Lewis County Sirens.com

Tacoma resident Rebecca J. Coleman consults with a defense attorney in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 53-year-old mother and grandmother was brought before a judge today in Chehalis in a case that began with a local detective’s undercover operation purchase of a stolen handgun and led to the seizure of 38 firearms, thousands of rounds of assorted ammunition and drugs in Tacoma.

Four improvised explosive devices also located at the residence drew ordinance disposal technicians consisting of members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and the Washington State Patrol, according to authorities.

Rebecca J. Coleman, 53, of Tacoma, was charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with numerous offenses related to the case.

Coleman was arrested on Tuesday, the day the search warrant was served at her home, and a judge yesterday allowed local prosecutors to hold her uncharged while the investigation continued.

According to charging documents, Lewis County sheriff’s detective Duke Adkisson learned last month from an unnamed individual that he or she could purchase guns and methamphetamine from Coleman, and he began investigating Coleman for trafficking in stolen firearms.

The relatively new local Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team issued a news release today describing how its members followed up on a tip from a Lewis County resident, and how some of the firearms Coleman allegedly sold were being transported back to Lewis County.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Stacy Brown distributed the press release on behalf of JNET’s leaders.

Sheriff Rob Snaza in a printed statement explained why local detectives made an arrest in another jurisdiction.

“Criminals don’t have physical boundaries, they travel in and out of our county,” Snaza stated. “Even though the arrest and seizure occurred in Pierce County, we stopped the flow of criminal activity from coming into our county.”

Snaza shares overseeing JNET with Centralia Police Chief Carl Nielsen and Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer as each agency has law enforcement officers on the team. Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer’s name is also on JNET”s letterhead.

Charging documents state that sometime between Sept. 30 and this past Monday, detective Adkisson gave money to an informant to go buy one of Coleman’s guns and to tell Coleman that he or she was a convicted felon and not allowed to possess a firearm.

During the transaction, Coleman allegedly implied some of her firearms could be stolen firearms, the documents state.

The gun brought back to Adkisson did turn out to have been stolen last December.

According to JNET and the court documents, also seized from Coleman’s residence was $1,258 cash, two baggies of suspected methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, mortars, tank simulators and other items consistent with explosives.

The home is located in the south end of Tacoma at the 2400 block of 155th Street Court East.

The explosives were taken off site by the technicians to be detonated, according to Chief Brown’s summary.

Coleman’s bail was set yesterday at $150,000.

Defense attorney Joely O’Rourke told the judge Coleman has only one felony conviction – possession of a controlled substance from last year – and it was a deferred prosecution with a plan for her to withdraw her plea shortly.

Coleman was charged today with four felonies in Lewis County Superior Court.

They are: first-degree trafficking in stolen property, delivery of a firearm to an ineligible person, possession of a stolen firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm in the second-degree and possession of methamphetamine.

She qualified for a court-appointed attorney as she is currently unemployed and receives social security disability payments, according to O’Rourke.

Her arraignment is scheduled for next Thursday.

Property seized from Tacoma residence is displayed. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office

Gary Leon Ridgway’s mugshot is among the materials inside three unsolved case files at the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Finally, more than a decade after his convictions for the murders of dozens of women in King County, serial killer Gary Ridgway was interviewed about three homicide victims whose bodies turned up along the Interstate 5 corridor in Lewis County.

Longtime Lewis County Sheriff’s Office detective Bruce Kimsey isn’t writing him off as a viable suspect, but Ridgway didn’t confess.

“When I asked him an hour’s worth of questions on the victims, he denied it and said, why would I take someone to Lewis County,” Kimsey said. “I’m not saying I believe him; I’m just saying what he said.”

Kimsey traveled to the U.S. Penitentiary in Florence, Colorado at the end of September. He was joined by Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer and Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead for the two-day visit.

Chief Criminal Deputy Bruce Kimsey

They were only allowed to bring a pen and paper into the room. The serial killer had handcuffs chained to his waist. On the first day he wore leg irons as well, Meyer said.

“We spent several hours both days, four to six hours each day,” Meyer said. “There wasn’t a clock in the room, I didn’t have my watch.”

