By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Kirotv.com writes that a customer-snapped photo of what appeared to be a firearm left within reach behind a sales counter at the Chehalis Wal-Mart on Tuesday turned out to be an Airsoft gun; only a replica of a real gun.
Read about it here
Ricky A. Riffe addresses his lawyer as a pre-trial hearing winds down in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Ricky A. Riffe made an appearance in court today, the sixth time in six months as attorneys move toward a trial in the 1985 kidnapping and murder of an elderly Ethel couple.
Nothing momentous was on the agenda, but because the case is so voluminous, both sides want to make sure everything is staying on track as they go, according to Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer.
Meyer has said he has 150 witnesses.
Judge Richard Brosey today signed orders documenting some steps that have already been taken or are in progress, including notification of Riffe’s defense: He has an alibi and he didn’t do it.
No details on that were offered verbally during the court session.
Prosecutors contend Riffe, now 54, and his since-deceased brother abducted Ed and Wilhelmina Maurin and forced them to withdraw money from their bank in Chehalis before shooting them and dumping their bodies near Adna back in December 1985. Ed Maurin was 81 and his wife was 83.
The former Lewis County resident was arrested in July at his home in Alaska.
At today’s afternoon hearing in Lewis County Superior Court, at least three long-retired sheriff’s detectives, as well as elected Sheriff Steve Mansfield, were among those in the audience.
In the front row of benches behind prosecutors Meyer and Will Halstead as usual were Wilhelmina Maurin’s grown children and their family.
Riffe, wearing red and white striped jail garb, didn’t speak except to answer the judge’s inquiry as to whether he understood the orders being signed.
He is represented by Seattle-based attorney John Crowley.
Crowley informed the judge he expects to submit a series of motions. Judge Brosey indicated he wants to make sure any pre-trial hearings are scheduled such that they don’t delay commencement of the trial.
Deputy Prosecutor Halstead indicated it is still an unfolding case.
The trial is scheduled to start the week of May 6, a “drop dead” date to begin, according to the judge.
•••
For background, read “Maurin homicide: Riffe pleads not guilty, his attorney hints at proof” from Thursday August 23, 2012, here
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Lewis County coroner’s year-end tally shows a drop in accidental deaths during 2012 but several more suicides.
Last year, 21 people died in Lewis County from accidental causes, compared with 29 the year before, according to Coroner Warren McLeod’s numbers.
Most the those are due to overdoses, both from legally prescribed and illicit drugs, according to McLeod.
The number of deaths attributed to suicide however jumped from nine two years ago to 14 last year.
The coroner’s office tracks all deaths that occur in the county and is responsible for determining their cause and manner.
McLeod gave a brief report yesterday to the Lewis County Board of Commissioners, but did not expand upon any ideas about the changes. He has not yet compiled his official year-end report.
Last year, the coroner counted 822 deaths. The vast majority of cases overall are ascribed to natural disease processes.
When it comes to people taking their own lives, one of the most used methods is with firearms, according to the coroner. Hanging is second, he said.
“That’s the same as when I worked in Vegas,” McLeod said.
Lewis County saw four homicides last year, the same number as the year before.
Terry Vance, 58, of Onalaska, was stabbed to death in his bed last March by his adult son who is now serving a 30-year prison sentence.
David W. Carson, 43, Centralia, died the following week of two gunshots to his chest area in the home of a friend who is in jail awaiting a trial next month.
Two-year-old Koralynn Fister, of Centralia, died in May from head trauma and drowning while in the care of her mother’s live-in boyfriend. James Reeder, 26, pleaded guilty last week to homicide by abuse and other charges and faces possibly spending the rest of his life incarcerated.
Gregory S. Kaufman, 64, of Napavine, died in November from gunshots when he advanced upon a sheriff’s deputy with a knife in his hand along state Route 6 near Boistfort. The shooting was ruled as justified.
Two of last year’s deaths in Lewis County remain undetermined, although not suspicious, McLeod said.
Already during the first two weeks of 2013, he said, his office has responded to one suicide and one accidental death as well as two cases in which the manner is not yet known.
