A 27-year-old engineer who joined Microsoft last year pleaded not guilty Thursday morning to a charge of attempted second-degree murder in the alleged unprovoked, random stabbing of another employee the evening of Feb. 22 on a public sidewalk near the company’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters.
The accusations against Joseph Richard Cantrell come amid scrutinity of a 234,000-word “life journal” discovered on his website after the attack. In it, he describes extensive drug use and frequent hallucinations, makes racist references about people he encounters, and at one point says he contemplated killing his friends at a 2017 retreat.
His website describes the journal as fictional. In the introduction, however, Cantrell calls it his “overall life journal and literary practice,” adding that it “should be freely and posthumously published to help humanity or whatever.”
Internet Archive records indicate that the journal was first posted publicly the day before the alleged attack, which means the detailed entries wouldn’t have been available to Microsoft when he was hired last year.
In a statement to GeekWire, Microsoft defended its practices for vetting job candidates.
“Microsoft conducts a thorough background check for all potential employees. This includes criminal history, education credentials and employment history,” a Microsoft spokesperson said Thursday in response to an inquiry about the case. “If an issue arises during any screening, there is a collaborative internal process to determine whether an offer should be finalized or rescinded.”
Cantrell is no longer an employee, the spokesperson said.
A public bio that was online at the time of Cantrell’s Microsoft application references “neural disturbances” in which he “danced and conversed with processions of rainbow ‘ghost’ women to keep me company through the occasional derivative misty night.” It added, “By selectively disconnecting certain neurons and combining slow motion adrenaline release, I am first to declare I am the strongest man alive by such mechanisms.”
Cantrell writes in his diary that he applied to Microsoft under its neurodiversity hiring program. Applicants in the program “engage in an extended interview process that focuses on workability, interview preparation, and skill assessment,” according to a description on Microsoft’s website.
The 26-year-old victim in the case did not know Cantrell, and appears to have been targeted randomly, according to a Redmond Police Dept. report. He underwent surgery for more than a dozen stab wounds and nerve damage in his hands. He survived and was released from Harborview Medical Center in late February, a hospital spokesperson said.
The attack took place around 5:45 p.m. on Feb. 22, according to multiple witness reports cited by police.
The wife of the victim discovered something was wrong when her husband’s Apple Watch notified her that he had taken a hard fall at Northeast Turing Street and 156th Avenue N.E. in Redmond, the site of the attack, according to police reports. The watch then indicated that the device was in Seattle. (The victim was transported to Harborview after the attack.)
A driver who was in his truck at the intersection told police that he saw a man dressed in black “stabbing the shit out of” another person. He and a Microsoft van driver both jumped out of their vehicles and yelled at the man to stop.
The attacker stopped and walked away. The driver from the intersection, now back in his truck, followed the man about a block-and-a half west before losing sight of him between two buildings.
Redmond Police detectives were able to find Cantrell after the attack by reviewing surveillance footage at his nearby apartment building, and following a trail of blood to his floor. Surveillance cameras inside a nearby Microsoft building captured much of the attack on video, as described in police reports.
After getting a search warrant, a SWAT team took Cantrell into custody in his apartment at 12:45 a.m on Feb. 23. Evidence found inside included multiple Tac-Force knives, including one with red stains believed to be blood, according to court papers.
“The defendant appears to have been prepared for this significant act of violence,” wrote Brynn N. H. Jacobson, senior deputy prosecuting attorney, in charging papers. “He was equipped with a knife and gloves. He assaulted the victim shortly after exiting his apartment building. He then quickly returned to his residence and attempted to get rid of evidence of his involvement.”
In King County Superior Court in Seattle on Thursday morning, Cantrell’s lawyer, public defender John Ewers, lost a motion to prevent the media from taking his client’s photo during the brief arraignment. Details of the case were not discussed in open court, and Cantrell did not speak publicly.
Ewers entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of his client, and did not contest the prosecutor’s request to keep Cantrell in jail following the arraignment. A hearing was set for March 30, with a trial set to begin in April.
