Army To Take Over Wash. Double Murder Case

The Army is taking over prosecution of a Fort Lewis soldier accused of killing two other soldiers in Parkland, Wash.

A base spokesman Wednesday said Ivette Davila is being held at the Navy brig at Bangor. She was moved from the Pierce County Jail in Tacoma before prosecutors filed charges.

In a news release, Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Gerald Horne said he agreed with the Army's request that his office refrain from prosecuting Davila in state court and that her custody be transferred to the Army for federal prosecution at court-martial, reports CBS News affiliate KIRO-TV in Seattle.

He said he acknowledged the Army's "great interest" in taking over the case because the suspect, the victims and key witnesses in the case were all on active duty.

Horne said Army authorities assured him that "their prosecution will be vigorous, and that Ms. Davila, if convicted, would face punishment that could include life imprisonment without release or the death penalty."

On Monday, a judge ordered Davila to be held for 72 hours without bail on suspicion of two counts of aggravated first-degree murder and kidnapping charges.

The 22-year-old from Bakersfield, Calif., is accused of shooting 27-year-old Timothy Miller and his wife, 25-year-old Randi Miller, on Saturday night at their home. Both were medics who had served in Iraq. Investigators have said a possible love triangle may have been the motive for the killings.

According to probable cause documents obtained by KIRO, Davila shot the couple in their Parkland home on Saturday night. She then went to Home Depot, bought muriatic acid, returned to the home and put the bodies in a bathtub. She put acid on the bodies in an effort to destroy them, according to the documents prepared by the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office.

Davila then stayed at the home through the night, cleaning up the crime scene, according to Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff's Office.

Davila took the couple's child, a 7-month-old girl, and was planning to drop the child at an orphanage, Troyer said, according to KIRO.

Davila told investigators that Randi Miller was having an affair with Davila's ex-boyfriend, according to the documents.