykke, 36, said she found letters after the two disappeared that indicated they were having a romantic relationship.

“I didn’t believe it until I found the proof when she was gone,” Ann Lykke said in a brief telephone interview Thursday from Colville.

Lykke said her husband and daughter practiced the Wicca religion, and shot themselves because they believed they would spend the afterlife together.

Lykke, a hypnotherapist, said she is a Christian.

Wicca is a pagan religion that developed in England in the first half of the 20th century.

It is a decentralized religion that celebrates seasonally-based festivals. Some Wiccans believe in an afterlife where souls go after death, meeting with others and being eventually reincarnated into the body of a newborn.

Harbolt said investigators had heard rumors that the victims were Wiccans, but had no details.

He declined to say if a gun was found at the scene, or to speculate on a motive.

“It’s kind of a convoluted situation,” he said.

Authorities continue to gather evidence in the deaths, he said.

Ann Lykke said Jason Lykke did not indicate he was a Wiccan when they were dating.

It was not clear how long they had been married.

Ann Lykke reported her daughter and husband missing on April 26.

They were believed to have left home sometime between midnight and 6 a.m.

Alora Smith attended Colville Junior High until February, when she dropped out to attend an online school from home.