CACHE OF IDS, CREDIT CARDS ETC. FOUND IN MORTON HOUSE
• A 59-year-old Morton woman was arrested yesterday following the discovery at her home of credit cards, checkbooks and other items belonging to 20 different people. Diana S. Stephens is already in the Lewis County Jail for a case earlier this month in which she allegedly struck her roommate in the head with a hammer. When the roommate had relatives assist him in packing up Stephen’s belongings the 100 block of Chapman Road, they discovered a plastic tub containing her wallet and paraphernalia with methamphetamine reside, along with other people’s belongings such as identifications, gift cards, health cards and even an AARP card, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Stephens told a deputy she didn’t know how the items got there, according to the sheriff’s office. The victims, as young as 20 and as old as 70, reside in places such as Packwood, Randle, Morton, Orting and Yakima, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. Stephens was arrested yesterday for numerous counts of possession of stolen property and possession of methamphetamine, according to Brown. “Investigation is still underway to figure out how she obtained their items,” Brown said.
IDENTITY THEFT
• Centralia police were contacted yesterday by an individual from the 300 block of North Gold Street regarding the discovery someone else was using their social security number. The case is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.
CHEHALIS RESIDENCE WINDOW SHOT AT?
• Chehalis police were called just before 11 p.m. yesterday when a resident on West Main Street saw a bright flash of light and heard a sound like glass breaking, as though someone shot something through their window. It could have been a transformer blowing or something else, since the responding officer didn’t file a report about gun shots or broken windows, according to detective Sgt. Gary WIlson.
CAR PROWL
• A stereo was stolen when someone broke into a vehicle overnight at the 500 block of North Rock Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police yesterday.
• Police were called yesterday morning to the 1700 block of Shamrock Drive in Centralia where a vehicle had been rummaged through. Nothing appeared to be missing, according to the Centralia Police Department.
TEN GALLONS OF FUEL SIPHONED
• A deputy was called yesterday afternoon to DeGoede bulb farm in Mossyrock where someone had used a garden hose to siphon gasoline from parked vehicles.
VANDALISM
• Someone left gang-style graffiti on a building at the 300 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia, according to a report made to police yesterday morning.
IRATE, SLEEPY TEEN PROMPTS 911 CALL BY PARENT
• A Chehalis parent called police about 9:20 a.m. yesterday saying their 16-year-old son would not get up and go to school and was cursing at them. Further details about the request for assistance from the law at the home on Southwest James Street was not readily available.
CAT CALL
• Morton police responding to a 911 hang up call in the night from a home on the 500 block of Oniel Road last week determined a family pet had jumped on the telephone activating the emergency call.
Updated at 6:54 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Centralia police are asking the public to keep their eyes out for an 80-year-old man, or his gold-colored passenger car, who left his home overnight and hasn’t returned.
Raymond Wolford
Officer Stacy Denham says Raymond E. Wolford is suffering from the early stages of dementia and the late stages of bone cancer. He requires medication daily.
Police were called about 1:20 a.m. today to the 1800 block of Shamrock Drive – south of Providence Centralia Hospital – where his wife said she had heard him leave, according to Denham.
“She doesn’t know exactly when he left,” he said.
The car was gone from the garage car leading police to think Wolford left with it. It is a 2001 Toyota Avalon, with a license plate of 0077 VXR.
The man’s wife thought he could have headed to his son’s home in Bingen in southern Washington but no one has been able to locate him anywhere, Denham said.
They’re very concerned about him, he said.
“The family is checking with family, places he could go, they even talked with his pastor on Coal Creek Road,” Denham said.
Police have entered Wolford’s information and missing person status into various law enforcement databases, including the automatic license plate readers some police agencies equip their patrol cars with, according to Denham.
In the meantime, police are asking for the public’s help, just in case anyone sees the car on a logging road or in some strange place, Denham said.
Wolford is 5-feet 10-inches tall and weighs 200 pounds with gray hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a dark gray shirt, a blue ball cap, jeans and black shoes.
Police ask anyone to report any sightings or information about Wolford’s whereabouts to the Centralia Police Department on duty supervisor at 360-740-1105.
Update at 9:59 p.m.: Wolford’s family told police around 8:30 or 9 p.m. tonight they located him at a hospital in Everett, “Safe and sound,” Officer Mike Lowrey said.
How he ended up there isn’t yet clear, but more information should be available later, according to Lowrey.
Missing car looks like this one.
