Man suspected in Wash. murder, posting death photos caught

PORTLAND, Ore. — A man accused of killing his live-in girlfriend and posting photos of her lifeless body online will be returned to Washington state after he surrendered to an officer in neighboring Oregon and waived extradition.

David Kalac, 33, was arrested Wednesday night nearly 200 miles from the crime scene after a daylong manhunt.

He was being held on $2 million bail in Portland on a second-degree murder charge. He waived extradition Thursday and will be returned to Port Orchard, Washington, west of Seattle, sometime later Thursday or Friday, said Lt. Steve Alexander of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in Portland.

Kalac is accused of killing Amber Lynn Coplin, 30, after an argument in their Port Orchard apartment.

He then posted photographs of her bloody, bruised body and commented about the killing online, said Scott Wilson, a sheriff’s deputy in Kitsap County, Washington. The images appeared on 4chan, an online bulletin board where hundreds of private pictures of nude celebrities appeared earlier this year.

Kalac wrote about strangling the woman and his plan to be fatally shot by police. He posted the comments and photos anonymously, but authorities confirmed they were from him, Wilson said.

The Kitsap County prosecutor’s office didn’t know yet if Kalac has an attorney.

An autopsy was being conducted Thursday.

Kalac evaded police in Coplin’s stolen car until he emerged from a wooded area near Wilsonville, about 20 miles south of Portland, and turned himself in to a passing officer, authorities said.

“He basically said, ‘I have a warrant for my arrest,’” Clackamas County sheriff’s Sgt. Nate Thompson said in a telephone interview. Kalac was cooperative but provided no details about how he got to Wilsonville, the spokesman said.

Detectives in Washington state aim to interview him and pick up the slain woman’s car, a 2001 Ford Focus found Wednesday in Portland.

Police responded to the couple’s apartment after Coplin’s 13-year-old son found her body.

Near Coplin’s head was her driver’s license with the word “dead” written on it. “Bad news” was written on blinds. And the words “she killed me first” were scrawled on a picture on the wall.

A police officer spotted Coplin’s car early Wednesday in Portland and tried to pull over the driver. A chase ensued but was called off because the vehicle was swerving into oncoming traffic.

Kalac has a criminal history in Washington state and Virginia that includes convictions for assault, burglary and DUI, Kitsap County, Wilson said.

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Le reported from Seattle.