Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An undivulged number of staff members at Green Hill School have been reassigned during an investigation into the November escape of a 16-year-old inmate.

Chehalis police were told the boy was last checked on at about 5 a.m. on Nov. 8 and discovered missing from his room about 6:30 a.m.

After he was captured, however, the youth told detectives he had climbed out his window about 10:15 p.m. the night before, taken wire cutters from an unlocked building and fled through a hole he cut in the fence, according to charging documents.

The now-17-year-old boy is set to be arraigned this week on first-degree escape and other charges following the November incident at the state juvenile detention facility in south Chehalis.

Michael A. Lavallie was incarcerated at Green Hill for possession of a stolen vehicle and attempting to elude a police vehicle.

Normal procedures are for head counts to be done hourly, according to Criss Stewart, a manager at Green Hill.

Green Hill Superintendent Marybeth Queral said yesterday she requested an outside investigation to see if there were policy violations and at what level.

“Those are the facts being investigated; when did he leave, when was he checked on, who was responsible,” Queral said.

The Washington State Patrol is conducting the investigation, she said.

Lavallie was picked up in Yelm three weeks after he escaped and remains at Green Hill. He was set to be released in July of next year, according to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.

Last week, he was charged as an adult in Lewis County Superior Court.

Charging documents in his case say he told Chehalis police detectives he dug the rubber out from around his cell window with his comb and pencil and shook the metal bars until the screws were loose enough he could remove them.

He was in the “Hawthorne” unit.

Lavallie said he first tried to use a rake he found to help him climb over the fence but when that didn’t work, went to the vocational shop building and got two pairs of wire cutters, according to the charging documents.

Police, deputies and troopers who converged on the neighborhood discovered an Isuzu Trooper had been stolen from the 300 block of Chehalis Avenue. The youth allegedly told police he dumped the vehicle in Rainier because it was having transmission troubles. He then went to stay with his father on Hobby Street, according to charging documents.

Lavallie has previous addresses from places such as Tenino, Rainier, Olympia and Roy, according to Chehalis police.

He was captured on Nov. 29 by a Thurston County sheriff’s deputy who followed a vehicle in Yelm which was registered the boy’s sister.

Lavallie is also charged with theft of a motor vehicle, second-degree burglary, third-degree theft and third-degree malicious mischief.

Green Hill School is a medium and maximum secure facility for older juvenile boys incarcerated for felonies and operated by the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration, under the state Department of Social and Health Services.

It sits on some 45 acres between Interstate 5 and Southwest Pacific Avenue north of Southwest Parkland Street. It currently holds about 182 residents and employes about 250 people.

Queral became its superintendent in the fall of 2007 and about a year ago, was made the superintendent also of Maple Lane School in Grand Mound.

Queral said she couldn’t speak to the specifics about the incident during the active administrative investigation, and said she didn’t know when it would be completed.

Depending on the results, she will probably conduct an internal investigation afterward, she said.

She declined to say how many employees were reassigned because of the escape, only that it is more than one.

The last escape from Green Hill was in early 2003 when two residents were apprehended in the area within less than an hour after climbing over the razor-wired fence.

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Read “Search for Green Hill escapee moves into south Thurston County” from Monday Nov. 8, 2010, here

Read “Green Hill escapee picked up near Yelm” from Tuesday Nov. 30, 2010, here

Laura Lynn Hickey, 24, of Centralia, listens as a judge and attorneys discuss her bail as she is charged with decapitating and hiding her premature infant.

This news story was updated at 12:48 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Prosecutors say a Centralia woman accused of taking a serrated knife to her newborn after she unexpectedly delivered it into a toilet said it was trying to take a breath, she didn’t think it was going to live and she didn’t want it to suffer.

Laura Lynn Hickey, 24, was charged yesterday with first-degree murder following the premature birth last week that authorities say she tried to hide.

Hickey initially said she had a miscarriage, but then admitted to police she cut off its head and put the infant in a Tupperware container under her kitchen sink, according to charging documents.

