Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Chehalis Police Department has an idea about how he died and feels “pretty positive” he is the missing 16-year-old Camas boy, but are awaiting word from the coroner in regards to the body discovered inside a car parked at the Twin City Town Center late Friday afternoon.

Department spokesperson Linda Bailey this morning called the death a tragedy.

Cole Burbank, 16, of Camas, was reported missing by his parents on April 13 and the Camas Police Department issued a missing person report to the public hoping to locate him and his black 2010 Honda Accord. An intense investigation to find him as quickly as possible began immediately, according to police.

Chehalis police responded about 5:30 p.m. on Friday to the shopping center on Northwest Louisiana Avenue in Chehalis, following a phone call from someone Bailey said she believed was a friend of the family who had located the vehicle.

“I do understand Camas sent a team up to assist with … to process the scene,” Bailey said.

It doesn’t appear police are looking for any suspect. Bailey said if police thought there was a danger element to the public, she would have already made such an announcement.

Officers have an idea of how he died, “but we aren’t going to say that until we get an autopsy report,” Bailey said.

An autopsy is being conducted today, she said.

The car was found in the parking lot east of the auto parts store and closer to Security State Bank. Bailey said she had not yet heard if detectives have determined how long the car was there.

Further information is expected to be released by the Lewis County Coroner’s Office, which has the responsibility to positively identify him and find the cause and manner of his death.
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For background read “Male found dead inside missing teen’s car in Chehalis” from Saturday April 22, 2017, here

The missing person flyer showing Cole Burbank and associated Honda Accord.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Authorities say a car associated with a 16-year-old Camas boy missing more than a week was found yesterday in a Chehalis shopping center parking lot, with a body inside.

Police responded about 5:30 p.m. yesterday to the Twin City Town Center on Northwest Louisiana Avenue.

“Upon arrival, officers discovered a deceased young adult male inside the vehicle,” Chehalis Police Department spokesperson Linda Bailey wrote in a brief message to news media late last night.

Cole Burbank, 16, of Camas, was last seen at Camas High School at about 7:45 am. on April 13 and was reported missing by his parents the same day, according to the Camas Police Department.

He left driving a black 2010 Honda Accord and was likely in the vicinity of Clark College where he attended Running Start classes, but never showed up there, according to police. Camas police issued a missing person report to the public the following day, noting “this type of behavior is not common for Cole and his family is very concerned for his welfare.”

The Chehalis Fire Department and AMR medics were called to the shopping center early yesterday evening, basically to confirm the occupant was dead and helped secure the scene.

Firefighter Braxton Traylor said the black Honda was parked east of an auto parts store and closer to Security State Bank, with no other vehicles parked immediately adjacent to it, but a person was visible through its windows.

“He had a real low profile in the vehicle,” Traylor said. “If you were just driving by, you may not have seen him.”

Bailey’s message stated an investigation is ongoing and information will be released as it becomes available. Nobody was available this morning from the Chehalis Police Department to answer questions.

Camas police stated in a press release the body was released to to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office for positive identification.

Camas police thanked the public for tips and search efforts, as well as assisting agencies they said included the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Five of the rescued chihuahuas being held at the Lewis County Animal Shelter

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – They started getting brought in on Saturday, batches of chihuahuas found abandoned in East Lewis County.

The Lewis County Animal Shelter has been clipping, grooming and preparing for spaying and neutering of little dogs all week.

Yesterday afternoon the animals being temporarily housed at the facility on Centralia-Alpha Road huddled in small groups in five separate kennel areas.

Eighteen chihuahuas, all appearing to be pure bred, are or will be available for adoption.

“My gut feeling is they’re all from the same place,” Shelter Manager Amy Hanson said.

Three times so far, people have found some of the dogs and delivered them to the shelter, Hanson said yesterday afternoon.

Lindsey Dean lives in Cinebar but her daughter goes to school in Morton, so she drives that remote stretch along state Route 508 at least four times a day.

