BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – More details have come out surrounding the murder of a beloved Bellingham accountant in Custer last week.
Court documents state Vaughn Hagen was shot and killed on Aug. 6 while helping clean out a home as the executer of the owner’s will.
The house belonged to the parents of 61-year-old Donald Malone, who turned himself in to sheriff’s deputies the day after the shooting.
Hagen was the executor of Malone’s mother’s estate and also her former accountant.
He approached Malone at a shopping center on the day of the murder and offered him a ride back to the house so they could help clean out his garage. Malone avoided Hagen and biked back to the home by himself, where he later saw Hagen coming up the driveway in a U-Haul.
He then shot Hagen several times without saying a word.
Malone would later tell detectives that he didn’t like Hagen, without giving any reason why.
He was arraigned in Whatcom County Superior Court on Friday morning and could face up to life in prison.
