I dug up this interesting article about him: http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/former-spd-cop-suspected-hit-man/nDNJ3/

To refresh memories, Gary Krueger is the former cop who was identified through DNA evidence last year to be the man who murdered Bellevue realtor Mike Emert in 2001. Krueger had died in 2010 from drowning while fleeing from police. Mike's widow and detectives now suspect that Krueger was merely a hitman and that someone else is behind the murder.

What do you think of this article?

Wow! I like Mrs. Emert! She tells it like it is.

Mary Beth Emert says she isn't shedding any tears ... "I'm good with the fact that Krueger is dead because there is no reason why somebody that awful should be walking around society. So, good he's dead. And I know he didn't pass through the pearly gates with Mike standing there. He's in the bowels of hell and that's where he belongs."

From the other article sections linked to the one you posted, it sure looks like not only was this guy a dirty cop back in the day, but he was definitely a hired hit man.

That still makes Mike Emert's case an unsolved mystery. :( Who hired the hitman and why? I can only think it had something to do with his work, unless there was a hidden side of his life that no one knows about. But for some reason, I'm thinking it could very well have been someone connected to his job, either a coworker or a disgruntled home buyer who thought he got screwed over on his purchase, and blamed Mike for it.

Wow! I like Mrs. Emert! She tells it like it is.



From the other article sections linked to the one you posted, it sure looks like not only was this guy a dirty cop back in the day, but he was definitely a hired hit man.

That still makes Mike Emert's case an unsolved mystery. :( Who hired the hitman and why? I can only think it had something to do with his work, unless there was a hidden side of his life that no one knows about. But for some reason, I'm thinking it could very well have been someone connected to his job, either a coworker or a disgruntled home buyer who thought he got screwed over on his purchase, and blamed Mike for it.

Investigators said that they found nothing in Mike's background or previous jobs that he committed any indiscretions, so to me it seems more like a random killing. It may just be some guy hired Krueger to do all his killings for him, as far-fetched as that sounds.

One thing that made me think that a disgruntled employee could have hired a hitman is jealousy with no wrongdoing on Mike Emert's part at all.

My husband's life was in danger from employees and coworkers twice. Once, when he was in a very low level management position, hubby's boss made him fire a guy, who needed firing (drunk/drugs/stealing). Weeks later, the ex-employee set up in a sniping position across the street from hubby's work. As he was walking in the parking lot, the ex-employee shot at him but missed by a few inches and blew out the side window of a parked car. We had been friends with this man, and had no idea how deranged he was.

Years after that incident, and totally unrelated to it, my husband went out to dinner with co-workers, some of them were close friends of ours, including one man who had hubby in his wedding and who we socialized with often. My husband wasn't even these guy's boss and never did anything to them. Turns out they were just jealous because through hard work and lots of overtime, he made more money than they did and received some minor recognitions such as Employee of the Year type plaques.

At dinner, they spiked his drink with GHB, beat him with a baseball bat, broke his leg, failed to kill him (their intent) so drove him around for hours trying to figure out what to do. They came up with a plan where they lied and explained his injuries by saying he'd tried to jump from a moving vehicle. That was totally out of character and something my husband definitely wouldn't do. We were immediately suspicious but the cops believed the lie.

The story they gave me was that hubby had tried to jump out of the car at about 45 mph and when his feet hit the ground, the force of the impact broke his leg. The "hero" who told this tale saved hubby from his "suicide attempt" by pulling him back inside the car while still keeping it under perfect control. He didn't even have to slow down to save hubby's life. We quickly realized this was impossible. If you jump out of a fast moving car feet first, wouldn't your shoes be torn off or at the very least get a little scuffed? Hubby was wearing black dress shoes that didn't have a mark on them, yet his right tibia was broken. No way did he try to jump out of a car.

Because of being dosed with GHB, hubby had almost no recollection of the incident but we started putting together what had really happened. It was months before someone at work finally slipped up, blabbed, and we found out that our exact suspicions were correct.

Okay, enough with the personal stuff....

I recall a murder that was publicized several years ago. A woman had built a new condo. She went to her bank and got a mortgage, made her payments and everything was good. Then one day she was talking to her neighbor and found out that he made much smaller monthly payments for the exact same type of condo.

She was furious and blamed the developer. She and a relative or two kidnapped the builder's son and killed him. The builder kept telling her that she and her neighbor paid the same price for the condos, that he hadn't overpriced her house, and the payment discrepancy was simply that her neighbor had put more money down on the house and had a lower interest rate, so his mortgage payments were smaller than hers.

She wouldn't believe him, and killed his son because she was too stupid to understand how it was the differences between her neighbor's mortgage and her own that created the monthly payment difference, and it had nothing to do with the guy who was building the development.


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eta: add some missing details

One thing that made me think that a disgruntled employee could have hired a hitman is jealousy with no wrongdoing on Mike Emert's part at all.

