Lewis County Sirens.com

Updated at 9:43 a.m. and 11:06 a.m. and 11:43 a.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 58-year-old man was struck and killed by a train in Centralia overnight.

Centralia police say witnesses told them he was standing on the tracks when he was hit by a northbound freight train.

It happened about 12:30 a.m. in the area near Chestnut Street and South Tower Avenue, where there are no pedestrian crossings, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Sgt. Stacy Denham said officers spoke to the train’s engineer and conductor and learned the man turned and looked at the train before impact. He didn’t move after repeated blasting of the train’s horn, according to police.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod says he has concluded it was an accident.

The victim, Michael T. Patton, lives in rural Chehalis, according to McLeod.

Police detective Rick Hughes said Patton had an unopened pack of cigarettes and an unscratched lottery ticket on him. He appears to have had some mental issues – specifically what, Hughes said he did not know – that may have caused him not to react quickly.

Hughes said he is not sure why Patton was in Centralia so late at night.

BNSF spokesperson Gus Melonas said it is the second fatality on train tracks in Washington this year. The tracks were shut down for two hours.

“We can’t encourage the public enough to be aware that trains move on any track, at any time, in any direction,” Melonas said.

The stretch of tracks through Centralia is the busiest route in the state, with an average of 60 trains each day, according to Melonas.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer has been sick, spending 13 days in the hospital during four separate stays since October.

He was in the office today and says he anticipates being back full time next week.

Meyer, 41, said only that he has had “intestinal issues.”

He said he has not been in the office on a daily basis, but hasn’t stopped working.

“We’ve had manager’s meetings in my hospital room and they would come over to my house,” he said.

And he’s had his iPad with him, he said today.

The elected prosecutor is just now starting the third year of a four-year term. Unlike some previous prosecutors, Meyer fairly regularly handles criminal cases himself.

He is prosecuting Ricky Riffe, the former Lewis County resident brought back here from his home in Alaska this summer to face murder, kidnapping and robbery charges in the 1985 double slaying of Ed and Wilhelmina Maurin, an elderly Ethel couple. Riffe’s trial is scheduled for May.

Meyer said he had an infection in October and surgery last month.

He’s working his way back to eating solid foods. His illness has caused him to drop 85 pounds, he said.

“I have to get my strength back,” he said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

JANUARY

The year 2012 began with a 49-year-old Rochester woman being treated for serious injuries following a New Year’s Eve wreck on Brooklyn Road southwest of Oakville that fatally injured three of her companions.

Colleen L. Stuart was in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle while deputies investigated the single-vehicle collision that killed her boyfriend Gregory D. Martin, 52, of Rochester, as well as Travis W. Bennett, 26, and Jessica L. Brick, 22, both of Centralia.

Stuart died less than 11 months later after her truck ran into off the road into a fence on Old Highway 99 near Tenino.

FEBRUARY

An early morning fire on Valentines Day ravaged the Dr. Matz building in downtown Centralia displacing the residents of 12 upstairs apartments, Centralia Perk, an antique store, a tattoo shop, a barber shop, a hair salon and Curious Betty’s clothing boutique.

Linda Hamilton, owner of the oldest masonry structure in town, credited Jacob Dow for saving lives by pounding on doors to wake up the occupants. The fire marshal said a plausible possible cause was a candle burning on a desk inside Curious Betty’s, but the structure had to be demolished before a fire investigation was completed.

MARCH

Twenty-five-year-old Joshua Vance was jailed for fatally attacking his father with a knife while he was asleep in bed in their Onalaska home.

Terry Vance, 58, was popular baseball coach. His son suffered from psychotic disorder and was said by his grandmother to have gone off his medication for a few days while his doctors were changing his prescription.

Joshua Vance was sentenced in October to 30 years in prison for first-degree murder.

Less than a week after Terry Vance’s death, Centralia police were investigating a homicide.

Weston G. Miller, a 29-year-old former welder, allegedly shot a houseguest twice, fleeing his B Street home while 43-year-old David Wayne Carson was dying.

Carson, who grew up in Centralia, had previously worked at Hardel Plywood and before that took care of expensive show dogs in California.

Miller has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and remains in jail awaiting a trial which is set for February.

Centralia City Council member and pastor of a downtown church Bill Bates was charged criminally for fatally shooting his neighbor’s cat with a pellet rifle, saying he was tired of the animal walking on his clean cars and messing in his beauty bark.

A deal was made so the 60-year-old – who said he was surprised the pet died as when he used the rifle on a possum in his yard, he had to shoot it three times to kill it – could keep his record clean if he paid restitution and refrained from shooting animals for six months.

APRIL

After a trial that stretched over nearly two weeks, former Pe Ell High School softball coach Todd Phelps was convicted of third-degree rape involving a 16-year-old team member.

