Lewis County Sirens.com

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By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Lewis County prosecutors have filed a criminal charge against a 24-year-old woman who allegedly tried to kill herself by lighting a fire in her bedroom and trying to inhale the smoke.

The woman subsequently told a police officer when she noticed flames going up the wall, she remembered there were people nearby so she called 911, according to court documents.

The fire in November in Centralia caused heavy damage to the single-wide mobile home and started to spread to nearby trees before it was extinguished.

She went before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court, charged with first-degree arson. She arrived at the courtroom in a wheelchair, accompanied by her father.

Judge Andrew Toynbee allowed her to remain free pending trial on a $25,000 unsecured bond.

The fire happened  about 11:40 a.m. on Nov. 21 in the 1300 block of Harrison Avenue. Firefighters at the time said they arrived to find smoke coming from all the windows and that the sole occupant had already exited the residence.

Riverside Fire Authority at the time stated there were no injuries and the occupant was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital for evaluation.

Charging documents in the case, however, state she was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and that’s where a Centralia police officer spoke with her.

The woman told the officer she placed stuffed animals and napkins on the floor between her bed and the wall, threw one or two matches down and positioned her head close to the floor to breathe in the smoke, according to the court documents.

First-degree arson is a felony with a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Outside the courtroom, the woman said she owned the home “outright” and her father said she would be pleading not guilty.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said she was summonsed to appear before the judge yesterday, but wrote it down wrong on her calendar as today. A no-bail warrant was issued yesterday.

Asked about charging someone with a felony who was attempting suicide, Halstead said he would not talk about the case, and “there is more to it than that.”

The defendant was given a court appointed lawyer. Her arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 1.

Just after midnight at the 1400 block of Lewis Street in Centralia. / Image courtesy of Chris and Shay Woolam

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Two young children were rescued via ladder when a fire broke out overnight in a two-story apartment building in Centralia.

They were among five individuals trapped when a fire in a first floor unit extended to a balcony of upper level apartments, according to Riverside Fire Authority. The three adults were able to walk out after the blaze was under control, according to Fire Capt. Terry Ternan.

Ternan indicates there were no injuries.

Crews called at midnight to the 1400 block of Lewis Street were joined by members of four other fire departments.

The fire is under investigation by the Centralia Police Department and Riverside Fire Authority joint fire investigation team. There were no smoke detectors present, according to Ternan.

A total of seven occupants from two different apartments were displaced. They were assisted by the Red Cross, according to RFA.

Mary G. and Anthony S. Foxworth Sr., in green striped jail garb, seemed to take care to keep their backs to the courtroom audience this afternoon

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Centralia parents who fled to South Carolina in an attempt to avoid prison after pleading guilty to severe neglect of their teenage son were sentenced today to nearly seven years.

Mary G. and Anthony S. Foxworth Sr. were brought before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court. They have been held in the Lewis County Jail since the end of November after they were tracked down and returned to Lewis County.

They pleaded guilty today to bail jumping, in front of a partially packed courtroom that included their son and his foster parents.

The original agreement was a sentencing recommendation of 51 months, Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said. But because they fled, that increased to 75 months, plus another eight months for the new offense, to be served consecutively, Halstead said.

Halstead requested and the judge agreed they have no contact with their son for 10 years.

Marion Hazzard addressed the court, describing the 16-year-old boy, that she and her husband first met in February 2016 at Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital, who would become their foster child.

He appeared about eight years old, his skin was translucent, his bones were sticking out, she said.

Centralia police had begun investigating a month earlier, after couple took the boy to the doctor, and he was hospitalized with severe malnutrition, weighing just 54 pounds. Police found he had not seen a doctor since 2007, was not enrolled in school and could not read or write.

The Foxworth’s were charged in Dec. 2016 with first-degree criminal mistreatment and pleaded guilty as charged this past October.

The lack of food in their home was because of an elusive uncle who supposedly would sneak into their house, Hazzard said.

“He was told he was autistic, which he’s not,” she said. “He was told he can’t learn, but he is. He was told he had a bone disease.”

He was still wearing pull-ups.

“I came to learn, he didn’t own but one set of clothes,” Hazzard said.

The boy refused to bathe or brush his teeth and the world terrified him, according to Hazzard.

Over the summer, he learned to ride a bike, to mow a lawn, to do his laundry, she said. He’s returned to school and gotten his first-ever best friend, she said.

Anthony Foxworth Sr., 45, made a statement to the judge, that he would never intentionally harm his son. His wife read a letter aloud.

