Lewis County Sirens.com

Updated at 10:50 a.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Authorities are searching for a 23-year-old woman, suspected of stabbing her sleeping mother in Rochester this morning.

Amanda Lee Bassell

The 42-year-old victim has been taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia and is in stable condition, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were called around 4:30 a.m. to the 18700 block of Elderberry Street Southwest, according to the sheriff’s office.

They are looking for the daughter, Amanda Lee Bassell, described as 5-feet 4-inches tall and weighing about 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Bassell is wanted for attempted murder.

Sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin says Bassell has strong ties to Lewis County and is believed to have gang affiliations.

Elwin said the victim awoke to being assaulted and was stabbed in and around her neck numerous times.

She was able to fend off her attacker and flee the bedroom, only to collapse in another part of the house, according to Elwin. The father was asleep in another room and awoke to his wife screaming for help, he said.

He said a smaller-type kitchen knife was used.

They have no idea what prompted it, he said.

“The mother was completely asleep and woke to being attacked,” Elwin said. “There was no precipitating events. It’s a complete mystery at this point.”

The suspect fled the scene before law enforcement arrived, according to Elwin.

Bassell was recently released from prison, for cases involving eluding in Lewis County and assaulting a guard while incarcerated, according to Elwin. She was then just recently in the Lewis County Jail and released, he said.

She had been staying with her parents the past week or so, he said.

The mother is currently undergoing surgery, he said.

The sheriff’s office says Bassell, who also goes by the last name Daarud, should be considered “assaultive” and not approached if spotted. They ask that anyone who knows her whereabouts to call 911 or the sheriff’s office at 360-704-2740.

Christopher Puentes-Garay pictured in a recent photo at school. / Courtesy photo

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Maria Puentes is hoping to take her son home.

Home to Los Angeles to be buried.

Christopher Puentes-Garay, a 16-year-old Rochester High School student, died unexpectedly while swimming Tuesday afternoon in the Chehalis River with one of his brothers, his cousin and another friend.

The single mother of four moved her family to Rochester just last summer, according to her sister Tracy Yanez.

“She moved her boys out of Los Angeles for a safer place to live,” Yanez said.

Puentes-Garay vanished under the water shortly after he jumped in to catch up to his cousin and her friend, according to authorities.

It happened on the 12,600 block of Independence Road, about two miles west of the bridge at Michigan Hill Road near Rochester.

Searchers found his body the following day, at the bottom of the river less than 50 yards from where he was last seen.

Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock said an autopsy today confirmed he drowned, but he didn’t have a certain explanation as to why.

It could have been the current, or it could have been the water was very cold, according to Warnock.

“He was in apparent good health,” Warnock said. “For he, his friends and his family, it was just a normal day.”

Up until he drowned.

One thing that can happen, is when a person’s body temperature is warm and they jump into cold water, their diaphragm can constrict and make it difficult to breathe, according to the coroner.

Puentes-Garay was the oldest of four children, a boy who was the “man of the house” and would make cakes for his mother, Yanez said.

He will also leave behind five cousins mourning in Rochester.

“My 3-year-old today, said “Mom, now Chris can sit on the moon’,” Yanez said. “She understands.”

Students at Rochester High School are making T-shirts in his memory.

Maria Puentes’ managers have coordinated fundraising so she can take her son back to Highland Park, where his grandmother is, according to Yanez.

Donations can be made at Twin Star Credit Union, where a special account has been set up, she said.

A car wash is set for tomorrow at Bailey’s IGA at 10333 U.S. Highway 12 in Rochester, to start at about 10 a.m.

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For background, read “Search resumes for teen lost in Chehalis River” from Wednesday May 16, 2012, here

Josh Mischler, a friend of the resident, helps firefighters move some items out of the garage, while others continue to spray water and foam on the home.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Firefighters responding to a call of a possible brush fire southwest of Chehalis this afternoon found a house fully engulfed in flames.

Nobody was home at the time, but a couple arrived while crews were still extinguishing the blaze to find their single-story home gutted.