My husband's life was in danger from employees and coworkers twice. Once, when he was in a very low level management position, hubby's boss made him fire a guy, who needed firing (drunk/drugs/stealing). Weeks later, the ex-employee set up in a sniping position across the street from hubby's work. As he was walking in the parking lot, the ex-employee shot at him but missed by a few inches and blew out the side window of a parked car. We had been friends with this man, and had no idea how deranged he was.

Years after that incident, and totally unrelated to it, my husband went out to dinner with co-workers, some of them were close friends of ours, including one man who had hubby in his wedding and who we socialized with often. My husband wasn't even these guy's boss and never did anything to them. Turns out they were just jealous because through hard work and lots of overtime, he made more money than they did and received some minor recognitions such as Employee of the Year type plaques.

At dinner, they spiked his drink with GHB, beat him with a baseball bat, broke his leg, failed to kill him (their intent) so drove him around for hours trying to figure out what to do. They came up with a plan where they lied and explained his injuries by saying he'd tried to jump from a moving vehicle. That was totally out of character and something my husband definitely wouldn't do. We were immediately suspicious but the cops believed the lie.

Because of being dosed with GHB, hubby had almost no recollection of the incident but we started putting together what had really happened. It was months before someone at work finally slipped up, blabbed, and we found out that our exact suspicions were correct.

Okay, enough with the personal stuff....

I recall a murder that was publicized several years ago. A woman had built a new condo. She went to her bank and got a mortgage, made her payments and everything was good. Then one day she was talking to her neighbor and found out that he made much smaller monthly payments for the exact same type of condo.

She was furious and blamed the developer. She and a relative or two kidnapped the builder's son and killed him. The builder kept telling her that she and her neighbor paid the same price for the condos, that he hadn't overpriced her house, and the payment discrepancy was simply that her neighbor had put more money down on the house and had a lower interest rate, so his mortgage payments were smaller than hers.

She wouldn't believe him, and killed his son because she was too stupid to understand how it was the differences between her neighbor's mortgage and her own that created the monthly payment difference, and it had nothing to do with the guy who was building the development.

Wow, that is extreme. I have no clue about the condo case there but that is plain ridiculous to kill someone over something like that. Again with the Mike Emert case, they are going to have to find this other man first and dig deeper into the matter to find out if in fact it was something personal against Mike or if it was random.

I've always believed that this more of a simple thrill kill than a professional hit, though I do find it interesting that Emert told his wife that the mysterious "Steven" he was planning to meet walked with a cane and spoke with an East Coast accent. As far as I can tell, Krueger did not need a cane and was not born on the East Coast.

Of course, assuming that Krueger was "Steven" (which is very likely), the cane and accent were a complete ruse, and it's believed that the cane concealed the knife which was the murder weapon. This level of deception would lend a bit of credence to the professional hit theory, but it's possible the Krueger simply enjoyed using an elaborate ruse to fool a random victim before he killed them.

Wow, that is extreme. I have no clue about the condo case there but that is plain ridiculous to kill someone over something like that. Again with the Mike Emert case, they are going to have to find this other man first and dig deeper into the matter to find out if in fact it was something personal against Mike or if it was random.


I saw that case about the condo related kidnapping/murder on one of the usual crime shows most of us watch, I've forgotten which one of course, but it aired a few times several years ago. Seems like they might have rented a car to use in the kidnapping and that was one of the clues that helped catch them.

I saw that case about the condo related kidnapping/murder on one of the usual crime shows most of us watch, I've forgotten which one of course, but it aired a few times several years ago. Seems like they might have rented a car to use in the kidnapping and that was one of the clues that helped catch them.

Could it be "The Investigators" or something that the case was shown?

I've always believed that this more of a simple thrill kill than a professional hit, though I do find it interesting that Emert told his wife that the mysterious "Steven" he was planning to meet walked with a cane and spoke with an East Coast accent. As far as I can tell, Krueger did not need a cane and was not born on the East Coast.

Of course, assuming that Krueger was "Steven" (which is very likely), the cane and accent were a complete ruse, and it's believed that the cane concealed the knife which was the murder weapon. This level of deception would lend a bit of credence to the professional hit theory, but it's possible the Krueger simply enjoyed using an elaborate ruse to fool a random victim before he killed them.

I always thought it was a thrill kill too. Have they concluded that Krueger and "Steven" are one and the same?

I always thought it was a thrill kill too. Have they concluded that Krueger and "Steven" are one and the same?

While it's never been determined officially, Krueger was in his fifties, like Emert claimed "Steven" was, and it seems very unlikely that he would have been killed by anyone else. It would be a pretty astronomical coincidence for Emert to be meeting this guy at 11:30 to show him the house and then for someone completely different to show up and murder him at said house, where he was found dead only an hour later.

Could it be "The Investigators" or something that the case was shown?

Yep, it was on one of those type of programs. IIRC, the case happened in FL, maybe southern FL or the miami area. The son that was kidnapped was a young adult, late teens early twenties. I think the rental car used in the crime might have been blue, not sure... seems like they traced it and found some kind of evidence in it. I'm definitely not positive about the following, but it seems like the kidnap victim was killed and left in a sleeping bag in field.

I wish I could remember which program showed this case. The whole thing was so senseless.