JAWS OF LIFE USED TO EXTRICATE CHEHALIS DRIVER
• A 34-year-old Chehalis man was hospitalized with a head injury after a single-vehicle wreck yesterday afternoon on the 1700 block of Centralia-Alpha Road east of Chehalis. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said Trevor A. Johnson had to be cut from his pickup after it rolled over, struck a tree and the roof of its cab was crushed. Deputies arrived about 4 p.m. and subsequently contacted Johnson at Providence Centralia Hospital to arrest him for driving under the influence, but did not book him into the jail because of his need for further medical treatment, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.
HIGHWAY CRASH IN OAKVILLE LEAVES ONE DEAD, THREE INJURED
• A head-on collision last night on U.S. Highway 12 in Oakville left one person dead and three hospitalized. Troopers called at 11:20 p.m. found an eastbound vehicle had crossed the centerline and struck a Ford Ranger pickup, according to the Washington State Patrol. Both were totaled and the roadway blocked for four hours, according to the state patrol. Wendy M. Cooper, 37, of Puyallup, was taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital but troopers suspect drugs or alcohol were involved and her un-named passenger died, according to the state patrol, so she faces potential charges of vehicular homicide. A couple from Aberdeen traveling in the pickup were transported as well. Eliseo T. Lugo, 75, was taken to Mark Reed Hospital, according to the investigating trooper. Asuncion C. Lugo, 71, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the patrol reported.
EX-GIRLFRIEND ASSAULTED
• A 26-year-old Centralia man was arrested for third-degree assault early this morning after he allegedly grabbed his ex-girlfriend around the throat, choking her briefly, according to the Centralia Police Department. Officers responding just before 4 a.m. to the 1500 block of Johnson Road took Manuel Arceo-Garcia into custody and booked him into the Lewis County Jail, according to police. His case was subsequently referred down to Centralia Municipal Court for a possible misdemeanor charge instead.
SPIRITS AT SCHOOL LAND TEEN IN TROUBLE
• Chehalis police were called to W.F. West High School about 12:30 p.m. yesterday about a student who allegedly brought alcohol to school. The 16-year-old boy was cited for minor in possession of alcohol, according to the Chehalis Police Department. It was some type of liqueur, mixed with water, police said.
BURGLARY
• A deputy was called at 1 p.m. yesterday when a 39-year-old Centralia woman returned home from some morning errands to the 1600 block of Windsor Avenue and discovered someone had broken in and stolen an estimated $1,500 worth of valuables, Among the missing items were laptop computer, a Wii system and games as well as a digital camera, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. No forced entry into the residence was found, according to the sheriff’s office.
• Someone broke into a storage unit in Toledo by cutting the lock and made off with a food dehydrator, a Singer sewing machine, a Coleman tent and cover, several gas cans as well as possibly a small handgun, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy called yesterday after noon to the 300 block of Toledo-Vader Road was told the 46-year-old victim would need to check further about her firearm, according to the sheriff’s office.
• A Stihl chainsaw and numerous tools were reported stolen from a shop building on the 1100 block of Middle Fork Road in Onalaska yesterday. The break-in occurred sometime between 5 p.m. on Sunday and 10 a.m. yesterday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
MISSING MAIL
• Police were called just before 9 a.m. yesterday to a building on the 200 block of South Tower Avenue in downtown Centralia where someone had torn the top of a mailbox and made off with mail.
VEHICLE PROWL
• Centralia police took a report about 6:15 p.m. yesterday of a car prowl on the 2000 block of Borst Avenue in which a window was smashed out. Taken was a purse containing a iPhone and credit cards, according to the Centralia Police Department.
• Several tools were stolen from a vehicle parked at the 400 block of East Pine Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police yesterday afternoon.
• Chehalis police were called about 11 a.m. on Saturday regarding a car prowl at the 400 block of North Market Boulevard.
GARBAGE CAN REPORTED STOLEN
• A trash can was reported stolen from the 1600 block of Eshom Road in Centralia yesterday.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The Seattle Times published a story in its newspaper yesterday about a Randle man whose case coming before the Washington State Supreme Court could – if he wins – have widespread impact on those whose driver’s licenses have been suspended due to unpaid traffic tickets.
Stephen C. Johnson’s attorney argues the suspension, along with thousands of others, is unconstitutional because the state imposed a criminal penalty on an individual for failing to pay a fine without inquiring into the financial situation of the individual, news reporter Stephanie Schendel writes.
Read more here
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