Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Coroner’s Office has determined 16-year-old Austin King’s death was a homicide.

Austin King

The body of the Morton area teenager was found in July off a logging road a month after he disappeared from his home. It took until mid-August for authorities to confirm, though DNA, it was indeed the teenager.

Austin was reported missing June 24. He was initially classified by the sheriff’s office as a runaway, and two or three weeks later re-labeled endangered-missing.

Chief Deputy Coroner Dawn Harris said today the results of an examination by a forensic anthropologist were reviewed by the pathologist who conducted the autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.

All the necessary reports were back in the coroner’s office last Friday, Harris said. “It is a homicide,” Harris said.

Elected Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson put it this way: “Yes, that’s the way it looks right now,” Wilson said. “There’s an ongoing investigation.”

The coroner’s office is not releasing the cause of death at this time at the request of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The teenager was last seen by his mother Christy Harper at about 12:15 a.m. on June 23 when he said goodnight to her and went off to his detached bedroom outside of their mobile home with two buddies to watch television.

His body was found off a logging road some 10 miles from the family’s home in the Tilton River Mobile Home Park. Austin did not have a car, according to the sheriff’s office.

A memorial service for Austin will be held tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the gym at Morton High School. A potluck will follow, according to Austin’s mother.

•••

To read previous coverage of Austin King’s case, see below:

• “Breaking news: Morton area body confirmed as missing teenager Austin King, sheriff’s office says” from Friday Aug. 20, 2010

• “Park filled with mourners for missing Morton teenager Austin King” from Saturday July 24, 2010

• “News brief: Specialist to help examine body found near Morton” from Thursday July 22, 2010

• “Vigil for Morton teen still on; body found yesterday not identified” from Wednesday July 21, 2010

• “News brief: Body of male found near logging road outside of Morton” from Tuesday July 20, 2010

• “News brief: Sheriff’ office seeks tips to find missing teen” from Thursday July 1, 2010

• “Morton teenager remains missing” from Thursday July 1, 2010

• Also, Roy Stemman, a writer in the United Kingdom, published a story, “Psychic guides searchers to teens body” in his Paranormal Review on July 27, 2010 after interviewing psychic Sonya Grace and Morton resident and search organizer Jennifer Mau, founder of the local chapter of Guardians of the Children.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Murder suspect Ryan McCarthy appeared in court yesterday afternoon with plans a trial date would be set but instead lawyers for both sides agreed to postpone picking a date as they are waiting for results from the state crime lab.

Ryan J. McCarthy

Olympia defense attorney Rick Cordes said his client would not mind giving up his “speedy trial rights” into April as he has yet to see much of the evidence, such as DNA, ballistics and prints.

McCarthy, 28, is charged with John Allen Booth Jr. in August’s triple homicide in the Salkum-Onalaska area. Both men have pleaded not guilty and remain in the Lewis County Jail.

A week ago, prosecutors upgraded the charges against Booth to include two counts of aggravated first-degree murder, potentially putting the death penalty on the table.

Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher indicated outside the courtroom after the brief hearing it’s not likely charges will be increased for McCarthy.

“There’s a chance, but it’s slim,” Meagher said. “I think Mr. McCarthy is appropriately charged at this point.”

Also yesterday afternoon, Meagher agreed to remove the prohibition against McCarthy being in communication with his wife, a witness in the case.

McCarthy’s wife, who lives in Redmond, and his mother were present for the proceedings in Lewis County Superior Court.

The two men are charged with murder and extortion in connection with the gunshot deaths on Aug. 21 of David J. West Sr. 52, his son David J. West Jr., 16, and Tony E. Williams, 50, of Randle, at the West’s Onalaska area home. Booth is also charged with attempted murder of 51-year-old Denise Salts who lived in the home.