The incident came to light when she went to Providence Centralia Hospital and staff questioned her account as the examination suggested she was about 21 weeks along in her pregnancy.

Hickey was taken by ambulance to the emergency room about 1 a.m. on March 2 after neighbors heard her call for help from her home in at the Peppertree Motor Inn and RV Park on Alder Street in Centralia. The hospital called police who found the deceased baby and then impounded Hickey’s fifth-wheel trailer home.

Hickey told detectives she didn’t want anyone to find out about the birth, especially her mother, according to charging documents.

Hickey was brought before a judge yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court.

Newly-elected Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer asked for bail of $1 million.

“I will not go into the horrific details in open court,” Meyer said.

He asked the judge to prohibit Hickey from having contact with children, saying the safety issues are obvious.

Police have said Hickey has three children who were taken away from her by the state about a year ago.

Defense attorney Bob Schroeter said he was concerned about a rush to judgement, and opposed the recommendation.

Schroeter told Judge Richard Brosey his client has almost no criminal history. Her poverty makes her eligible for a court appointed attorney, according to Schroeter.

Hickey sat silently during the proceedings in the Chehalis courtroom, answering only with a yes when the judge asked if Laura Lynn Hickey was her correct name.

A red and white striped jail smock hung on her 5-foot 7-inch frame, cinched at the waist with belly chains. Her ankles were shackled as well.

Brosey agreed with the bail request and appointed Chehalis attorney Ken Johnson to represent Hickey. He said she could have contact with children, but only in the presence of someone aware of the current charge against her.

A woman called out “I love you Laura” when it was over, and about a dozen acquaintances and family members exited the courtroom together.

A small contingent of security and sheriff’s deputies stood by as one of the group had protested news reporters being present.

A pair of Morton women distributed pastel nursery-themed ribbons in support of the baby around the courthouse before and after the hearing.

Jennifer Mau is with Guardians of the Children, an organization she says helps with abused and missing kids.

“I researched it,” Mau said. “And at 21 weeks, a baby is fully developed, except for lung development. It could have lived if it had gone to the hospital.”

Police said Hickey named the infant boy Caleb Jacob Hickey, after she decapitated him.

Meyer is handling the prosecution in the case himself.

Outside the courtroom, he told reporters he thinks the charge is supported by the evidence. He indicated he’s not contemplating seeking the death penalty.

The former defense attorney said he didn’t see any evidence suggesting the defendant’s mental capacity was diminished in any way, but added it would be up to her lawyer to ask for any mental health evaluations.

Schroeter – whose role representing Hickey was only for her first court appearance – called it a complex case with many more aspects than could be squeezed into the four pages of allegations presented by the prosecution.

“I think a major concern in this case is whether or not the fetus was stillborn,” Schroeter said.

While statements Hickey made to doctors and police suggest otherwise, there will be questions if she was suffering from shock or even delusions related to post-partum depression, he said.

“This could very well smack of a person being charged for having a miscarriage,” he said. “That’s my concern here.”

Hickey lived alone, although she has relatives who reside at the Peppertree, according to Centralia Police Officer John Panco.

Panco said he didn’t have any information about the father of the child.

She has misdemeanor convictions for theft, vehicle prowl and trespass, according to Prosecutor Meyer.

Hickey reportedly told police she used methamphetamine two days before the incident and had been awake since then.

About two weeks earlier, she told a nurse she didn’t want the child and intended to abort the pregnancy, according to charging documents.

When police asked if she was willing to provide a taped statement, she reportedly stated she had no problem speaking with law enforcement.

Charging documents offer further details from her interview with detectives, such as:

Hickey told them she had been pregnant for awhile, but wasn’t sure how long.

She said she was having severe cramps, an urge to push and also an urge to use the toilet.

That’s when the baby dropped out.

“Hickey stated that she grabbed the newborn out of the toilet and saw that he was trying to take a breath and heard a gurgling sound,” prosecutors wrote.