Meyer said they’ve been trying for several years to meet with Ridgway, and the answer before from his attorney had alway been no. When he got a yes answer, they jumped at the opportunity right away, he said.

The victimology in the three local cases is such that Ridgway has been a suspect, alluding to patterns in who Ridgway targeted.

Both Kimsey and Meyer took note of how short the infamous killer was.

“I expected him to be more physically imposing,” Meyer said. “He’s kind of meek, mild-mannered. He doesn’t have, ‘this guy’s gonna attack me’ vibe.”

It’s easy to see how someone would get into a truck with him, Meyer said.

The Auburn resident was convicted of murdering 49 women, but has admitted to killing 80, Meyer said. He was arrested in December 2001, at age 52.

There’s no physical evidence tying him to the Lewis County cases, and Ridgway didn’t have any particular facts about the three, the prosecutor said.

And at one point, he suggested he wouldn’t mind taking credit to “get his numbers up.”

“He understands what he’s done, and I think he likes the notoriety,” Meyer said. “He told us, there’s more written about me than Jack the Ripper.”

Much of their time was spent building rapport, talking about his work, marriage and hobbies and then after that, learning details about the crimes he committed in King County.

Ridgway worked at Kenworth for 30 years. He was married three times.

He became known as the Green River Killer, because that’s where some of the first bodies were discovered, Kimsey said.

That’s one of the similarities between the women he’s admitted to killing, and the women whose bodies were discovered locally starting in 1984, according to the detective.

Two of the bodies in Lewis County were found near waterways, he said. Two of the three had ties to prostitution, like Ridgway’s victims, according to Kimsey. And some of the known Green River victims went missing from the same area as did the women found in Lewis County.

What they do know for sure, is the three women were murdered and their bodies were discovered in Lewis County, Meyer said.

On August 12, 1984, Monica Anderson, 32, of Tacoma, was found by a fisherman in the Chehalis River west of Centralia below the Galvin Road bridge. She was last seen June 25 in Tacoma, getting into a brown van on Commerce Way. She died of asphyxiation, Kimsey said.

On May 5 1985, Susan L. Krueger, 42, was found along Lacamas Creek at Drews Prairie Road near Interstate 5 west of Toledo. She was last seen March 11 after she was released from the Pierce County Jail. She died of  blows to the head.

On August 5, 1991, Mignon S. Hensley, 21, was found in a brushy area about a mile east of Interstate 5 along U.S. Highway 12. She was last seen June 19 leaving a Deja Vu strip club in Federal Way. She was about eight months pregnant at the time. She died from homicidal violence.

Kimsey, who was promoted to chief criminal deputy when newly elected Sheriff Rob Snaza took office in January has studied the three case files.

“I would say a reasonable person would say there was sexual assault, or sexual motivation on these crimes,” Kimsey said of the evidence.

Ridgeway indicated to his interviewers he had nothing to do with the three deaths and that it wouldn’t make sense for him dump a body in Lewis County.

Part of Ridgway’s crimes involved returning to the dump sites to visit the bodies, and engage them sexually again, according to Kimsey.

He knew King County like the back of his hand, and said, he wouldn’t go to Lewis County and screw it up, Meyer said.

But, Ridgway did take some of his victims from King County all the way to Oregon, Kimsey said. He told his three interviewers he took bones down there after digging them up, to get the FBI involved and throw off the Green River Task Force.

They three men spent some of their time orienting Ridgway to the boundaries of Lewis County, and learned he’d been to Yard Birds and the the Centralia Outlets.

When the conversation turned to Ridgway’s time in the Navy, overseas, Ridgway’s comment was, “that would open up a can of worms,” Meyer said. A person could speculate about what that means, he said.

“Ridgway will say every one of his victims, he strangled,” Kimsey said.

The takeaway for Kimsey, is what he learned about what Ridgway did to his victims, for example, details of how he left the bodies, Kimsey said.

“I’m going to go back and look again at our cases to see if they match up, if there’s some matchup,” he said.

