LUMMI, Wash. -- The man arrested on suspicion of murdering a woman on the Lummi Reservation last month has been charged with second-degree murder.

Fifty-five-year-old Kevin O'Leary was transferred from Lummi Jail into federal custody on Monday, and he could be facing many years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Roe says O'Leary suffocated 60-year-old Valerie Margaret Jefferson with a pillow at their apartment sometime in early June.

She says the exact cause of death was difficult to determine because the victim's body had decomposed in the days before it was found.



She says O'Leary and the victim were in a long-term relationship.

O'Leary drew police attention when he attempted suicide by stabbing himself in the abdomen.

He will have a preliminary hearing in federal court within two weeks.