The attorney for the 52-year-old log truck driver painted a picture of a coach who became close to the girl because he was worried she was cutting on herself and might commit suicide. The prosecution told jurors of a man who gradually seduced a teen already troubled with low self esteem and depression.

Phelps was given a prison sentence two days shy of six years.

A 24-year-old member of the local National Guard drowned during the Pe Ell River run in mid-April.

Daniel Kuhn, of Olympia, wasn’t reported missing until two days after the annual event on the Chehalis River, but his body was found within days near the area he had last been seen in his small rubber raft between Doty and Dryad.

MAY

Tragic drownings on the Chehalis River continued with the early May loss of 8-year-old Nicholas Matchett when he apparently slipped off the steep bank behind his Boistfort area home.

Less than two weeks later, 16-year-old Christopher Puentes-Garay died while swimming southwest of Rochester.

The spring of 2012 was a deadly one for young people.

Another 16-year-old, Tyler S. Gonzalez, was killed when during an underage party, he drunkenly wandered onto Brockway Road and either laid down, passed out or went to sleep before he was run over by a full-sized SUV.

Well over 200 people came together in a Centralia park to raise candles for 2-year-old Koralynn Fister who died from head trauma and drowning while in the care of her mother’s boyfriend.

James M. Reeder, 25, claimed he found her face down in the bathtub and carried child to neighbors across the street from her house asking them to call 911 while he attempted CPR.

Prosecutors allege Reeder tortured and raped the toddler.

The lifelong Lewis County resident is charged with homicide by abuse and other related offenses. He remains held in the Lewis County Jail on $5 million bail awaiting a January trial.

JUNE

An elderly retired businessman relocating to Arizona found a new friend – one that he called a hero – in Lewis County after his 31-foot travel trailer caught fire alongside Interstate 5 south of Chehalis.

Antonio Martinez of Napavine stopped to help the 79-year-old traveler rescue his dog from the far back of his SUV while numerous bystanders took photos and video. Firefighters miraculously found Ken Schumann’s cash savings among the ashes, but fortunately for Schumann, Martinez stuck around during the wait for the a tow truck.

When Schumann fell from the wreckage and gouged his wrist, Martinez was there to put pressure on the wound. Martinez took the dog to his home, and then went to the hospital to wait until Schumann was released.

JULY

News of an arrest from the 1985 slaying of an elderly Ethel couple took many by surprise.

Rick Riffe, 53, was brought from his home in Alaska to the Lewis County Jail and charged with the murder, kidnapping and robbery of Ed and Wilhelmina Maurin.

Sheriff Steve Mansfield described to a well-attended press conference how the sheriff’s office felt it had a strong case back in the early 1990s, but for whatever reason wasn’t able to persuade a prosecutor to file charges.

The Maurins were reported missing Dec. 19, 1985 after guests arriving for a Christmas party found nobody at their home. The following day, their car was found abandoned in the Yard Birds parking lot in Chehalis. Their bodies were discovered on Christmas Eve dumped near Adna.

Riffe has pleaded not guilty, but remains held in the Lewis County Jail on $5 million bail. His trial is scheduled for May.

AUGUST

It was so hot and dry, a red flag warning was put in place because of the potential for “explosive” fire growth.

While firefighters battled a blaze near Cle Elum that charred thousands of acres and carried a smokey haze over Lewis County, local crews were on edge with grass and brush fires from Toledo to Rochester.

In Mineral on Aug. 14, members of a half dozen fire departments spent six hours extinguishing fire that spread from a vacant building, to three outbuildings as well as brush and trees.

SEPTEMBER

Two Lewis County men survived a deadly boat wreck near the entrance to Willapa Bay that took the life of 70-year-old rural Chehalis resident Robert “Tony” F. Garrity.

A Coast Guard helicopter from Astoria located the 24-foot vessel the morning of Sept. 5, after the trio didn’t return home the night before from a fishing trip.

Charlie Garrity, 26, of Chehalis, and Shad Hail, 30, from Centralia, were hoisted into the helicopter and taken to a nearby hospital. The Pacific County Sheriff’s Office said somehow the men strapped themselves to the overturned boat but sometime during the night the straps broke.

OCTOBER

The month began with news of authorities seizing nine malnourished horses from a couple near Morton.

Joanne M. Simmons, 65, and Terry L. Simmons, 58, who live off of state Route 7, said they were in the process of giving the Kiger Mustangs away because they had too many. They were charged with animal cruelty.

Before the month ended, dozens of fox hounds were rounded up and confiscated from a 79-year-old Dryad woman’s property.

Nancy Punches was charged with animal cruelty as well as a violation of another state law regarding dog breeding.