Mary Foxworth, 43, said she knows now she was not a responsible mother, but even when her son was in the hospital, she didn’t understand how ignorant she was.

“I am sorry for not having the life skills and the knowledge to care for you and teach you how to care for yourself,” she said.

Judge Andrew Toynbee said the sentence of 83 months was the most he could hand down. And that’s what he did.

Outside the courtroom, defense attorney Jacob Clark said his client, the mother, didn’t have the life skills necessary.

Anthony Foxworth’s lawyer, Chris Baum, said he didn’t have a good explanation for the neglect. He said he thinks his client doesn’t necessarily fully understand what happened.

“I think my client is a simple guy and he took a lot of cues from the mother,” Baum said. “He clearly failed to pay attention and his child suffered greatly.”
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For background, read “Parents in Centralia child neglect case see judge on bail jumping charge” from Wednesday November 22, 2017, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An autopsy conducted yesterday revealed nothing suspicious about the body of a man found in a vehicle south of Chehalis on Sunday morning, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office suggested yesterday the man was most likely living in the pickup truck. They have plans to test a propane heater found in the back of the truck with the deceased.

Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Bruce Kimsey says he’s an older man with ties to Lewis County and with a previous address here, until he was “displaced”, became homeless and began sleeping in his vehicle.

Early on Saturday morning, a sheriff’s deputy tagged the truck with a  24-hour notice it would be towed. The brown or tan in color 1983 Ford F150 with a canopy and Washington plates was parked on the shoulder at Southwest Interstate Avenue and Bishop Road, according to the sheriff’s office.

A deputy returned early Sunday morning, called for a tow truck and discovered there was a dead person in the back, according to Kimsey.

Neither his name nor his age have been released. The coroner’s office yesterday stated they have positively identified him, but are not releasing his name until his legal next of kin can be located and notified.

Making a determination about the cause and manner of death won’t come until after toxicology test results come back, according to Coroner Warren McLeod. He indicated that can take up to 90 days.

At least two people who work in the area have said they saw the truck parked in the same spot all last week.

Kimsey said the sheriff’s office had no information the man had been reported missing.
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For background, read “Propane heater examined in death of person inside truck” from Monday January 8, 2018, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 37-year-old man with a rural Chehalis address was charged yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court with attempting to elude for an incident two days after Christmas in which a motorist fled a traffic stop on Rush Road and eventually lost control of the car at West Cherry Street in Centralia and fled on foot.

A search through a cell phone located on the floorboard of the white Ford Crown Victoria left behind led law enforcement to Bradley W. Bell.

Bell was arrested on Jan. 2 by drug detectives for outstanding warrants and for a case from last May. He was charged last week for that.

Charging documents in the first case indicate detectives conducted surveillance on Bell’s home in Centralia because they suspected he was selling meth and heroin. They pulled over a vehicle leaving the residence in which Bell was a passenger, and allegedly located a gun under the seat, 32 grams of heroin, nearly 13 gram of meth and a digital scale, according to the charging documents.

Law enforcement went looking for him on Jan. 2, conducted surveillance, made a traffic stop and allegedly found him with a gun again.

Bell was charged the following day in Lewis County Superior Court with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. His bail was set at $25,000.

Bell allegedly admitted to detectives he was the driver in the pursuit the night of Dec. 27, which reached speeds in excess of 100 mph between Napavine and Centralia.

A judge yesterday afternoon set his bail at $50,000 for the eluding charge.

His arraignment is scheduled for Thursday.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A vehicle tagged to be towed because it was parked on the shoulder of a road south of Chehalis turned out to contain a dead person.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office says on Saturday morning, a deputy posted a 24-hour notice on a pickup truck sitting on the shoulder at Southwest Interstate Avenue and Bishop Road.

“They came back the next day and started looking more inside the canopy and could see someone in the back,” sheriff’s Chief Deputy Bruce Kimsey said.

The adult male was found dead in the back of the truck about 6 a.m. yesterday, along with items consistent with a person sleeping in the truck, Kimsey said.

Kimsey said the investigation revealed a propane heater, which will be tested.

He didn’t know how long the pickup had been at the spot, but at least two people who work in the area say they saw it sitting there all last week.

Chehalis resident Brendee Arnold recalled the first time she saw it as early last week as she drove home from work. There was a person standing beside the truck, she said.

Kimsey said he won’t say if the death is suspicious or not suspicious; he will wait for information from an autopsy.