A 19-year-old Auburn man arrested Feb. 23 in connection with the death of his former girlfriend was released from Seattle King County jail Feb. 26, pending further investigation.

Police arrested the man for investigation of homicide-domestic violence after medics found his 20-year-old former girlfriend dead in her south end apartment early that morning. Under state law, prosecutors have 72 hours to file charges while a suspect is in custody, and Thursday was the deadline for rush filing charges.

King County Prosecutor’s Spokesman Dan Donohoe said the investigation will continue and prosecutors will decide at a later date whether or not to file charges.

According to the Auburn police account filed with court documents, the man called 911 at 3:20 a.m. to report that a woman at the Clearwater Apartments in the 3700 block of Auburn Way South was having a hard time breathing owing to partying and drinking. Valley Regional Fire Authority fire and medic units arrived about nine minutes later and found the woman, Kathleen Eyle, 20, lying on her back in the living room in wet and dirty clothes, with scratch marks on her neck, apparent hemorrhaging in her eyes, and bloody lips. Efforts to revive her were unsuccessful.

According to court papers, Auburn police detectives looked at the woman’s injuries and determined that she had died from homicidal violence. The man told police that he and the woman had drunk some Vodka and Red Bull earlier, but he refused to say anything else.

According to court documents, before calling 911 the man had phone the woman’s mother and told her that she was not breathing. She told him to call 911. According to court documents, a neighbor told police that she had heard hollering, yelling and banging earlier that she described as “like wrestling and falling over furniture.” The neighbor also told police she saw something or someone go over the balcony 20 to 30 feet above ground. Investigators found particles of grass or moss in the washer on a black woman’s spaghetti strap shirt and similar debris in Eyle’s hair. According to court documents, they also found fingerprints on the balcony indicating that someone had been hanging from it.

Police arrested the man at the scene and booked him into the Auburn City jail on suspicion of murder-domestic violence.

In a subsequent interview, court documents say, the man told police that he and the woman had been drinking. He made no mention of any drugs, although he had told 911 earlier that the woman could have overdosed on methamphetamines. Likewise, he did not mention any arguing or fighting and downplayed the subject when police raised it. According to court papers, the woman had earlier confided in her sister that several scars on her face were from blows she had received from the man. The couple had lived together for two to three years. Auburn Police Sgt. Scott Near said the woman had apparently moved into the apartment where she died after the couple broke up.

The man made his first court appearance Feb. 24 in Superior Court in Seattle at which time King County Superior Court Judge Mark Chow set his bail at $1 million. According to the King County Medical Examiner the cause of death remains undetermined but it is owing to blunt force trauma that caused cardiac lacerations and performations with hemopericardium, liver lacerations, pulmonary contusions and contusions of the neck and scalp.

Detectives and crime scene personnel are continuing their investigation.