BELLINGHAM, Wash. - A stand of alder trees, not far from the lights of Bellis Fair Mall, is home for some people.
Monday, it's where 41-y-ear-old Rubey Erickson took her last breath.
"She would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it," said her friend Tammy Saiville.
Just hours before Erickson's death, Saiville saw her waiting for the bus with a man she'd never seen before.
Police say it was Kevin Schultea. He was in court Wednesday for Erickson's murder.
Investigators say the two were hanging out in a tent in those woods near the mall on Monday, drinking beer. During an interview with detectives, they say Schultea told them that Erickson was crying about past abusive boyfriends. He says he wanted to end her hurt, so he strangled her. He then dragged her body to a pond and stripped it nude, to throw police off his trail.
"I can't fathom something like that," said Saiville, "I think he's a cold hearted person to be able to do that."
Schultea's been violent against fellow homeless before. He's been convicted of assaulting a man with knife, beating another man, and twice burning down people's tents. He just got out of prison for arson.
While he may be headed back, Tammy Saiville also hopes for a prison inside his own mind.
"[I hope] that he never gets a peace -- a peace within himself ever again, because he don't deserve it," she said.
Schultea appeared in court Wednesday afternoon. He's being held in the Whatcom County Jail on $1 million bail.
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