Authorities believe the two men’s visit to the house on Wings Way was related to a drug debt collection.
•••

Read some of the previous stories on the case:

• “Death penalty is on the table” in Salkum slayings from Thursday Sept. 30, 2010 here

• “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

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A mother holding her baby and another mother who has lost her only child sat on opposite sides of the courtroom this morning as 29-year-old James W. Taylor faced a judge for the second time this week in connection with last year’s alcohol-poisoning death of Onalaska teenager Nickolas Barnes.

James W. Taylor

“My client is a father of four, has a full time job and had never been in trouble with the law,” Centralia attorney Don Blair told the judge.

Taylor was locked up Tuesday after he was summoned to Lewis County Superior Court more than a year after Nickolas, 15, died after playing drinking games with vodka at an underage party in Taylor’s Onalaska home.

Blair asked Judge James Lawler to lower Taylor’s bail. Deputy Prosecutor Steve Scott opposed the request. Lawler reduced bail to $10,000.

Taylor is charged with second-degree manslaughter, furnishing liquor to minors and failing to summon assistance.

Nickolas Barnes

Prosecutors allege Taylor purchased beer and allowed nine teenagers to drink the night of Sept. 18 last year. Charging documents say after Nickolas and a 16-year-old boy downed more than 11 shots of vodka, Nickolas passed out in the front yard, where his friends removed his clothes and wrote on his body with a black marker.

Prosecutors allege Taylor told the teenagers to “let him sleep it off.”

The Onalaska High School sophomore died in a hospital on Sept. 21. Prosecutors say Nickolas’s blood alcohol level was .32, which is four times the amount which an adult would be illegally intoxicated if driving.

In the audience for Taylor’s arraignment was his wife, holding the child and Nickolas’s mother, uncle and grandmother.

He pleaded not guilty to each of the nine charges.

A trial date has not been set. Taylor was released from jail at mid-day today.
•••

Read “Remembering Nickolas Barnes” from Thursday Sept. 23, 2010 here

James W. Taylor of Onalaska confers with defense attorney Bob Schroeter as lawyers and the judge considered Taylor's bail on second-degree manslaughter, furnishing liquor to minors and failing to summon assistance.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 29-year-old man charged last month in last year’s alcohol-poisoning death of Onalaska teenager Nickolas Barnes appeared before a judge yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.

More than a year after the 15-year-old died after playing drinking games with vodka and other teenagers at James W. Taylor’s residence, Taylor is facing charges of second-degree manslaughter, furnishing liquor to minors and failing to summon assistance.

Prosecutors have said Taylor could face as much as 27 months in prison if convicted as charged.

The brief hearing was for the purpose of setting bail. His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 14.

Deputy Prosecutor Steve Scott asked for $100,000 bail and defense attorney Bob Schroeter asked for $20,000, unsecured, noting the moving company employee came to court on his own volition following a summons.

Judge James Lawler said he was required to consider community safety and whether Taylor is likely to return to court as directed. The judge ordered him held on a $25,000 signature bond, provided it’s co-signed by a property owner.

The judge also ordered Taylor to have no contact with any witnesses in the case, which means he will probably have to move out of the house where he lives with his wife and children, according to Schroeter.

Nickolas’s grandmother Susan Patterson spoke briefly to reporters before she and several other family members met with elected Prosecutor Michael Golden after the court hearing.

Patterson called it a very sad day.

“My grandson is dead because of stupidity, and another young man’s life is fixing to go to hell in a hand basket, because of stupidity,” Patterson said.

Young people need to realize when other kids pass out from drinking, “you get help,” she said.

Nickolas was a sophomore at Onalaska High School and was buried on Sept. 24 of last year, which would have been his 16th birthday.

Centralia defense attorney Don Blair was appointed to represent Taylor.

Taylor was booked into the Lewis County Jail after court yesterday and remains there today.

•••

Read the Sept. 23, 2010 story about Nickolas Barnes and what prosecutors believe happened at the party that night here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The owner of a Centralia muffler shop was sentenced today to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to three times selling methamphetamine to a police informant.

