Noisy candy wrapper prompts fatal fight between roommates, Washington police say
A 59-year-old man is accused of killing his roommate after a candy wrapper prompted a fatal fight, Washington police said.
Phillip Frazier was charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Danny Jones on May 12 in Kent, according to charging documents and a probable cause statement from the Kent Police Department.
Frazier had been released from prison 13 days before the killing and was sharing a room with Jones at a halfway house, police said.
He was watching Netflix in the room on his phone while Jones slept and decided to open a Reese’s Pieces, he told police.
The wrapper allegedly woke Jones up and he confronted Frazier, police said.
Frazier said he then threw Jones onto the bed and struck him with his fist until he heard “a breaking sound or a crushing sound,” police said in court documents.
Jones was pronounced dead at the home shortly after medical responders arrived, police said.
Police said they saw blood on Frazier’s hand, and he was treated for a broken wrist.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Jones’ cause of death as blunt force trauma to his head and neck, and the death was a homicide.
Frazier’s bail was set at $4 million. His next court hearing is May 26.
He also has previous charges, including violating a domestic violence no contact order in June 2020, prosecutors said.
He also has a felony conviction for violating a domestic violence order in 2018 and four misdemeanor convictions for violating domestic violence court orders.
This story was originally published May 18, 2022 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Noisy candy wrapper prompts fatal fight between roommates, Washington police say."
