According to police, Curtis Engeland, 74, was tricked, deceived and murdered by a man he met online

Even in retirement, Curtis Engeland was constantly on the move.

The 74-year-old resident of Mercer Island, Washington, stayed fit with CrossFit, hiking and mountain climbing, climbing Half Dome in Yosemite National Park last summer and Mount St. Helens last fall.

“We did some tough climbs together,” Engeland’s close friend and hiking buddy Richard Sater, 63, told PEOPLE. “He was very, very fit. He definitely took his fitness seriously.”

The death of Engeland’s partner of 41 years in 2021 forced him to rebuild his life and also seek companionship, Sater says.

In January, he told Sater how he tried online dating and met a younger man named Philip Brewer, 32, on a website called Scruff.

But the happy retirement years Engeland had envisioned for himself ended in tragedy: He was found dead on March 7, 110 miles from his home in Grays Harbor County, after being reported missing on February 24.

“It’s terrible,” says his neighbor Laurie Goeken. “He was a youthful 74-year-old and still had many years ahead of him.”

According to an affidavit obtained by PEOPLE, investigators soon discovered that Engeland had allegedly been the target of online criminals who met him through a dating website only to steal his identity and drain his accounts.

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“It’s so sad because he was just the best,” says Engeland’s niece Tara Mirante, 44. “He was funny. He cared so much about our children, wanted to know everything about their lives and activities. When my children came home from college, he would sit at the table with them for hours and talk.”

A chance encounter on the Internet

For Engleland, the ordeal began in January when he met Brewer first online and then in person for coffee and a hike, then invited him to his home on Jan. 13 to watch a movie together, the affidavit states.

Engeland said he fell asleep and when he woke up, Brewer was gone – as were Engeland’s wallet, phone and car keys.

When he learned that thousands of dollars had been withdrawn from his accounts, he called the police and from time to time asked detectives about the investigation, Sater says.

Six weeks later, Sater and Engeland’s family members received inappropriate text messages in the middle of the night, purporting to be from him, saying he would be away for the next three to six weeks.

Knowing how much he valued correct grammar, Engeland’s family members knew something was wrong.

They became even more alarmed when Engleland allegedly said that someone named “Christina” was renting out his basement. When they couldn’t reach Engleland, they called police and reported him missing.

Using phone records and GPS, authorities found his remains in a landfill near Cosmopolis.

During the subsequent murder investigation, detectives began searching for Brewer and a woman named Christina Hardy, 47, whom they found in Engeland’s home, the affidavit states.

They told officers they were renting Engeland’s basement and did not know where he was, the affidavit said.

Alleged attack under cover of night

Following a tip from a witness, authorities believed Brewer and Hardy entered Engeland’s home in the middle of the night and, according to the affidavit, injected a strong dose of fentanyl into his neck after a “violent altercation.”

They drove with Engeland in the truck of his own 2003 Camry more than 100 miles to Cosmopolis, the affidavit states.

When they arrived at the landfill, they found he was still alive, so “Hardy held him down while Brewer stabbed him in the neck,” the affidavit states.

The couple were arrested in Southern California on March 14 and pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping and identity theft.

They are both being held in the King County Jail on $5 million bail.

As they await trial, Engeland’s friends and family are still struggling with the aftermath of his brutal murder.

“We lost a really dear person,” says Goeken, who remembers Engeland baking cookies, bringing them to her home and sharing tomatoes, peas and rhubarb with her and her family.

To honor his memory, she still maintains the garden he loved so much.

“His daffodils are blooming,” she says, adding that she cannot believe that such a generous and caring person met such a terrible end.

“If it was just about money,” she says, “how is that worth a human life?”