Meyer said he left feeling like Ridgway would readily admit if he’d killed the women, but then wonders, if he says there’s 80 victims, does he remember every one?

Kimsey has the same question.

“The problem, is he doesn’t remember names and faces,” Kimsey said. “He said he lost count after like two dozen.”

The detective asked one of the most infamous serial killers ever why he did what he did.

“He told us he felt a sense of power over women, and why he didn’t like these women,” Kimsey said. “He saw prostitutes as basically trash.”

He knew the women he victimized weren’t likely to be reported missing, at least not right away, and, he didn’t have to pay them, Kimsey said.

It was almost like a game, where he could take out his negative energy, Kimsey said.

“The things that he’s saying, no normal person could understand,” Kimsey said. “It’s pure evil and horrific, the things he’s done to women.”

Kimsey, Meyer and Halstead also spoke with Ridgway about the unsolved homicides of two other women during the same time period. Kimsey said he doesn’t think he was involved in their deaths.

Roberta D. Strasbaugh, 18, was found October 18, 1985 on the north side of Lincoln Creek Road at its junction with Manner’s Road, about three weeks after her truck ran out of gas along Old Highway 99.

Diana Robertson’s body was found in 1986, about three miles south of Elbe.

It’s obvious there’s been more than one serial killer operating in the region, Kimsey said.

One of them, Robert L. Yates is also on Kimsey’s list to talk with, although he’s a serial killer with limited activity in Western Washington, and Kimsey said he believes his victims were shot with a firearm.

The goal is to get answers, for families who don’t know what happened to their loved ones, according to Meyer.

For Kimsey, continuing to work the cases is a duty owed to their families. He’ll keep going through the files, trying to match some evidence to a suspect, he said.

Ridgway is not eliminated as a suspect, and certainly not based on his denials, according to the detective.

“I’m not convinced he has nothing to do with these, I’m not convinced he does,” Kimsey said. “I’m going to take the information and keep working these cases.” “Maybe the technology one day will be there.”

Lavon S. Sellers and his lawyer Jacob Clark face the judge for Sellers’ sentencing hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Texas man who engaged in an online sexual relationship with a Lewis County boy who initially said he was 16 will be off to prison to serve a five and a half year sentence.

Lavon S. Sellers and the teen met on a website called “Hot or Not” in the summer of 2014 and eventually the boy confessed he was only 14 years old, according to lawyers handling the case.

There’s no indication the two met, but they made a plan where Sellers would come to Washington and they would spend time in Seattle together, according to court documents and the boy’s mother.

“When Mr. Sellers found out he was 14, that’s when things should have stopped, and it didn’t,” defense attorney Jacob Clark said. “Mr. Sellers and this teen believed they loved each other.”

The boy attempted suicide after the relationship came to light and then he was caught Skyping with Sellers after being ordered by his father not to.

Sellers, now 32, was brought to the Lewis County at the beginning of last month and held on $100,000 bail.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of luring four weeks ago and yesterday was back in Lewis County Superior Court.

Under the plea deal, both sides agreed to recommend to the judge he get 66 months in prison.

“I know Mr. Sellers never meant to hurt anyone by these actions,” Clark told the judge. “He’s been a law abiding citizen all his life.”

The boy’s mother told the judge her son is about two years behind his peers, and has always been vulnerable and trusting. And now, the mother said, he’s a young boy with no spirit, no excitement for life, no self-esteem and remains confused by what Sellers taught him.

Lewis County Sirens.com is not naming the mother, to avoid identifying the victim.

Judge Nelson Hunt agreed with the sentence recommended by Clark and Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead.

“Well, it wasn’t the intention, but it did, it did hurt a whole lot of people,” Hunt said.

Sellers was ordered to have no contact with the boy, and to pay about $3,200 in fines and fees including the extradition costs.

Outside the courtroom, Clark said the people and businesses who make the sort of online applications where the two communicated are immune to prosecution, even though they are made accessible to both adults and children.