Lewis County Fire District 5 was called about smoke by a passerby on Pleasant Valley and Brown Road East. When they arrived about 3:40 p.m. the the roof on the home on Larkspur Road had already collapsed, according to fire department member Megan Van Egdom

They fought the fire from the outside.

The closest next neighbors are fairly far away and said they only noticed some smoke, Chief Eric Linn said.

Lewis County Fire Districts 6 and 15 joined them, shuttling water tenders in. The area has no fire hydrants.

The 1700 square-foot home and its contents are a complete loss, according to District 5.

VanEgdom, assistant medical service officer for the department, said the cause is unknown.

“We don’t know, they’re gonna have to bring an investigator out,” she said.

Chief Linn said they were advised there were pets in the house, but they hadn’t found them yet..

Three children live there as well, according to VanEgdom.

The Red Cross was contacted and a volunteer chaplain responded to assist the residents.

The roof collapsed before firefighters even arrived.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed 16-year-old Tyler Gonzalez was one of many juveniles drinking alcohol at a residence near where he was run over by a vehicle and killed over the weekend.

Detectives have interviewed several attendees at the underage party and have learned who provided the alcohol, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said today.

It’s possible that person could be in trouble, but the investigation isn’t finished yet, according to Brown.

“I don’t have a lot more I can release about who provided the alcohol,” Brown said. “They’re aware. We’ve talked to them.”

The sheriff’s office is awaiting the return of toxicology test results from Gonzalez, according to Brown. They can take as long as two months.

The sophomore from W.F. West High School died early Saturday morning after he left the party and for unknown reasons laid down in the roadway, according to the sheriff’s office.

It happened about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday on Brockway Road near Chilvers Road, about a mile west of Chehalis. He was struck by an SUV.

Sheriff Steve Mansfield called it another sad and tragic incident involving alcohol and juveniles.

“Poor decisions and choices were made with the end result being the loss of a young man’s life,” Mansfield stated in a news release. “The consequences of underage drinking continue to serve as a solemn reminder of how quickly people’s lives and families can be destroyed and altered forever.”

The young people, around 10 of them, were drinking beer and hard liquor in a shop building that sits back from the home, according to Brown.

“The parents were unaware there was a party going on, they were asleep,” she said.

The Washington State Patrol investigated the incident and indicated no charges were expected for the 50-year-old driver of the SUV.

The coroner has concluded the death was an accident.

W.F. West High School students will be hosting a candle light vigil in their classmate’s honor at 7 o’clock tomorrow night in the school’s Bearcat Stadium.

Updated at 9:23 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Responders are preparing to go back in the Chehalis River this morning hoping to find a 16-year-old Rochester High School student who vanished while swimming yesterday.

Courtesy photo by West Thurston Regional Fire Authority

More than 30 rescue personnel scoured the river and its banks after the call yesterday evening to an area southwest of Rochester.

While they suspended their search at dark, there is the possibility the teen somehow made it to shore, according to a spokesperson for West Thurston Regional Fire Authority.

“He might have hunkered down for the night for shelter,” Lt. Lanette Dyer said. “There’s still hope. We’re gonna stay on the positive side.”

The approximately 5 p.m. call to 911 came immediately after the teen went under water, according to Dyer.

The West Thurston fire department said shortly after the boy jumped in the river to catch up with two 18-year-old girls, his 14-year-old brother on the shore realized something was wrong.

“He wasn’t yelling for help, but he kept going up and down in the water,” Dyer said.

The 14-year-old alerted the girls who turned around and started swimming back toward him, but he went under and didn’t come up, she said.

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said the dive rescue team is returning this morning. The Special Operations Rescue Team (SORT) comprised of firefighters from several agencies is expected back as well. The Washington State patrol put a plane in the air and ground crews were en route to walk the land along the river, she said.

The spot is on the 12,600 block of Independence Road is about two miles west of the bridge at Michigan Hill Road.

Dyer said with the beautiful spring weather yesterday, the river looked inviting but this time of year, the waters are not as safe as they might appear.

“It’s smooth as glass on top, and underneath, it’s just ripping,” she said.

The boy is Christopher P. Garay, 16, from Rochester.