She held him close to keep him warm but didn’t think he was going to live and felt she needed to do something so he would not suffer.

She got the kitchen knife and used it, she said.

Hickey said she then cleaned up the baby, put him in the Tupperware container and cleaned up the area.

After she screamed for help, one neighbor told her she was calling 911 because of the blood loss. She said not to, but the neighbor ignored her request.

At the hospital, it was the emergency room doctor who began to doubt her initial story. It was Dr. Hayden who examined her, noted the size of the placenta and estimated the age of the fetus at 21 weeks.

Centralia police previously said it was Hickey herself and the pathologist who performed the autopsy who reported how far along the pregnancy was.

Preliminary findings from the autopsy indicated the fetus was born alive and was viable, according to charging documents.

Police described the newborn as fully formed, with the head detached, but the umbilical cord still attached, when they found it.

The final determination from the Lewis County Coroner’s Office on the cause and manner of death won’t be made until tests come back, which they say can take weeks.

The maximum possible penalty for first-degree murder is life in prison.

Hickey’s opportunity to make her plea in the case comes next Thursday.
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Read “Centralia woman accused of decapitating her newborn” from Wednesday March 9, 2011, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Pe Ell man who drove his pickup truck into a house shortly after New Year’s Eve injuring a couple who were in their bed will spend eight months in the Lewis County Jail after a plea agreement was finalized yesterday.

Brian T. Zock apologized to 73-year-old Normand Moreau before Zock was sentenced yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court.

“It was a horrible thing,” Zock said. “It should have never happened, I know better.”

Zock admitted to driving drunk.

Th 26-year-old was initially charged with vehicular assault, but attorneys worked out a deal on lesser charges that came with a long list of penalties.

Judge Richard Brosey called the acts irresponsible and atrocious.

Zock’s Ford pickup broke through a wall at the Moreau’s house on North Third Street in Pe Ell at about 1:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day.

Firefighters found Mary Moreau, 71, knocked out of the bed and onto the floor of the bathroom. Normand Moreau was still on the mattress but pushed up against the wall in a room that was described as looking like a bomb went off in it.

Normand Moreau yesterday told Zock he accepted his apology, but said his wife’s injuries mean she might need surgery and he may lose a kidney.

The couple has more than $70,000 in medical bills and might have to file for bankruptcy, Normand Moreau said.

“I don’t sleep at night, until 3 o’clock, 4 o’clock in the morning,” he said. “We fear for our lives.”

Centralia attorney J.P. Enbody, who represented Zock, told the judge his client realizes he and alcohol don’t mix.

“I think he’s committed to making sure this doesn’t happen again,” Enbody said.

Zock pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and driving under the influence.

Besides the jail time, monetary penalties and restitution, Zock will lose his license for two years, be allowed to drive only with an ignition interlock devise after that and be required to undergo alcohol treatment.

A portion of the sentence was suspended for five years.

Brosey prohibited Zock from consuming alcohol or even going inside a bar or tavern for five years.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher indicated the agreed upon deal was useful as leverage to motivate Zock to avoid drinking and driving.

“He’s got 275 days (in jail) hanging over his head for five years,” Meagher said. “We’ve got him under our thumb for five years.”

It’s Zock’s second DUI conviction and his second felony incident involving alcohol.

He made a so-called Alford plea to first-degree animal cruelty after a July 2006 incident in which he – with two other young men – allegedly got drunk and shot up several cows around Pe Ell and then partially butchered some of them.

Zock’s statement at sentencing in that case noted he had very little memory due to alcohol consumption causing a blackout.

He was taken into custody when the hearing ended yesterday.

Zock’s wife and other family members were present in the Chehalis courtroom.

“He’s had problems,” his father Mike Zock said. “He was doing good … This will sure cure that.”

•••

Read “Vehicle crashes into Pe Ell bedroom overnight; two injured” from Saturday Jan. 1, 2011, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A firearm connected with the August triple-homicide in the Salkum-Onalaska area has turned up, attorneys in the case said today.