“That is the travesty,” Clark said.
•••

For background, read “Lewis County Sheriff’s Office arrests man in Dallas for long-distance sexploitation of local teen” from Sunday September 6, 2015, here

Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza, left, and his brother Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza. / Courtesy photo by Jennie Snaza

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza and his twin sheriff brother have the shocking, incredible, but true honor of being featured among the “eye-popping oddities” of a new book.

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is more than an iconic Sunday newspaper comic feature, it’s museums, traveling shows, videos and books.

Each year, Ripleys puts out puts out a new edition of strange stories, fun facts, oddities, curiosities, and this year, the Snazas are among them.

Sheriff Snaza, who learned of his inclusion from a newspaper reporter, said he thinks it’s pretty cool.

The new edition

“I just think it’s an honor, I’m excited about it,” he said yesterday. “It’s something to show your kids, your grandkids.”

The entry can be found on page 20, of the 256-page volume overflowing with “mind-blowing stories” of animals, feats, art, pop culture, the human body, and more, according to the publisher.

“In November 2014, twin brothers Rob and John Snaza were elected sheriffs in neighboring southwest Washington counties,” the publicist writes.”Voters elected Rob to become sheriff of Lewis County while John was re-elected sheriff of Thurston County.”

Their recognition is tucked into the edition that includes among its collection of thousands of all-new stories, the lowdown on a goldfish that underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor and a 40-inch-long piece of (alleged) fossilized dinosaur poop, found in Washington State, that sold for $8,500 in 2014.

The book, titled “Eye-Popping Oddities” came out on Sept. 8 and is available through all major book sellers, according to its publicist.

Robert L. Ripley’s first Believe It or Not! books, collections of his newspaper cartoon drawings, appeared in 1929 and 1931.

Sheriff Rob Snaza, of Napavine, who turned 50 earlier this year, ran as a Republican last fall and took 77 percent of the vote.

He said he hadn’t yet had a chance to talk with his brother, to find out if he knew how they caught they attention of the book’s authors.

He said he’s pretty sure it’s probably a first. He’s heard of fathers and sons, such as former Lewis County Sheriff Bill Wiester Sr. whose son became Grant County sheriff, he said, but not twin brothers.

Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza, ran as an Independent in 2010, and last November won another four-year term. He also turned 50 this year.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office continues to look for a Centralia mother of three who went missing on Saturday, with plans to review surveillance videos from businesses as well as search the Cowlitz River and its banks.

The sheriff’s office said a makeup bag identified as belonging to Elizabeth A. Pham was turned in to the Castle Rock Police Department on Sunday by a fisherman who located it downstream from where Pham was last seen.

Elizabeth A. Pham

Also, a witness reported seeing a woman matching her description sitting beneath the overpass at exit 59 staring into the Cowlitz River, according to the sheriff’s office.

The 33-year-old woman’s car was found on southbound Interstate 5 near Vader’s exit 59, unlocked with the keys in it by a trooper on Saturday evening.

“At this time, we do not know what happened to Elizabeth; there are a lot of possibilities that need to be examined,” Chief Deputy Bruce Kimsey stated in a news release around noon today. “Elizabeth may have gotten a ride out of the area, and be gone on her own volition, we just don’t know at this time.”

Chief Deputy Stacy Brown indicated today Pham’s family says she may be suffering from postpartum depression.

They are still asking for anyone who has seen her, or has information, to call them.

Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza said he has four detectives assigned to the case, and they have set aside everything else.

“My hope is, it’s just a young female who wanted to get away for awhile,” Snaza said.

Detectives believe Pham left her vehicle along the freeway on Saturday morning and walked to Gee Cees truck stop, where she tried to get a ride with a truck driver who was headed to Redding, California. A Gee Cee’s employee stopped Pham from getting into the truck and called a taxi for her, according to Brown.

Detectives have learned Pham asked the taxi driver to take her to Olympia, but they stopped by her vehicle to get some personal items and then she was dropped off at the Shell station off exit 59, according to Brown.

The taxi driver described her behavior as unusual and confused.

She went into the store and stayed for about 20 minutes without buying anything, and then witnesses say she walked over to the nearby Beasley’s Restaurant and placed an order, according to Brown.

It was after that someone saw the woman under the overpass, according to Brown.