His mother was among some three dozen individuals, including many of his classmates, who gathered yesterday during the search, according to Dyer.

“One of the things she asked us to share with the media is to ask for all people not to give up hope,” Dyer said. “And she has put her faith in God and she is relying on that faith to see her son through.”

Update at 2:30 p.m: Searchers found his body about 11:30 a.m. today, at the bottom of the river less than 50 yards from where he was last seen, according to sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin.

Ulises Carrillo-Cruz, 20, looks over paperwork with his lawyer as he admits to firing a shot that injured a woman outside his Centralia apartment.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The case involving four men charged after a woman was shot in the shoulder outside an apartment complex on Ash Street in Centralia is coming to a close.

All have pleaded guilty in what police called a gang-related dispute that came to a head at the end of December, and possibly had its roots in a drive-by shooting almost two years ago in Chehalis.

Ulises Carrillo-Cruz, 20, was sentenced to 13 months in prison today, after admitting he fired the shot that that struck 28-year-old Genevieve Purser.

Carrillo-Cruz pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, a charge that didn’t exactly match the situation but was close enough when lawyers came up with a plea agreement, according to defense attorney J. P. Enbody.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes said both attorneys agreed the two groups involved had a dispute that included past violence.

Hayes said both sides faced some risks if going to trial as to whether self defense may have come into play, as he described to a judge today the reason for the deal.

Carrillo-Cruz was originally charged with first-degree assault as well as unlawful possession of a firearm.

He, his older brother Rolando Carrillo-Cruz, 25, and two 18-year-olds, all Centralia residents, were arrested on Dec. 27 after a mid-day confrontation at the Edison Terrace Apartments.

The two brothers were at their mother’s house in Chehalis in August 2010 when someone drove by and fired a round that struck a parked vehicle, according to Enbody.

“After that, and we’re still trying to figure out why, the bad blood continued,” Enbody told the judge.

Enbody said they think it had to do with the brothers having contact with the estranged wife of one of the men alleged to have been responsible for the drive-by shooting.

Just weeks before December’s incident, Enbody said, some of those involved who he said were part of the so-called LVL gang went to his client’s apartment on Ash Street with baseball bats breaking windows.

“And the last thing they said, is we’ll be back,” Enbody said.

Enbody told Judge James Lawler he was giving background for the judge to consider when he handed down the sentence.

His client had a broken leg in a cast when he sees the same group, including one individual flashing a gun arrive in vehicles and start coming their way, yelling and flashing gang signs, he said.

The brothers had bought a gun to protect themselves, he said.

Enbody said his client fired a warning shot, that hit the ground less than halfway toward those arriving.

He hired a firearms expert who met with Centralia police detective Pat Beall at the site to try and figure how the second shot occurred, he said.

“Beall mentions a limp wrist or something, and the recoil,” he said. “The second shot goes off.”

Enbody said his client took two polygraph tests that supported his version of what occurred.

In the defendant’s written statement, he admitted to recklessly inflicting substantial bodily harm upon the victim. There was no statement from the victim mentioned aloud during today’s proceedings in Lewis County Superior Court.

Ulises Carrillo-Cruz’ answered simply “Yes sir” to each of the judge’s questions.

The standard sentencing range for his conviction was 12 to 14 months, according to the judge.

Lawler called the attorneys’ recommendation of 13 months in prison a fair resolution, which he would abide by.

Rolando Carrillo-Cruz has already been sentenced to six months in prison. He pleaded guilty in early February to rendering criminal assistance, in order to take advantage of a plea offer, according to his court file.

Both Carrillo-Cruz’s are facing possible deportation. Enbody said he didn’t know the details, only that his client said he’d lived in Lewis County since he was six months old.

Francisco J. Robles, 18, admitted in late January to hiding the gun when he pleaded guilty to rendering criminal assistance. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 30

Javier E. Martinez, 18, admitted in mid-January to rendering criminal assistance; he stated he flushed some shell casings down a toilet. His sentencing is set for June 7.
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For background, read “Centralia men charged after apartment complex shooting” from Thursday December 29, 2011, here