Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – New Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod continued his first official week on the job completing unfinished business of ex-Coroner Terry Wilson.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod

On Monday, McLeod forwarded a change to the 1998 death certificate of Toledo resident Ronda Reynolds from suicide to undetermined, fulfilling a campaign promise to adhere to a judge’s 2009 order in the case.

And McLeod this week finished filling out the death certificate for 16-year-old Austin King of Morton. The teenager’s body was found in July, a month after he mysteriously vanished.

The coroner’s office had concluded by early October the manner of the Austin’s death was homicide, but refused to reveal the cause determined by the autopsy and a forensic specialist, at the request of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Even after prosecutors charged a suspect in November and alleged in court documents the teen was found with a cracked skull, the space on his death certificate for “cause” remained blank.

The newly elected community college instructor from Chehalis – following Wilson’s 28-year tenure – has vowed to make the workings of the office more transparent.

McLeod said yesterday when stepped into the elected office Jan. 1, Austin’s death certificate was already signed by Wilson and the cause of death read blunt injury to the head.

McLeod filled in the answer to “how it occurred” with the words “struck in the head by an assailant.”

McLeod said the decision on cause would have been made by the pathologist, but he is “just jumping into this at the tail end.” He didn’t have readily available the date of death listed on the certificate.

The new coroner said the reason for revealing the contents of the document now was because he met this week with Senior Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher.

“He told me all the information is out publicly,” McLeod said. “And there’s no longer any details being withheld from the public.”

The coroner’s office has not yet released Austin’s remains to his family, because the suspect’s attorney might want to engage an expert to examine them, according to the coroner’s office and the prosecutor’s office.

A June trial is scheduled for an acquaintance of the teenager, Jack Arnold Silverthorne, 20, of Renton, who is charged with first-degree murder and remains held on $2 million bail.

McLeod said the transition from old coroner to new has been very smooth and Wilson has been extremely helpful.

He said he met with Wilson several times and was given a key to the office not long after the November election.

“I’ve had authorization to go out on calls pretty much since the election,” McLeod said, noting he even attended autopsies before Jan. 1.

“I’m hitting the floor running,” he said.

He said he intends, at this point, to retain Dawn Harris as chief deputy coroner. Harris was promoted to the position in early August after Wilson’s longtime chief deputy was let go following an arrest for driving under the influence of prescription medications.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Police officers surrounded a Centralia area trailer home last night and then arrested an individual being sought since an August drive-by shooting in Chehalis.

Juan Valentino Vasquez

Juan Valentino Vasquez, also known by his street name “Grover”, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree assault.

Vasquez is one of two outstanding suspects from an August 7 incident on Southwest William Street in which somebody fired a round from a red Chevrolet Blazer that missed several people standing outside but struck an unoccupied parked vehicle.

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

A Tenino couple was arrested soon after, believed to be two of the four individuals in the vehicle.

Centralia police during a traffic stop last night gained information on Vasquez’s whereabouts and were joined by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies and a Chehalis detective in the trailer park on Windsor Avenue, according to police.

Detectives were able to talk Vasquez out of the trailer by phone and he was taken into custody without incident, according to Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer.

Chehalis police said Vasquez had been staying in the 19-year-old Centralia woman’s home about a week.

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

Police are still looking for the fourth individual, Andrew Morales Loberg of Chehalis

More coming

Read background on the case here

Robert John Maddaus Jr., left, sits with his lawyer Richard Woodrow in Thurston County Superior Court as attorneys and the judge discuss dismissing a pool of potential jurors.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – The murder trial for the man who just last week was convicted in Lewis County in connection with having pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin when he captured along with Robbie Russell was postponed yesterday because of misconduct by two of the potential jurors.

Robert John Maddaus Jr., 41, is charged in the death of a man found handcuffed and shot to death on an Olympia street in November of 2009.

A pair of former state Department of Corrections employees were reportedly heard by other jurors from 20 feet away discussing what they think they know about Maddaus’s past.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy said the words “derogatory” and “three strikes” were used and the conversation tainted the jury pool.

Attorneys were in the process this week of selecting a panel of jurors from a pool of some 80 individuals, a larger than usual number because the trial is expected to take three weeks.

Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau suggested they start over this coming Monday with a new set of potential jurors.

Judge Pomeroy agreed.

Before the jury pool was dismissed, but while they were out of the courtroom, Maddaus told the judge he didn’t want to continue with his lawyer Richard Woodrow.

“I’d like to fire my counsel, I can’t afford him,” Maddaus said.

The defendant and his attorney had returned from a break to discuss privately how to proceed given the news the case would last a week longer than expected.

Pomeroy said she wouldn’t allow it.

As Maddaus began conversing about his frustrations, jail guards replaced his handcuffs and moved him away from his lawyer into the jury box.

When Judge Pomeroy concluded yesterday’s session by telling the two lawyers to return on Monday, Woodrow said he would be present, but he wouldn’t be very happy about it.

“The last I heard, Mr. Maddaus didn’t want me as his attorney,” Woodrow said. “And I’m not gonna work for free.”