“It was Monday morning, I came around the corner and they were piled in the road,” Dean said. “They were hungry, I had a banana and they were eating dirt to get to the rest of the banana.”

They smelled terrible, their nails were long and they were afraid of people, she said.

On Tuesday after work, animal technician Robin Williams, drove out to the same area just over the Bear Canyon Bridge to see if she could locate any more. With help from Dean, Dean’s teenage son and her friend Missy Baier, they rounded up eight.

“If the first ones hadn’t gone out into the road, I don’t think anyone would have found them, cause they were back in the woods,” Williams said.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Criminal Deputy Dusty Breen says it’s a neglect issue that could be pursued criminally.

Lewis County Code Compliance Supervisor Bill Teitzel today said his office is seriously looking at the situation.

Teitzel said over the past six to eight months, the same type of dogs have been dumped in a similar fashion in similar locations, although never this many.

“They seem to coincide with things we’re doing at this office,” he said.

The county’s humane officer conducts inspections for people who want to apply for kennel permits, he said.

“My office doesn’t investigate crime, but if we find crime we will turn it over to the sheriff’s office,” Teitzel said.

Animals must be fixed before the shelter can release them to new homes. That requirement over the years has led to lower numbers of strays kept there.

At any given time, nowadays, they may have only two to three dogs available for adoption, according to Hanson.

This week almost 100 dogs are inhabiting the kennels and cages in the building.

On Monday, Lewis County seized dozens of dogs, mostly chihuahua-mix, from a man who lives on the 1600 block of Little Hanaford Road outside Centralia.

They undertook a similar action three years ago at the same place and the owner, Jimmie R. Jemison, was charged with a violation of state law related to dog breeding and standards of cleanliness, care and protection.

The case however was dismissed in December the following year because Jemison was found not competent to stand trial due to mental illness, according to documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court.

Soon after, the county filed for a declaratory judgement to “abate” the situation, as it believed he continued to breed dogs in the same poor conditions. The court signed a warrant of abatement earlier this month.

Hanson said when they went to the property Monday to impound Jemison’s dogs, the conditions were maybe even worse than before.

Some were living in the motor home with him and others were kept in outbuildings, she said.

They collected five litters of puppies, about two weeks old, she said, plus 47 dogs at least four months old and older.

Those animals are being cared for at the shelter, and will become available for adoption later.

Hanson said she doesn’t have any reason to think Jemison’s operation was related to the animals found off state Route 508.

Dean said she learned today, a man with a tree farm off state Route 508 found more chihuahuas but could only catch one.

“He said there were three more, maybe five miles down by a small bridge,” she said.

As many as four other chihuahuas have been discovered in the area and not turned into the shelter, she said.

She’ll keep going back to look for others, she said.

“Me and my friend Missy, we’re just heartbroken,” she said. “Because it’s obvious, they’re scared.”
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For background, read “Centralia man pleads not guilty to dog breeding violation” from Saturday May 31, 2014, here

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Six chihuahuas were picked up Monday morning off of state Route 508 near milepost 22. / Courtesy photo by Lindsey Dean

Tommy W. Miller, Jr. is escorted out of the courtroom following a bail hearing in Lewis County Superior Court

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 23-year-old accused of throwing a hospital employee out of the driver’s seat of her car after she got off work in the early morning hours on Tuesday was charged today with two felonies in Lewis County Superior Court.

Tommy W. Miller, Jr. of Lacey was brought before a judge this afternoon but his temporary defense attorney said Miller wouldn’t talk to him.

When Judge Andrew Toynbee queried Miller directly, he responded with random words and gibberish, Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said.

Meagher said when Miller returns to court tomorrow, he will have an order prepared to get him evaluated at Western State Hospital.

“We don’t have any choice, it’s our only option,” Meagher told Miller’s family after the hearing.

He was charged today with first-degree attempted robbery and second-degree assault.