Her 65 dogs were living in conditions described as deplorable, overrun with feces. Punches said she didn’t intend for them to multiply, but their fencing had deteriorated.

NOVEMBER

Sheriff’s Deputy Matt Wallace shot and killed an apparently suicidal motorist he stopped to help during the night at a gravel turnout along state Route 6 near Boistfort.

Sixty-four-year-old Gregory S. Kaufman of Napavine had superficial cuts to his neck and wrist and instead of laying his knife on the dashboard as asked, he got out of his car and advanced upon the deputy, according to authorities.

The Lewis County prosecutor concluded the shooting was justified.

Voters decriminalized recreational use of marijuana, leaving many dazed and confused about the historic changes.

While statewide the initiative passed by a little more than 55 percent, about that same proportion of Lewis County said no to the measure that still leaves no place to legally acquire weed.

DECEMBER

After an approximately six-week long trial in Lewis County Superior Court, jurors returned a verdict in favor of Menasha Forest Products, saying it’s clear-cutting of trees above Glenoma  was not to blame for mudslides that damaged properties belonging to 11 families.

The lawyer representing the plaintiffs said the timber company harvested on a steep, unstable slope causing the January 2009 destruction below. Menasha’s attorney said the company followed the logging rules set by the Department of Natural Resources.

A similar lawsuit involving seven other Glenoma property owners against Port Blakely is scheduled to go to trial in April.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Police and volunteers are searching around Morton today hoping to find a 76-year-old man who failed to return to his assisted living facility on Friday.

Lawrence W. Thorsteinson apparently has minor dementia, he takes medication for it, according to Morton Police Department Chief Dan Mortensen.

Mortensen said Thorsteinson has lived at Heritage House for the past couple of years and has no family in the area.

He was reported missing about 9:30 p.m. on Friday.

Thorsteinson was last seen around noon on Friday at Heritage House at 860 W. Main Ave. and also during the same time frame trying to check into Roy’s Motel a few blocks away, but he had no money, Mortensen said.

Police have contacted his known acquaintances and the businesses he frequents in town and no one has seen him, according to the chief.

When last seen, he was wearing a brown hat, a brown sweater or jacket, a red shirt and jeans, according to police. He is 5-feet 10-inches tall, weighing about 190 pounds with gray hair and brown eyes.

Police initiated an automated call yesterday to about 900 homes in the area with no results, Mortensen said.

Mortensen said some volunteers from Chehalis are expected today to check the wooded areas around town.

Jennifer Mau, a Morton woman who runs a private group called Search and Seek, said she is looking along the banks of the nearby Tilton River and had about three or four individuals answer her call to meet at Gus Backstrom Park at 11 a.m. to look for Thorsteinson.

The volunteers include a private contractor from Longview who conducts searches with dogs, three of which are in Morton today, according to Mau.

Mossyrock resident Coleen Reeder whose father lives at Heritage House learned of the search parties this morning and is packing up her husband and three teenage boys to head out to help.

Chief Mortensen said law enforcement officers have pretty well scoured areas in town and it’s possible Thorsteinson got on a bus or was picked up by a friend and gone somewhere.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The knife wound in the neck was potentially deadly, but the victim not only survived, he’s not around to testify if prosecutors were to go forward with a trial regarding last month’s stabbing at the Centralia wholesale meat business.

Sabino Gomez-Barriga was in court today to plead guilty in a deal crafted by attorneys on both sides to give him the agreed upon amount of prison time.

Gomez-Barriga was sentenced, as they recommended, to four and a half years in prison.

Gomez-Barriga was arrested at his Chehalis apartment on Nov. 7 after a fight between two employees at the Five Star Beef Company on Airport Road.

Prosecutors alleged that after getting punched in the face, Gomez-Barriga stuck a boning knife in 21-year-old Jorge Juarez’s neck. He also was accused of first jabbing Juarez with the blunt end of a meat hook, which Gomez-Barriga’s attorney said the victim tried to grab as well.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke told the judge a primary reason for the plea deal is Juarez is nowhere to be found; he’s not responded to attempts to contact him by the sheriff’s office, the prosecutor’s office or even the state Department of Labor and Industries.

“My thinking is juries don’t look favorably when the victim (doesn’t show up) and when the victim is the initial aggressor,” O’Rourke told the judge.

Gomez-Barriga is 35 years old, according to court documents, although he told the judge today he is 36. He has no known criminal history and said the last year of school he completed was third grade.

He was initially charged with first-degree assault, but pleaded guilty today to second-degree assault, with a deadly weapon and with a stipulation the judge could go above the top of the standard sentence without a specific jury finding.

“I think it’s fairly clear here, the result was not intended,”  defense attorney J.P. Enbody told the judge regarding the seriousness of the victim’s injury. “Also, the victim was not the initial aggressor here, and I don’t think the state would disagree with that.”

