New details surrounding a former Bothell councilmember accused of murder

James McNeal, a former Bothell city council member was charged with murder in the second degree for the killing of his 20-year-old girlfriend Lilia Guyvoronsky. McNeal was arrested on Tuesday at his girlfriend’s home in Seattle.

Police served a search warrant on Friday at McNeal’s home in Bothell. SPD would not tell KIRO 7 what they were searching for but were at the home for hours.

Court documents say that SPD was alerted to the murder by McNeal’s lawyer. Police found Guyvoronsky strangled to death and laying naked in her bed. McNeal was arrested and taken away in a stretcher for cuts to his wrists. Photos appear to show blood on his clothes.

KIRO 7 spoke with one of his colleagues who served on the council with him. Tom Agnew said he is still in shock.

“I’ll support him as much as I can, but my heart still goes out to that family, the victim’s family, oh my God, what a tragedy for them a 20-year-old woman taken out in the prime of her life, I mean, it’s sad,” Agnew said. “I’ve been trying to put this all together as the rest of us have and the only thing we can all think of is the divorce hit him a lot harder, there was a mental health issue, he never got it treated, there was a catastrophic collapse, I don’t know.”

McNeal did not appear in court on Friday and the judge set bail at $3 million.