Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Lewis County Superior Court judge today denied the prosecution’s request to consolidate two defendants’ cases from last summer’s triple slaying into one trial, saying in part, he didn’t want to give John Allen Booth Jr. grounds for a successful appeal.

Booth, 31, is scheduled for trial the week of May 16.

John A. Booth Jr.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher suggested the judge could find that judicial economy was more important than Booth’s right to a speedy trial, and postpone it until October when 29-year-old Ryan J. McCarthy is set to be tried in the same deaths.

“One judge, one courtroom, one jury, which is a big deal in this case,” Meagher said.

Meagher said the trial is expected to last a minimum of two weeks and they have the same witnesses, same evidence and same crimes.

Defense attorney James Dixon opposed the move.

His client extended his right to a speedy trial once already, to prepare a response when the state was potentially going to seek the death penalty, he said.

Ryan J. McCarthy

“Both of these defendants have been in jail for months and months and months,” Dixon said. “And they’ve not been joined as co-defendants.”

The hearing in the Chehalis courtroom this afternoon was well-attended; among those in the audience were the brother of one of the victims, McCarthy’s wife, Booth’s fiancee, elected Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer and all the sheriff’s detectives.

Authorities have said they believe the two men’s Aug. 21 visit to the house on Wings Way off Gore Road was related to a drug debt collection.

McCarthy’s lawyer opposed the prosecution’s request as well. McCarthy’s trial is set for the week of Oct. 10.

Attorney Rick Cordes indicated his reasons for not wanting to move up that date.

“I’m surprised the state says they’re ready to go,” Cordes said.

Cordes said he is still waiting for reports from prosecutors involving DNA, fingerprints and ballistics.

“I’m not ready to go to trial without all that information,” Cordes said.

Judge Richard Brosey asked Cordes if he also didn’t want his client tried with Booth, because it might be confusing to a jury hearing evidence pertaining to both men when the two are not charged with identical crimes.

The men are charged with murder and extortion in connection with the shooting deaths of David West Sr. 52, his son David J. West Jr., 16, and Tony E. Williams, 50, of Randle, at the West’s home in the Salkum-Onalaska area. Booth is also charged with the attempted murder of 51-year-old Denise Salts who lived there.

However, Booth is charged with aggravated first-degree murder in the deaths of West Jr. and Williams as well as unlawful possession of a firearm

McCarthy is charged with first-degree felony murder in the three deaths.

Brosey said he was concerned about what an appeals court might think of postponing Booth’s trial, concerned about confusion to a jury, and possible prejudice to McCarthy.

“I’m denying the motion,” he said.

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Read most recent previous story on the case, here

Read background on the case:

• “West Sr. pointed shotgun telling pair of ex-cons to leave his house, triggering triple homicide, unsealed court documents allege” from Saturday Sept. 4, 2010 here

• “Unsealed document: More details on Salkum slayings” from Monday Sept. 6, 2010 here

Firefighters stand by on their ladder truck as the former Evergreen Centralia Health and Rehabilitation Center is intentionally destroyed by fire during a practice day

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – Almost 30 firefighters spent Saturday practicing at a former nursing home in Centralia, eventually allowing flames and an excavator to reduce the building to rubble.

Riverside Fire Authority conducted live fire training exercises on the 1000 block of Long Road, at the former home of Evergreen Centralia Health and Rehabilitation Center.

The building was vacated during the December 2007 flood and then donated to the city.

Fire Capt. Erik Olson said they have been able to train inside the structure during the past two years.

One of the things they practiced yesterday was “hose evolutions”, hooking up various sizes and great lengths of fire hose to extinguish burning pallets and hay inside the rambling commercial structure.

Members of Riverside Fire Authority watch one end of the former nursing home burn while an excavator tears apart the other end.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office says it thwarted a plot to murder one of their own detectives with an arrest this afternoon.

Royce Lynn Baxter, 59, of Long Beach, Wash., was already in the Thurston County Jail for burglary and stalking, and was planning to kill or have killed the detective who put him there, according to the sheriff’s office.

Royce Lynn Baxter

Baxter had been arrested in December for first-degree burglary and stalking in connection with a woman who lives outside Tumwater, a woman he’d been infatuated with some dozen years, according to Lt. Greg Elwin.

The detective was tipped on Wednesday about Baxter’s plan, Elwin said.

“From jail, he was trying to, first of all, put in motion a plan from jail so once he made bail, to kill one witness and the detective in the case,” Elwin said.

Elwin said Baxter made arrangements to get an untraceable cell phone, a car not registered to him and to get guns to Olympia.

An undercover sheriff’s deputy acted as the potential hired killer during the investigation, Elwin said.

Elwin said the investigation showed at first Baxter wanted to do it himself, targeting detective Dave Haller and the husband of his stalking victim.