Pham was reported missing at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

When last seen, she was wearing purple pajama bottoms, a pinkish red shirt and socks but no shoes. Pham is described as 5-feet 6-inches tall and weighing 122 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact sheriff’s detective Jeremy Almond at 360-748-9286 or jeremy.almond@lewiscountywa.gov

•••

For background, read “News brief: Missing woman’s car found abandoned near Vader” from Monday October 12, 2015, here

•••

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The caregiver of a bedridden Centralia woman is accused of taking her client’s credit card and running up more than $10,000 in purchases and cash advances before getting caught, returning the card and apologizing.

Tamara A. Hagerman, 44, of Pe Ell, told a detective when she gave the card back, she told the woman and the woman’s husband she would pay the money back, according to court papers.

They called police the following day.

Hagerman is charged in Lewis County Superior Court with first-degree theft as well as three counts of unlawful factoring of credit card or payment card transactions.

She was summonsed to appear before a judge yesterday afternoon and signed a $5,000 unsecured appearance bond. Her arraignment is set for next Thursday.

According to charging documents, Hagerman began working for Debra Zillmer in July of last year, and helped with the bills and writing out checks because of Zillmer’s difficulty with fine motor skills.

The Zillmers became aware of the situation when an employee from the Doty store called and asked if someone had permission to use the card on July 1; Hagerman had reportedly told her son to use the blue card from her purse and get her a few things, the documents relate.

Centralia police detective Patty Finch found more than $5,500 in unauthorized charges and more than $4,700 in cash advances over a five month period, according to the charging documents.

Among the things Hagerman allegedly told detectives was she initially took the card, without permission, because she didn’t have enough gas to get home, but after a few days, put it back because she felt bad taking it.

She allegedly said she took it again, because her daughter needed groceries.

Finch stated in her report Hagerman used the card more than 200 times between February and July. Hagerman said she used it for gas, groceries and clothing.

“She said she didn’t use if (sp) often at first, but began using it more and more the longer she had it,” Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher wrote in charging documents.

Among the spending noted in the allegations were to pay her cell phone bill, to put money on a jail inmate’s phone, to eat fast food, order Netflix and rent movies.

The Zillmers told Centralia police Hagerman was a former caregiver when they reported the theft on July 3. Bruce Zillmer also advised the officer he’d contacted their bank who would send paperwork to sign about the unauthorized charges.

When asked by detective Finch if she had had the means to repay the couple, “Tamara said that her mother offered to pay the money back,” Meagher wrote.

The court yesterday ordered Hagerman to get finger printed and photographed at the Lewis County Jail by 5 p.m. next Wednesday.

Reached by phone, Hagerman declined to comment. She is represented by Centralia lawyer David Brown.

Christopher C. Tortorici is brought before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Chehalis couple was arrested yesterday following a search at their home that turned up drugs and suspected items for dealing them.

Thirty-five-year-old Dawn M. Morningstar-Barnett allegedly told detectives it was mostly her, but they had been selling heroin for several months, to about 10 people a day, according to court papers.

The search warrant was served at their shared residence at the 700 block of Southwest Cascade Avenue.

Numerous items were found in her boyfriend’s pockets, as the two said they thought the visit was from her community corrections officer who could not search him, so he gathered up everything, the documents state.

Christopher C. Tortorici, 36, had $160 in his pockets, along with two small plastic ziplock bags containing a brown powdery substance, a bindle with suspected methamphetamine, a pipe, syringes, two methadone pills, and a prescription bottle containing Suboxone strips and buprenorphine hydrochloride, according to his charging documents.

The documents relate that twice since Aug. 24, Morningstar-Barnett was the target of so-called controlled buys from police informants.

Both were charged in Lewis County Superior Court today with possession of heroin with intent to deliver and delivery of heroin. Morningstar-Barnett was charged with an additional count of delivery.

Judge Nelson Hunt, noting Tortorici was a graduate of drug court, set his bail at $100,000.

Hunt granted a temporary no-bail hold for Morningstar-Barnett, after prosecutors said she wasn’t able to leave the jail to come to court because she was having withdrawal.