“They just found the gun apparently, or what they think is the gun, in Spokane,” Olympia lawyer Rick Cordes said this afternoon.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher told a judge today they found a firearm and they’re doing lab tests on it.

Meagher didn’t offer further details during a brief hearing today or outside the courtroom, except that police found it.

Ryan J. McCarthy, 29, of Redmond, and John Allen Booth Jr., 31, are charged with murder and other crimes in the August 21 shootings that left three people dead and one woman seriously wounded.

Booth was captured in Spokane by U.S. marshals four days after the slayings. He had been staying at the home of a man who likely didn’t know he was being sought for murder, marshals said at the time.

McCarthy’s lawyer, Cordes, said he wasn’t aware of any evidence of more than one gun involved, besides the shotgun belonging to one of the victims, David J. West Sr.

Today’s hearing in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis was scheduled so both parties could update a judge on progress in McCarthy’s case.

Both sides agreed to delay his trial until mid-October.

Meagher said part of the reason for the postponement was to wait for test results on the weapon. Cordes said after the hearing he is also still waiting on reports on lab tests on various pieces of evidence.

McCarthy’s trial is now set for the week of Oct. 10.

Booth’s trial is currently scheduled for the week of May 16.

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

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

Booth’s charges include aggravated murder for the deaths of West Jr. and Williams, making his a potential death penalty case.

Prosecutors have yet to announce a decision on if they will seek the death penalty for Booth, a former Onalaska resident.
•••

Read the most recent previous news story on the case, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Centralia police say a 25-year-old woman they arrested today gave birth to a baby about halfway through her pregnancy and then cut off its head with a knife.

Officers arrested Laura Lynn Hickey, 25, of Centralia, and booked her into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree murder.

Today’s arrest follows a week-long investigation into an incident that began at the Peppertree Motor Inn and RV Park on Alder Street in Centralia.

Neighbors called 911 just before 1 a.m. last Wednesday after hearing Hickey calling for help from her residence, according to police.

She was taken by ambulance to Providence Centralia Hospital where she told doctors she was having a miscarriage, police said. The examination revealed she had given birth, and she said she spontaneously aborted the fetus during the night, according to police.

Centralia police say she admitted giving birth, and emergency room staff immediately called police and emergency responders to check the welfare of a possible fetus at the woman’s home.

Officers found the deceased male baby in a container under the sink.

Hickey lives in a fifth-wheel trailer at the RV park.

Centralia Police Officer John Panco said Hickey had said she was about 21 weeks along in her pregnancy. The pathologist confirmed she was roughly 21 weeks along, Panco said today.

Panco said the preliminary findings from an autopsy indicated the baby was alive at the time of its birth. The examination also indicated it suffered fatal injuries, decapitation, that were intentionally inflicted, according to Panco.

“A knife was used,” he said.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said today he expects to charge Hickey with “at least” first-degree murder.

“The pathologist said it appeared the baby was born alive and was a viable fetus,” Meyer said.

The Lewis County Coroner’s Office said today neither they, nor the forensic pathologist Dr. Emmanuel Lacsina have made a determination on the cause or manner of death.

Chief Deputy Coroner Dawn Harris said the autopsy was conducted last week.

They are awaiting toxicology and microscopic test, procedures routinely done with autopsies, according to Harris. The results could take at least eight weeks, she said.

Panco said Hickey named the boy Caleb Jacob Hickey.

He said she has three children who don’t live with her, as they have been taken into state custody.

Hickey was interviewed at the police station today and then taken to the jail in Chehalis.

Meyer said she is expected to go before a judge tomorrow afternoon.

••

Read “News brief: ‘Remains’ found under sink after apparent miscarriage to be examined by coroner” from Wednesday March 2, 2011 at 11:28 a.m. here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Chehalis police say a man who made the news last night for calling 911 after he broke into a Portland area home to take a shower – and feared the arriving homeowner’s dogs outside the bathroom door – was picked up overnight at Wal-Mart.