Prosecutors allege he approached the employee’s car in the parking lot at Providence Centralia Hospital and after trying to speak to her once, that when she turned her attention back to her phone, he opened her car door.

The victim, identified in court documents only by her initials A.T., told police he grabbed her with both hands by the front of her shirt and threw her onto the ground, ripping her brassiere in half, tearing her top and leaving her with scrapes on her hands and knees, Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead wrote in court papers.

She ran into the emergency room to call 911 and realized she had her car keys in her hand, according to Halstead.

Centralia police and deputies responding to the approximately 3:37 a.m. call eventually spotted Miller walking on nearby on Cooks Hill Road. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

Halstead wrote the victim had looked back as she ran and saw the headlights to her vehicle had been turned on.

“It appears the subject attempted to steal A.T.’s vehicle but was unsuccessful when he discovered the keys were no longer in the vehicle,” Halstead wrote.

Meagher today asked the judge to hold Miller on $100,000 bail. Temporary defense attorney noted his client appeared to have no criminal history.

Judge Toynbee set bail at $50,000.

Defense attorney Shane O’Rourke was appointed to represent him. His next hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. tomorrow.
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For background, read “Woman pulled from her car in Providence Centralia Hospital parking lot, runs inside to call 911” from Tuesday April 11, 2017, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 24-year-old Lacey man is in custody after an employee at Providence Centralia Hospital was the victim of an apparent attempted car jacking early this morning.

Police were called at 3:37 a.m. to the 1800 block of Cooks Hill Road where the victim described what had occurred in the hospital parking lot.

She told police a black male had approached her while she was warming up her vehicle, asked her if she worked there and then lingered after she told him no, according to the Centralia Police Department.

The woman called security staff but before they arrived, the man opened her door, forcibly grabbed her out of the vehicle and got inside, according to police.

“The victim, who sustained minor injuries and torn clothing from the force of the grab, managed to grab her keys and ran back to the hospital where she contacted security,” Centralia detective Sgt. Carl Buster stated in a press release.

Officers arrived to the area, summoned a K-9 and set up containment, according to Buster.

A deputy recalled contacting an individual matching that description earlier, off Interstate 5’s exit 77 in Chehalis, who had been carrying a hammer, Buster wrote.

The deputy spotted that same person walking nearby on Cooks Hill Road. He was contacted and the victim identified him as their suspect, according to Buster. His hammer was found nearby, Buster said.

Tommy W. Miller, Jr., 24 of Lacey, was taken into custody and arrested for first-degree robbery, according to police.

Arriving firefighters saw flames coming out second-story window.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – What ignited a house fire in Chehalis displacing eight residents is still unknown but a closer look at a stove on the second floor in an area converted into a kitchen is in order, according to authorities.

“I’m still working on the investigation, so I can’t really say for sure,” Fire Investigator Jay Birley said.

The fire broke out at mid-morning on Thursday on Southwest 14th Street just east of Wilson Avenue.

The two-story structure originally was a church. It’s owner operated it as a kind of halfway house, she called House of the Rising Son until the city raised zoning issues with her a few years ago.

Birley said interviews with the occupants indicate a woman had been upstairs to retrieve DVDs and glasses, went downstairs and when she went back upstairs she discovered the fire. She thought he saw something burning on the stove, Birley said.

She alerted another resident who attempted to put it out with a fire extinguisher but was unsuccessful, he said.

One man and one woman were taken to the hospital for smoke and breathing issues, according to responders.

Birley counted six bedrooms in the house and only found one smoke detector, which had been taken down and wasn’t working, he said.

Two of the occupants were small children.

The Red Cross was summoned to assist the residents. The house is still standing, but the city red tagged the building as uninhabitable.

Chehalis Fire Department Chief Ken Cardinale said the stove was situated in an area determined to be the fire’s origin. He said renovations for which no city permit had been obtained were discovered.

BIrley said if the home is insured, the insurance company will want to have the stove examined.
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For background, read “Eight people displaced by Chehalis house fire” from Thursday April 6, 2017, here