Woman charged with Semiahmoo Park homicide encountered victim day before his body was found

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The woman charged with second-degree murder of Thomas Flood, the 67-year-old man found in Semiahmoo Park shot to death on April 7, had encountered Flood the day before his body was found, according to court documents.

Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) deputies arrested Lynda Clare Mercy, 62, as she left her Fairhaven apartment around 11 a.m. April 13. Mercy is being held in Whatcom County Jail on $1 million bail, according to jail records.

According to an affidavit of probable cause (APC) filed by WCSO deputy Erik G. Francis on April 13, investigators believe Mercy struggled over the last year with deteriorating mental health and was seen on a surveillance video arguing with Flood a day before his body was found off a trail near a Semiahmoo Park parking lot.

In the APC for Mercy’s arrest, investigators believe:

The owner of a restaurant near where Flood parked his van in Langley said surveillance footage showed Flood arguing with a woman, whom she later identified as Mercy, around 1 a.m. on April 6.

A Bellingham police officer who had checked on Mercy because of her HUD housing said her mental health had deteriorated over the last year. In January, the detective checked on Mercy after several complaints that she was becoming “‘more aggressive in her body language as well as verbal insults. Some are a bit scared of her when she acts in this manner,’” according to the APC.

Mercy also appeared in Blaine Municipal Court 8 a.m. on April 7, according to the superior court documents. Mercy was on a two-year probation after she was arrested last May for a DUI and hit and run that occurred a mile away from where Flood’s body was found, according to the APC and the municipal court administrator. Mercy’s previous arrest on Semiahmoo Parkway, to which she pleaded guilty, suggested she knew the area.

Flood lived in his van near the Keystone ferry terminal in Langley on south Whidbey Island. Deputies found Flood’s body covered in blankets on a trail near a Semiahmoo Park parking lot. Flood had two bullets that the Whatcom County medical examiner believes came from a caliber larger than a .22.

Deputies were able to identify Flood by fingerprints and a driver’s license photo, court documents state. He was then linked with a 1994 Ford Econoline van that friends confirmed he owned. Flood’s phone was identified and a ping through the cell phone carrier brought deputies to Flood’s van around 4:45 a.m. on April 8. A witness told deputies that she saw a person park and leave the van at Hillcrest Chapel in Fairhaven around 4:30 p.m. on April 7. That person saw someone wearing dark clothing and carrying a multi-colored bag walking westbound from the church to Haggen on 12th Street, court documents state.

Deputies obtained a search warrant for the van and found a large pool of what appeared to be blood, according to court documents. Investigators found blood throughout the vehicle.

Law enforcement viewed surveillance footage of the suspect and the van through cell phone pings and help from Bellingham Police Department checking city cameras. Footage included the suspect, matching the witnesses’ description, at a credit union in Fairhaven around 3 p.m. and at the AM/PM gas station on Bennett and Airport drives pumping gas and buying items.

Ten minutes after the van was abandoned at Hillcrest Chapel, surveillance footage also showed the suspect entering a Fairhaven apartment complex three blocks from the church.

After WCSO released photos of the suspect at the AM/PM gas station, three people identified the suspect as Lynda Clare Mercy, who lives in a Fairhaven apartment across from the Haggen grocery store.

During the investigation, deputies viewed Mercy using a light blue walking stick in a video that was also found in the van.

Mercy also purchased a .40-caliber pistol last December and posted on her Instagram account a photo of Sellier and Bellot ammunition. Detectives found a Sellier and Bellot shell casing at the site where Flood parked his van on Whidbey Island. On April 13, a friend turned in Mercy’s .40-caliber pistol that Mercy had asked her to hold two days before. In 2009, Mercy also bought and registered a .22-caliber pistol but its whereabouts were unknown.

Six wigs were also found in Mercy’s apartment that deputies said allowed her to change her appearance during the investigation. Deputies saw Mercy wearing a short, blonde wig and a long, dark wig. During the arrest, she had an additional wig and clothing in her backpack.

On April 11, Mercy told her neighbor that she was going to move from the area. Mercy had a U.S. passport and previously lived in Spokane, California and Arizona.

Detectives found wigs and an 8-inch Buck knife in Mercy’s backpack and Mercy had two additional knives on her during the time of her arrest.

Francis said in the affidavit that Mercy’s social media indicated that she had an interest in violence. Posts included ones such as Mercy with an angry face stabbing the air with knives and meat cleavers, and a still photo where she was seen in what looked to be a bloody shirt and a box of ammunition in her lap. 

A multi-colored bag that Mercy was seen carrying from the van was found in her apartment, along with a dark jacket with a red substance that was seen in surveillance footage of Mercy. Hair and fibers are being processed for DNA analysis at the Washington State Patrol lab.

Deputies briefly interviewed Mercy before she invoked her rights. During the conversation, Mercy told deputies that she left Bellingham between April 1 and April 8, and took a cab or got rides from people to the Port Townsend area, a main destination for the Keystone ferry.

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