The judge and the two attorneys were set to return to court this morning to resolve the issue.

Maddaus is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Shaun A. Peterson as well as several related charges including four counts of witness tampering.

Bruneau said after the proceedings it’s not a third strike case.

•••
This news story was updated Wednesday Jan. 12, 2011 to correct the spelling of Shaun A. Peterson’s name.
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Read “Maddaus jury pool dismissed, trial halted” from The Olympian today Jan. 6, 2011

Read last week’s story from Lewis County Superior Court, “Man found with pounds of drugs in Chehalis pleads guilty to simple possession“

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

No injuries were reported but four people were displaced when a fire broke out early this morning in Rochester.

Firefighters called about 3:25 a.m. to the home on the 13,000 block of Southwest 188th Avenue found a garage fully engulfed in flames, a travel trailer destroyed and fire heading into the attic of the house.

A jet of flames was shooting about 100 feet into the air from two large presumed home-heating propane tanks which were venting, West Thurston Regional Fire Authority Chief Robert Scott said this morning.

The occupants were already out of the home and at the neighbor’s when he arrived, Scott said.

West Thurston firefighters joined by crews from Oakville, Tenino and McLane/Black Lake had the blaze under control within 25 minutes, according to Scott.

Firefighters were on the scene until about 7:30 this morning, and investigators will likely be there a few more hours, Scott said.

Only the upper part of the single-story home was burned, but the house sustained substantial smoke damage, Scott said.

The chief said he believed one of the four people was living in the 25-foot travel trailer.

“It appears the fire may have started in the trailer, but that’s not for sure,” Scott said.

The fire department made a referral to the Red Cross for assistance to the residents, he said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 26-year-old who reportedly drove his pickup truck into a Pe Ell house injuring a couple who were in their bed was charged yesterday with vehicular assault.

Brian T. Zock, of Pe Ell, was arrested Saturday morning after the collision and bailed out of jail before the weekend ended.

Zock appeared yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court with a large cut along his nose.

Judge Richard Brosey maintained bail at $10,000 and ordered Zock to refrain from consuming “any alcoholic beverages period, I don’t care in whatever setting.”

Troopers are blaming driving under the influence.

Aid and law enforcement were called about 1:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day to the home on North Third Street.

According to responders and charging documents, Zock’s Ford pickup broke through a wall and entered the bedroom.

Mary Moreau, 71, was knocked out of the bed and onto the floor of the bathroom, according to Assistant Fire Chief Mike Davis. Norman D. Moreau, 73, was still on the mattress but pushed up against the wall and appeared to have broken ribs, charging documents say.

He was flown to to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with internal injures, according to the Washington State Patrol. She was initially taken to  Providence Centralia Hospital with scrapes and less serious injuries, but was transferred.

The couple were both listed in satisfactory condition yesterday morning at Harborview.

Charging documents say Zock was slumped behind the steering wheel when law enforcement arrived. He was taken by troopers to the hospital where blood was drawn, as he refused to perform field sobriety tests, according to charging documents.

The truck was totaled.

Zock has a DUI from 2006 and a conviction for negligent driving in 2005. He has only one felony, according to Lewis County prosecutors.

Zock made a so-called Alford plea to seven counts of 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.

His opportunity to make his plea on the vehicular assault charge will come on Jan. 13. The maximum penalty for the offense is 10 years in prison.
•••

Read “Vehicle crashes into Pe Ell bedroom overnight; two injured” from Saturday Jan. 1, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The new Lewis County coroner forwarded paperwork yesterday to change Ronda Reynolds’ death certificate from suicide to undetermined.

Ronda Reynolds

Coroner Warren McLeod said he is simply obeying what he believes to be a legitimate order of the court.

The case of the former state trooper who was found with a bullet in her head in her Toledo home in 1998 became the subject of a civil trial a year ago after which a panel of citizens concluded Coroner Terry Wilson’s determination Reynolds’ died at her own hands was arbitrary, capricious and incorrect. Thurston County Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks ordered Wilson to change the manner of death, but Wilson instead appealed the order.

The affidavit of correction was faxed off yesterday to the county health department who will send it to the state Department of Health, McLeod said this morning.

McLeod, the county’s first new coroner in 28 years, said he reviewed the statute allowing the judicial review and decided to make the change, something he made known he would do if elected.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod

Next is a complete case review, McLeod said, “… to see if anything would give me the opinion to change it from undetermined to anything else.”

He said a coroner’s inquest is “not off the table.”

The marriage of less than a year between 33-year-old Reynolds and her husband, Toledo Elementary School Principal Ron Reynolds, was ending when he called 911 early on the morning of Dec. 16, 1998 to say his wife committed suicide.

The case was closed by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office as suicide despite protests by the lead detective, within a week after the attorney for Ron Reynolds threatened to file a lawsuit if they didn’t cease the investigation.

Coroner Wilson changed his determination three times in the following years as the sheriff’s office case was reopened and then closed again.

Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield has said a change in the death certificate is not something which would cause him to reopen the case.