“But he didn’t have enough money to pay for both, so he called off the hit on the husband and put all his resources on Haller,” Elwin said.

Elwin said the investigation revealed Baxter had taken significant steps to include other people in his plan.

Baxter relayed a request to the person he thought he was hiring – which was actually an undercover deputy – to retrieve three guns from his home in Long Beach and put them in a car he could use to flee the area, according to Elwin. The firearms were seized.

Baxter was arrested about 4 p.m. today for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Kenneth R. Varner waits to see a judge in Lewis County Superior Court today.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A man wanted for allegedly helping his father – a former Washington state trooper – carry out a suicide plan and make it look like homicide so the family could collect insurance money was arrested in Mexico and delivered yesterday to the Lewis County Jail.

Authorities have sought 34-year-old Kenneth R. Varner, of Olympia, nearly a year.

His father, James E. Varner, 49, of Olympia, was found dead with a gunshot wound five years ago inside his car on a forest road near Packwood.

Detectives investigated the February 2006 death as suspicious; the deceased was in passenger seat and they did not locate a gun with the body.

James E. Varner

The firearm authorities believe was used was discovered later in Mayfield Lake by a fisherman, according to charging documents.

Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield said Kenneth Varner was living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and the sheriff’s office was feeding information to U.S. Marshals, who worked with their contacts in Mexico. Kenneth Varner was deported and taken to Los Angeles on March 31 by the U.S. Marshal’s Service, according to Mansfield.

Lead detective Bruce Kimsey and another detective picked him up from the Los Angeles County Jail yesterday and flew him here last night, according to Mansfield.

The sheriff said there’s “a lot of fraud” involved.

“It’s been a very detailed, comprehensive investigation here,” Mansfield said. “It covers a lot of ground.”

Bail was set today at $500,000.

James Varner worked for the state Department of Labor and Industries and before that, was a trooper, employed from 1979 until 1997 mostly in Western Washington.

Charges of promoting a suicide attempt and conspiracy to commit theft in the first degree were filed against Kenneth Varner last May. Mansfield said they believe the son retrieved the weapon from the scene and got rid of it.

Kendra Varner, the widow of James Varner, said after the charges were filed she did not believe her husband would kill himself and ask his son to come and remove the gun.

The bulk of the more than $2.3 million in life insurance on the senior Varner was acquired in the last 18 or so months of his life, according to charging documents.

Shortly after James Varner ‘s death, authorities revealed he, his son and a third man were being investigated in an insurance fraud scheme related to a falsely-reported-as-stolen antique car.

Charging documents in the case include allegations the father facilitated bank transactions for his son’s business deals, which the son conducted under an alias. Detective Kimsey was told the younger Varner worked as a free-lance realtor in Mexico.

Puerto Vallarta has been Kenneth Varner’s home for several years.

Kenneth Varner was also wanted in an entirely separate case – for theft related to some $7,000 from a bid to replace a roof of a business partner’s building in Centralia in 2006.

Defense attorney Bob Schroeter told a judge this afternoon said his client has no regular income, no liquid assets and qualified for a court-appointed lawyer.

Judge Nelson Hunt assigned the case to Centralia attorney J.P. Enbody.

Kenneth Varner is scheduled to for an arraignment next Thursday.

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Read background on the case, here

This news story was updated at 1 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A man wanted for allegedly helping his father – a former Washington state trooper – carry out a suicide plan and make it look like homicide so the family could collect insurance money was found in Mexico and delivered yesterday to the Lewis County Jail.

James E. Varner

Authorities have sought 34-year-old Kenneth R. Varner, of Olympia, for the past year.

His father, James E. Varner, 49, of Olympia, was found dead with a gunshot wound five years ago inside his car on a forest road near Packwood.

Detectives investigated the February 2006 death as suspicious; they did not locate a gun with the body.

The firearm authorities believe was used was discovered later in Mayfield Lake by a fisherman, according to charging documents.

Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield said this morning Kenneth Varner was living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and was deported. He was taken into custody in Los Angeles on March 31 by the U.S. Marshal’s Service, according to Mansfield.

Lead detective Bruce Kimsey and another detective picked him up from the Los Angeles County Jail yesterday and flew him here last night, according to Mansfield.

The sheriff said there’s “a lot of fraud” involved.

“It’s been a very detailed, comprehensive investigation here,” Mansfield said. “It covers a lot of ground.”

James Varner worked for the state Department of Labor and Industries and before that, was a trooper, employed from 1979 until 1997 mostly in Western Washington.

Charges of promoting a suicide attempt and conspiracy to commit theft in the first degree were filed against Kenneth Varner last May. Mansfield said they believe the son retrieved the weapon from the scene and got rid of it.

Puerto Vallarta has been Kenneth Varner’s home for several years.