Frank Eugene Willis, 65, answered “Yes, your honor” repeatedly to the many questions Judge James Lawler asked him about the rights he was giving up by pleading guilty.

Eight family members and friends of Willis were behind him in the audience in Lewis County Superior Court.

Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Brad Meagher told the judge part of the reason they brokered the plea deal was Willis has no criminal history and police neglected a 15-day deadline to get judicial approval for the wire intercepts – recordings made with a confidential informant.

“That was an issue for us,” Meagher said.

Among the charges dropped were possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver and possession of stolen property, including two firearms.

Willis, the longtime owner of the Muffler Hut on South Gold Street was arrested Aug. 19 after the Centralia Police Department’s SWAT team and other officers served a search warrant there, following an investigation into trafficking of narcotics and stolen property.

Police seized about 40 firearms – described as mostly a collection of old rifles and some shotguns – and two were confirmed as stolen, according to Willis’s attorney James Dixon. The two attorneys are negotiating about Willis forfeiting most of the guns, Dixon said.

The Olympia attorney had notified the court almost two weeks ago his client was planning to plead guilty and the lawyers were still hammering out a plea agreement.

Yesterday, when Dixon received some of the case records from the prosecutor’s office, he realized the police department had not gotten the required judicial review, he said.

“Once I discovered the problem with the wires, the prosecutor made an offer, which was fair, and we accepted,” Dixon said.

The standard sentencing range for the crimes to which Willis pleaded guilty is 12 to 20 months. Meagher and Dixon agreed on the recommended sentence and the judge concurred.

•••

Read the news story from Thursday Aug. 19, 2010 when police served a search warrant at the Muffler Hut here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Police detained about a half dozen people when they served a search warrant yesterday morning in a Centralia trailer park, including one man who apparently swallowed large amount of methamphetamine and nearly died.

Centralia Police Department detective Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald said when the SWAT team and detectives arrived at the residence off the 1700 block of Harrison Avenue to look for evidence of a forged and counterfeit check operation, a 27-year-old man on the porch refused to give up and fought with the SWAT team, so they used a Taser gun.

The man was taken to the hospital to be checked out and began having convulsions, Fitzgerald said.

At Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, providers concluded he must have ingested drugs, and it was “touch and go for awhile” Fitzgerald said.

“The report we got from the hospital was it was more than anything they’d ever seen before,” he said.

Three individuals were arrested after the 8:30 a.m. visit to the trailer, including Erica D. McCleary, 33, of Centralia, for forgery and identity theft, according to police.

Police found identification and other personal information of numerous victims from the greater Centralia area and other items consistent with a suspected operation, according to Fitzgerald.

“We don’t know the number of victims yet,” Fitzgerald said this morning.

Also arrested was Ronald W. McNeal, 50, of Centralia, for possession of methamphetamine and April L. Busby, 34, of Rochester, for an unrelated outstanding bench warrant, police said. The others were released.

The search followed a lengthy investigation and turned up credit cards, social security numbers and other personal information police suspect was stolen in car prowls and from mailboxes.

“Anytime you get this kind of activity, you can (expect to) link it to a lot of petty crimes,” he said. “Most of the time, those things are related to drugs.”

McCleary and McNeal live at the residence just south of the fire station, and several people receive mail there, he said.

It’s the home of Fred Isaacson, a man known to law enforcement as “Blind Freddie” and yesterday marked the third time Centralia police have served search warrants there in the past year, according to Fitzgerald.

Late last summer, they arrested Isaacson there and in May of this year, police found Robbie Russell hiding inside a sofa in the trailer when his friends has removed some of the upholstery and stapled it back together with the wanted man inside, according to police.
•••

Read yesterday’s news story “News brief: Search at Centralia home turns up forged check operation, police say” for a few more details about yesterday’s raid here.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – The Centralia police officer who fired three shots at a stolen pickup truck after it ran into his patrol car during a pursuit in late July is back on regular duty after a review concluded his actions were within department policy.

