While completing a blood draw for toxicology after being detained, Lowe allegedly told a detective “I killed my mother,” according to charging documents.
While completing a blood draw for toxicology after being detained, Lowe allegedly told a detective “I killed my mother,” according to charging documents.
A 34-year-old Renton man was charged with first-degree murder on Thursday for allegedly strangling his mother in her home.
Leda Louise Files, 62, was found dead in her apartment on Tuesday. Her son Sean Preston Lowe reportedly called 911 shortly after 2 a.m. to report his mother’s death and before that had a called a crematorium. While completing a blood draw for toxicology after being detained, Lowe allegedly told a detective “I killed my mother,” according to charging documents filed in King County Superior Court.
A Renton police detective wrote that investigators found a video on Lowe’s phone in which he told his mother that her death was “imminent” while she lay in bed. A prosecutor wrote the video appeared to be from the evening before Files was killed as Lowe was wearing the clothes he was arrested in and Files was wearing the clothes she had on when she was found dead.
An autopsy indicated Files was “forcefully smothered” and strangled, a prosecutor wrote. The medical examiner determined the manner of death was homicide.
A detective wrote in a probable cause document that officers arrived at a Renton apartment complex and found Lowe scrolling on his phone, looking at the Washington State Patrol website. The detective wrote Lowe was “rambling” and said he had a seizure before waking up to find his mom dead.
Files was found face down between the wall and bed in her bedroom, according to court documents, and fire department medics told officers there were marks on her neck consistent with strangulation. Her body was still warm, according to the probable cause document, indicating she died recently.
Lowe began to “kick his feet and legs” when officers approached him, the detective wrote, and it took multiple people to put him into handcuffs. At the police department, Lowe spoke rapidly and tripped over his sentences, acting erratic and agitated.
The detective wrote that Lowe sounded “extremely calm” on the 911 call, and when a dispatcher asked if he should start CPR, Lowesaid CPR would not be helpful, according to court documents.
Officers got a search warrant and found drug paraphernalia, including baggies and a pipe, in the bedroom, according to charging documents. In the video found on Lowe’s phone, his clothing and body are shown, and Files at one point addresses him as Sean, according to the probable cause document.
In the video, Files repeatedly tells Lowe to leave her alone and says she is afraid of him, a detective wrote. The man in the video said he is god and told Files she would go to hell, according to the probable cause document.
Lowe was previously convicted of third-degree attempted assault on a police officer in 2016.
Files’ death marked the third homicide investigation in King County this year.Alan Jaller-Garcia, 16, was fatally stabbed in the chest Jan. 10 near Tukwila’s Foster High School, and Michael Edward Harris, 53, was killed Jan. 15 by an officer during a traffic stop in Auburn.
According to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, domestic violence deaths spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns between 2020 and 2023. Last year, domestic violence deaths in King County fell by about 35%.
Lowe’s arraignment, when he’ll enter a plea, is set for Feb. 6.