This morning I am announcing the filing of four counts of aggravated first-degree murder and one count of arson against Conner Schierman for the slaying of four victims in Kirkland, a tragic crime that occurred one week ago today.

We allege that sometime on the morning of July 17th, Conner Schierman entered the house just across the street from where he rented a room in a duplex.

In the house were Olga Milkin, age 28, her sister Lyubov Botvina, age 24, and Olga's two sons Justin, age 5, and Andrew, age 3.

The charges accuse the defendant Schierman of stabbing to death all four of the victims, then intentionally setting the house on fire with gasoline in order to cover up the murders.

We do not yet know the duration of this crime, when the defendant entered the house, how long he was there, or when he killed the victims.

We do know that the house fire was reported around 11:30 in the morning. The four bodies of the victims were found about four hours later by fire crews sifting through the house after finally extinguishing the blaze.

Investigators and family members had been puzzled by the circumstances of the deaths because the fire started in the middle of day, there was no 911 call from the home and no one was able to escape from the burning house.

It took the work of the Medical Examiner to determine that each of the victims was already dead when the fire was started, and that each died from wounds inflicted by an assailant with a knife.

Alert neighbors gave police an excellent description of the man they saw walk away from the Milkin home carrying a red gasoline can shortly before the fire. This included a description of a distinctive tattoo the man had on his left shoulder, and a cut they could observe on the man's face.

The statements of another neighbor who encountered Schierman on the afternoon of the fire led to police to question Schierman, who matches the description of the man with the gas can seen leaving the victims' house.

Further details of that part of the investigation can be found within the Certification for Determination of Probable Cause, attached to the charges you have been given today.

The Kirkland Police did an outstanding job of investigating this terrible crime.

They looked beyond what appeared to be simply a tragic house fire and pursued this as a criminal matter from the first day.

They have developed a case that is compelling and that meets the degree of proof necessary for filing of aggravated murder charges.

If the defendant is convicted of these charges, the only possible sentences are life without possibility of release, or the death penalty.

By law, I will have 30 days to decide whether this case warrants our state's ultimate penalty; and whether a jury should have the option of considering that punishment for this crime.

This option will receive serious consideration.

The enormity of the loss in this crime is heartbreaking, for surviving family, friends, and for our entire community.

It is compounded further by the fact that Olga's husband, Justin and Andrew's father, Sgt. Leonid Milkin, was serving in the Army National Guard in Iraq when this crime occurred.

Sgt. Milkin put himself in harm's way in service to his country; he had no reason to fear for the safety of his family, back home in peaceful neighborhood in Kirkland.

Our heart goes out to Sgt. Milkin who is suffering this immeasurable loss.

See related information: Charges Filed in Kirkland Homicides

Dated: July 24, 2006