Centralia Police Officer Michael Lowrey is shown as he fires at a pickup truck driving away after it struck Lowrey's patrol car.

Centralia Police Department Chief Bob Berg said this week he gave a letter to Officer Michael Lowrey in mid-August saying he concurred with the findings of a review panel.

In a nutshell, according to Berg: “The policy says a police officer has the right to defend themselves or others to apprehend someone committing a felony.”

Lowrey, an 11-year veteran of the department, had been put on modified duty after the incident on July 29 in a north Centralia residential neighborhood.

It happened after a 32-year-old man stole a 1999 Ford F350 from South Gold Street and was chased through town by police officers as well as a pair of men who witnessed the theft. A residential surveillance camera captured the moments on videotape and showed Lowrey’s patrol car facing north on Euclid Way as the truck came south on the same street.

The videotape shows the truck strike the front of the patrol car, back up and then move forward again as though to make a U-turn and strike the patrol car a second time. It shows Lowrey exit his vehicle and take aim with his handgun as the pickup drove away.

The police chief said on Thursday he doesn’t agree the truck was retreating.

“The guy tried to kill him, so he shot at him,” Berg said. “He thought he was gonna ram him again, or (ram) Officer Croy’s (nearby patrol car).”

Lowrey was on medical leave for five days for a minor injury to his head.

Joshua A. Fitchhorn, 32, of SeaTac, was sentenced to almost five years in prison in mid-September, admitting to attempting to elude, hit and run, vehicle theft and third-degree assault in a plea deal. The last charge was lowered from second-degree assault, according to the deputy prosecutor who handled Fitchhorn’s case, because it looked in the video tape as though the brakes on the truck locked up and Fitchhorn was trying not to hit the patrol car.

Berg said he doesn’t place much value on what a deputy prosecutor thinks happened.

The review board selected by the chief consisted of three command-level officers – two from an outside his agency. Washington State Patrol Lt. Ron Rupke, Chehalis Police Department Deputy Chief Randy Kaut and Centralia Police Department Cmdr. Dave Ross met on Aug. 17 to look over officers’ reports and department policies. They also interviewed the officers involved, according to Berg. Their conclusion, Berg read from their memo:

“It is the board’s view this use of force was justified and is within the Centralia Police Department’s policies and procedures.”

The chief’s letter to Lowrey on Aug. 19 released him from modified duty, noted he was required to get re-qualified at the shooting range and let him know counseling was available should he desire.

The firing of guns in the line of duty by Centralia police officers is relatively rare.

The last time a Centralia officer had shot at a suspect was in January during a robbery at the TwinStar Credit Union. Officer Neil Hoium wounded the suspect in that case.

Berg has said he could recall four such incidents in the past 30 years, including one fatal shooting of a robbery suspect in the 1970s.

While the suspect was not hit by a bullet in July’s shooting, he narrowly escaped being struck, according to the chief and others who have seen the damage from the two rounds Lowrey fired.

One traveled through the rear passenger window of the truck, through the passenger headrest and out the lower driver’s side of the windshield. The other bullet entered the driver’s side door just about at ear level.

Chief Berg on Thursday described a simultaneous inquiry that followed the July 29 shooting.

In early August, Berg sent an email to Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden requesting his opinion about any potential criminal charges against Lowrey, along with reports from Centralia police on the events.

The following day, Golden responded, according to Berg. The chief read the response aloud on Thursday; he hasn’t yet released any of the documents involved.

“From the information we got, the suspect intentionally rammed the patrol car,” Berg said Golden wrote.

Officer Lowrey would have a valid defense as to the use of force by a peace officer under state law, and the circumstances do not support any criminal charge, Golden concluded, according to the chief.

•••

Watch the uncut video posted by kirotv.com showing the truck striking the front of the patrol car and the officer getting out and firing at the truck.