O’Rourke indicated he concurred and felt a 54-month sentence was a fair outcome.

O’Rourke said last week it was his understanding the victim made a full recovery.

Speaking through a Spanish interpreter, Gomez-Barriga chose to address the judge when asked, even though Enbody was gently shaking his head no

“He said he was under the impression the victim had federal charges against him,” Enbody said after consulting with his client and the interpreter.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Brosey said he understood the case to be an argument that got out of control and said fortunately the defendant’s weapon of choice was not a firearm.

Brosey took extra steps in reminding Gomez-Barriga of the immigration consequences of a conviction, although neither O’Rourke nor Enbody could say for sure if Gomez-Barriga was in the country legally or illegally.

Enbody said he didn’t ask his client where he was born.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a hold placed on him.
•••

For background, read “Centralia slaughterhouse fight involved meathook and boning knife” from Friday November 9, 2012, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

NAPAVINE – It will be a least three weeks before Annie’s Market in Napavine reopens following last week’s fire.

The inventory has all been removed from the grocery store and yellow tape still blocks the entrance.

Janet Stowe, whose family has owned the Napavine Shopping Center for more than three decades, said they are waiting for the various insurance companies involved to figure out what to do.

“And with the holidays, it’s just gotten delayed,” Stowe said today.

From the outside, the 1970s era strip mall off Washington Street looks unscathed.

The destruction from the fire itself was contained to the area around Annie’s front counter and cash register, but the smoke and heat damage was extensive, according to Lewis County Fire District 5’s Lt. Laura Hanson.

Hanson said the intensity of the heat was such that two-liter pop bottles at the back of the store started to melt and their tops tipped toward the flames.

The adjacent Napavine Laundromat reopened the following day, but Sahara Pizza at the far end of the commercial structure remains shut down.

It seems they drew smoke through their ventilation system, Stowe said.

Also untouched were two separate buildings in the shopping center, Ace Hardware to the east and the storage business in the back.

The fire broke out about 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 10, just 30 minutes before closing time.

Two customers arriving told the clerk they thought there was smoke under counter, Stowe said.

Stowe said she was just exiting the Laundromat when the clerk walked out the front door of the grocery.

“I ran to my car to get my fire extinguisher but by the time I turned around, I could see flames a good two feet over the counter,” she said.

Stowe said she was grateful the fire started during business hours, and on a night when the mostly volunteer fire department was gathered at the station for a meeting.

“I would like to say how phenomenal that fire department was in getting there so quickly, and getting the fire out with minimal water damage,” she said.

Nobody was injured and the preliminary cause, as told to Stowe by the fire investigator, appeared to be accidental and electrical.

The best case scenario for the two businesses to serve customers again is in three weeks, maybe four, she said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the skeletal remains of a woman found near Morton last year were dumped there.

The remains were found on April 7, 2011 by a motorist who pulled off U.S. Highway 12 to take a break, about 100 yards up a logging road.

Who she is and how she died remains a mystery.

But the sheriff’s office says they believe foul play was involved.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said yesterday detectives are taking a further look at the case in light of the confessions early this month of self-professed serial killer Israel Keyes who claims he killed four people in Washington state.

“We’re definitely taking a look at all our cases to see if his M.O. matches any of ours,” Brown said.

The checking is not based in any specific request from the FBI, she said.

The sheriff’s office has been tight-lipped about details of the Morton case, in hopes that withholding information from the public will better help them solve it.

A forensic anthropologist at the King County Medical Examiner’s Office believes the remains belong to a woman who was 20 to 35 years old when she died, small in stature and possibly of mixed ethnicity.

A sketch made by studying the facial bones offers a clue to what she may have looked like. The artist’s rendering was released to the news media in October of last year, but it generated no leads on her identity, according to Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod.

Dental records and DNA from the deceased have been entered into databases with no matches found.

Examination by the specialist failed to come up with the cause of death.

“Having only bones to examine, she’s exhausted, at this point, all means to figure out the cause and manner of death,” McLeod said yesterday.

McLeod, whose office has the responsibility – among others – of figuring out who she is, is hoping re-releasing the sketch will turn up someone who recognizes her.

“Not knowing who it is puts us at a real disadvantage,” he said.

Another aspect of the case still under wraps is how long the forensic anthropologist estimates the woman had been dead before her remains were found.

“We’re not releasing that yet because that’s something only the killer, or the person who dumped her, would know,” Chief Civil Deputy Brown said.

Anyone with any information about this female or the case is asked to call the coroner’s office at 360-740-1376, Lewis County sheriff’s detective Dan Riordan at 360-740-2765 or Lewis County Crime Stoppers – if the person wishes to remain anonymous –  at 1-800-748-6422.