The bulk of the more than $2.3 million in life insurance on the senior Varner was acquired in the last 18 or so months of his life, according to charging documents.

Shortly after James Varner ‘s death, authorities revealed he, his son and a third man were being investigated in an insurance fraud scheme.

Kenneth Varner was also wanted for theft related to some $7,000 from a bid to replace a roof of a business partner’s building in Centralia in 2006.

He is scheduled to appear before a judge this afternoon.

•••

Read background on the case, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Learning the identity of the man whose skull was found recently near Mineral now means revisiting decades-old cases, including a missing person, a stabbing death and possibly the homicides of another couple.

Michael L. Riemer and Diana K. Robertson

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office this morning said the skull discovered  March 26 in a wooded area north of Mineral belongs to Michael Lloyd Riemer, a Pierce County man who was reported missing in December 1985.

Riemer’s significant other, Diana K. Robertson, went missing at the same time from Pierce County, and her body was found the following February. The 21-year-old woman’s death was determined to be a homicide and Riemer was considered a person of interest, according to authorities.

The sheriff’s office doesn’t yet know if Riemer died at his own hands or someone else’s, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said today.

“We don’t know. In fact, it doesn’t really help or change the investigation because there are still so many unknowns,” Brown said.

The sheriff’s office announced the find two weeks ago, saying a partial skull was found by someone hiking in the Mineral area.

It was actually discovered by a man on property where he lives, on an abandoned logging road that goes through his property, Brown said today. It was in a brushy area on the ground, she said.

During detective’s follow up search, a mandible – the portion with the jaw and teeth – was found a little ways away from the skull, according to Brown.

The remains were sent to a specialist for identification, which was made through dental records, Brown said.

Brown said there was no trauma detected on Riemer’s skull and there was enough of the skull recovered they are also able to conclude he wasn’t shot in the head.

“There was a driver’s license found at the scene also, but we don’t know who it belongs to,” Brown said. It’s too weathered to read, she said.

Riemer was a person of interest in Robertson’s death since he vanished at the same time. He was 36 years old. One theory was he killed her and then took off, Brown said.

Their 2-year-old daughter was found wandering alone at a K-Mart in Spanaway on the day the pair went missing, according to Brown.

During 1986, there were several attempts made by searchers to find Riemer, according to the sheriff’s office.

His remains were found within a mile of where hers had been discovered in February 1986.

She was stabbed in the chest, Brown said.

Lewis County detectives will be conducting a joint investigation with Pierce County.

Unfortunately, all the detectives who worked the case have retired and answers aren’t expected be coming any time soon, according to detective Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

“Right now, we’re just pulling records, seeing what we have,” Troyer said today.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department is aware this could be tied to other things and they will be checking with other agencies, checking on other homicides, he said.

“We’ve got to be careful, it’s still an ongoing investigation, if we’ve got a suspect out there, that’s yet to be determined,” he said.

One case they will look at is another couple killed around the same time, according to Troyer.

According to an item on the web site for the television show Unsolved Mysteries – which aired an episode on Robertson’s homicide in 1989 – just 15 miles away, a man named Stephen Harkins had been found in his sleeping bag, shot in the forehead; and his companion Ruth Cooper was found two months later, shot to death.

Lewis County’s Chief Brown said today, one of those victims had a ligature, like a sock, that was similar to one found with the body of Diana K. Robertson.

While it’s good Riemer was found, it still doesn’t bring a whole lot of new information to light, Brown said.

“Hopefully someone, somewhere, knows something and will call us,” she said.

Brown asks anyone with information about the case to call the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office at 360-748-9286 or Lewis County Crime Stoppers at 1-800- 748-6422.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS  – The partial skull found by a hiker near Mineral has been identified as belonging to a man who went missing from Pierce County more than 25 years ago.

Michael Lloyd Riemer was 36 years old when both he and his significant other, 21-year-old Diana K. Robertson were reported missing, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Their 2-year-old daughter was found wandering alone at a K-Mart in Spanaway on the day the pair went missing in December 1985, according to Chief Deputy Stacy Brown.

Robertson’s remains were found in February 1986 on an abandoned logging road north of Mineral, according to Brown. Reimer’s remains –  found on March 26 in a wooded area- were located within a mile of where Robertson had been found, according to Brown.

Riemer was a person of interest in Robertson’s death as he hadn’t been located after her body was found, Brown reported.

Information on the case was aired on the television show Unsolved Mysteries in 1989 and generated numerous tips over the years, according to Brown.

When the Lewis County Sheriff’s office reported the discovery two weeks ago, detectives and dogs searched the area and did find evidence, or potential evidence in the area.

A joint investigation with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department continues, according to Brown.

Brown asks anyone with information about the case to call the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office at 360-748-9286 or Lewis County Crime Stoppers at 1-800- 748-6422.

More to come