Tennessee man eyed in horrific 1996 tanning bed killings now accused of rape in Washington

THE MESSENGER

Tennessee man previously charged for fatally stabbing two women in 1996 at a tanning salon is now facing a rape charge in Washington state. 

Patrick Streater was arrested Tuesday in Seattle on charges of attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment with sexual motivation, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, local news station FOX 17 News Nashville reported.

Streater was previously accused of the 1996 fatal stabbings of two 18-year-olds — Tiffany Campbell and Melissa Chilton — at Exotic Tan for Men in Nashville.

Streater, who was reportedly Campbell’s ex-boyfriend, was indicted in 2013, but charges against him were later dropped after DNA forensic evidence testing results. 

Local news station WKRN reported that the District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute him once they got the results, saying “after scientific testing and DNA analysis, it would not be appropriate to take this matter to trial” at the time.

In 2020, WKRN called the two killings one of Nashville’s “most notorious unsolved cases.”