Tri-Cities teen murder suspect stabbed a 70-year-old stranger 2 years ago. She survived
The Kennewick teen accused of killing his 70-year-old neighbor was ordered Wednesday to undergo an evaluation by state psychiatric officials.
Hector Munguia, 18, is charged with stabbing Zale Underwood outside his home on April 22. He is being held on $1 million bail in the Benton County jail as he faces one count of first-degree murder.
Munguia turned himself in, with the help of his mother, to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office two days after the attack.
He told police that he knew what he did was wrong, but didn’t care, according to court documents. Investigators have not said if Munguia has given a reason for the attack.
On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Dave Petersen agreed to Munguia’s attorney, Karla Kane’s, request for an evaluation of his competency by officials from Eastern State Hospital.
2019 stabbing
The confrontation is not the first time Munguia is accused of attacking someone with seemingly little reason, according to court records.
Two years ago, he was convicted of an equally mysterious stabbing of another 70-year-old just one mile from where Underwood was killed.
Munguia was 16 at the time.
That attack happened just before 5 p.m. on Dec. 4, 2019, when he approached Lydia Cassaway as she was getting out of her car at an apartment building on South Washington Street.
He asked her for money, but Cassaway told him she didn’t carry any cash. He told her that he was hungry.
“He then asked her if he could tell her something. She said, ‘OK,” and his response was to poke her with something in back,” Kennewick police wrote in a report at the time.
She screamed and the teen ran off. Then, she started feeling pain in her back and noticed she was bleeding, but it was only after she ran to a safe spot that she realized she had been stabbed.
2019 arrest
She went to the fourth floor of the apartment building and started knocking on doors until someone came to help her. Her wound was not life-threatening.
Police ended up catching Munguia because he was suspected of stealing beer from a nearby Circle K. The store had security photos that investigators showed to Cassaway, who identified him as her attacker.
He was living at the same home on the 1100 block of Gum Street when he was arrested.
Munguia eventually was convicted of second-degree assault and sentenced to a Washington state juvenile justice facility for up to 2 1/2 years.
The state Department of Children, Youth and Families wouldn’t say when contacted by the Herald this week when he was released from custody.
Cassaway, a retired certified nursing assistant, died in January 2021.
Underwood’s Death
Underwood had lived next door to the Munguia family for years, according to public records.
Sheriff’s detectives are still investigating what brought Munguia to Zale Underwood’s yard shortly before 5 p.m. on April 22.
Initial reports were that Underwood was outside mowing his lawn at the time.
It’s believed Munguia stabbed Underwood several times before dropping the bloody knife and running away, according to court documents.
By the time police arrived, Underwood had died from his wounds.
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 6:20 PM.