Timothy J. Chapek, 24, of Beaverton, Ore., pushed a loaded shopping cart out an emergency exit at Wal-Mart in Chehalis last night and began unloading almost $1,200 of merchandise into a stolen BMW, according to Chehalis police.

Detective Sgt. Rick McNamara said officers called about 12:25 a.m. to the retailer on Northwest Louisiana Avenue found Chapek outside the garden center.

“It was everything,” McNamara said about the stolen goods, listing off items such as stereo speakers, tools, clothing, “lots of clothing.”

Chapek had also allegedly gone behind a counter and tried to get into a cash register, which upgraded his offense from shoplifting to burglary, for going into a place not open to the public, McNamara said.

The “really nice, expensive, new” BMW was found to be stolen from a car dealership in Beaverton, McNamara said.

The sergeant said Chapek had been booked for the incident in Portland, but was released from jail. He is currently in the Lewis County Jail, booked for second-degree burglary and possession of stolen property.

The Oregonian reported last night Chapek and the Portland homeowner both called 911 about 7 p.m. on Monday night; the 24-year-old reportedly confessed what he’d done in and said he feared the homeowner outside the bathroom door might have a gun.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Juan Valentino Vasquez was released from jail yesterday after Lewis County prosecutors asked a judge to drop the charges against the accused drive-by shooter.

Vasquez, also known by his street name “Grover” according to police, was one of four individuals believed to be inside a Chevrolet Blazer from which somebody fired a round in August on Southwest William Street in Chehalis.

Juan Valentino Vasquez

Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes told a judge yesterday afternoon he had insufficient evidence to prove the case.

The Centralia man had been scheduled to go to trial next week in Lewis County Superior Court on charges of drive-by shooting and first-degree assault.

Outside the courtroom yesterday, Hayes declined to elaborate on the details behind the dismissal.

Vasquez is the second original suspect against whom charges have been dropped.

Last fall, similar charges were dismissed against Ruben Alberto Palomares because his wife’s statements against him would be inadmissible since her information came from privileged marital communications.

Centralia defense attorney Don Blair represented both men.

Andrew Morales-Loberg

The individual fingered as the actual shooter by the alleged target in the incident remains at large. A $500,000 warrant was issued last summer for Andrew Morales-Loberg, 19, of Chehalis.

He still hasn’t been found, Hayes said yesterday.

Authorities describe the shooting as related to a debt owed to somebody called “Candy man” and perpetrated by the LVL gang.

A .45 caliber round was found at the scene after the Aug. 7 incident on the 400 block of Southwest William Street. It missed several people standing outside but struck an unoccupied parked vehicle.

Chehalis police at the time described witnesses as reluctant to talk  because of fear of gang retaliation.

LVL stands for Little Valley Locos or Little Valley Lokotes a gang locally made up mostly of individuals who grew up in Centralia when it was particularly active in the summer of 2007.

Chehalis police initially said the occupants of the SUV were Morales-Loberg, Vasquez, 24, Palomares, 25, of Tenino, and his wife, Christina Palomares, formerly Alaniz, 24.

The mother of three remains charged with drive-by shooting, however, she was released from jail in September on an unsecured bond.

Chehalis police said they believed Christina Palomares was the driver. Her trial is still scheduled for the week of April 18.

Drive-by shooting is a class B felony, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Vasquez was jailed only about two months ago after police found him at a trailer home on Windsor Avenue.

A search of the trailer turned up a fully automatic Chinese SKS firearm, described by police as a shortened rifle, and illegal for anyone to possess. It was not believed to be the gun used in August.

Hayes yesterday said the order Judge Richard Brosey signed dismissing the charges against Vasquez were “without prejudice”, meaning they could be filed again at a later time.

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Read background on the case:

• “Mother of three charged in Chehalis drive-by shooting, husband turns self in” from Wednesday Aug. 11, 2010, here
• “Tenino couple’s arraignment for Chehalis drive-by shooting set for today” from Thursday Aug. 12, 2010, here