Lewis County Sirens.com

The Chehalis Police Department says this picture of Sara Candice was taken in about 2007; authorities are looking for her relatives.

Updated

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The coroner is appealing to the public for help to find family of the woman whose skeletal remains were discovered on a wooded Chehalis hillside a month ago.

All attempts to locate next of kin by his office and the Chehalis Police Department have been unsuccessful, Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said today.

McLeod released her name, Sara Candice, her age, 56, and where she lived, which he described as the Twin Cities area.

How and exactly when she died remains unknown.

The human remains were found by a surveyor about a quarter mile east of the 2200 block of Northeast Kresky Avenue on Feb. 23. The spot was remote, a rugged hike from  property where some earthmoving is underway east of Yard Birds Mall.

Police estimated she had been there about a year, based on personal papers found in a handbag-type bag near her. There were no signs of a homeless encampment and no obvious signs of foul play at the scene, according to police.

Her identity was confirmed through dental records the coroner secured using a name found in the papers. She was not reported missing, as far as police know.

McLeod said today he couldn’t give out any information about the woman, such as what they have learned about where she lived or where she worked, citing confidentiality.

“We don’t know anything about any employment,” he said, however.

He has been told she might have a brother in Alaska or Canada, and he believed she traveled a lot, he said.

“One of the contacts we were able to find said she used to go all over the country, and send her post cards,” McLeod said.

The decedent was a roommate of the contact’s niece, he said.

McLeod said he didn’t know her middle name, but that police might, since they have her identification. Chehalis police say they don’t have a middle initial or name.

Chehalis detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said they found former addresses for Candice in both Chehalis and Centralia. Her most recent residence was an apartment on the 400 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia where she lived alone, Wilson said.

“She didn’t have a lot of associates and didn’t have any real connections,” Wilson said.

They located some people Candice had business dealings with and they gave indications she pretty much kept to herself, he said.

Wilson said police could not find that she had a driver’s license in any state. The only local law enforcement contact with her was in 2012, he said.

“So, she was just one of those people who was not in trouble with the law,” he said.

The receipts found with her go back to March of last year, he said.

When detectives went to the apartment where Candice last lived, nobody was living there, WIlson said.

“The people who controlled the apartment hadn’t heard from her, rent was not being paid, so it was being cleaned up,” he said.

Chehalis police secured a photo taken of Candice from a law enforcement agency in Arizona, which Wilson said he thought was taken in about 2007.

Wilson said he doesn’t feel like police are any closer than they were a couple of weeks ago to finding out how or why she died.

The goal for both police and the coroner right now is to locate her relatives.

The condition of her body was such that no autopsy could be done, but her remains have been sent to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office where a forensic anthropologist may or may not be able to determine a cause of death, according to the coroner.

McLeod asks anyone with information regarding the decedent and possible next of kin to please call the coroner’s office at 360-740-1376.
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For background, read “News brief: Dental match confirms identity of Kresky Avenue remains” from Thursday March 5, 2015, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 26-year-old man was arrested this morning for robbery after he allegedly beat up an employee at a Chehalis auto dealership, trying to get vehicles without paying for them.

Police called about 7:15 a.m. to the 2500 block of North National Avenue were told the employee was approached by the man in the parking lot at opening time, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

“He told the employee he wanted three cars, struck the employee, threatened he was going to kill him and struck him a couple more times,” department spokesperson Linda Bailey said.

The suspect was gone when officers arrived, but was subsequently located by Centralia police, Bailey said.

She said she didn’t yet have all the details, but the victim said his assailant didn’t make much sense. The 55-year-old declined aid, Bailey said.

One witness at Titus Will Chevrolet Buick told officers the man mentioned he had a family to feed, she said.

Jonas K. Doyle, 26, from Centralia, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree robbery, according to police.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Riverside Golf Club’s restaurant in Chehalis has stopped taking credit cards temporarily while they track down a potential breach of their system.

Manager Jena Sorenson said today she was contacted over the weekend by a woman who said her credit card was hacked, after it was used at their establishment.

The woman told her that the charges didn’t go through, but someone attempted to make purchases at Rite Aid three days after a lunch at Riverside, Sorenson said.

The woman posted it on Facebook, and then Sorenson got calls from two others who claimed a similar experience.

Sorenson said at this point, she’s not certain the problem is related to their business, but she’s not taking any chances.

She’s been in touch with their computer software company in case somehow malware has gotten into their system. She’s contacted their credit card processing company, and they’ve started an investigation, she said.

She’s confident it’s not an employee.

She wants to reassure customers nobody is at risk by coming to dine with them, as they just won’t accept credit cards until she’s 100 percent sure it’s safe to pay that way.

Riverside Bistro and Bar is at the golf course on Northwest Airport Road, along the Chehalis River. Her family has owned it for the past nine years, she said.

The golf course uses a different machine and credit card processor, according to Sorenson.

Sorenson was troubled the customer announced her issue on Facebook before even calling the restaurant, and frustrated there wasn’t anything she could do about it over the weekend, she said.

Riverside is as much victims of whatever may have happened, as the customer is, she said. And it can be damaging to a business to have such things shared widely that way, she said.

Credit card companies are pretty good with the protections they provide cardholders and it’s something that’s increasingly common for people in general, according to Sorenson.

“Almost everybody I know has had their credit card compromised,” she said. “This is the age of how people don’t steal your wallet, they steal your credit card (number).”

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Police are asking the public to contact them if they have any information about a possible attempted child luring incident that took place on Friday evening near the elementary schools on Southwest Third Avenue off Market Boulevard.

Officers were called about 6:15 p.m. on Friday when a 9-year-old girl said she was approached by a male on foot who told her she was cute and asked her to come to his home, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

The girl, who had her bicycle with her, rode away from the individual who didn’t try to follow her, according to a news release issued this afternoon.

He was described as having a darker complexion and acne, possibly of high school or college age, according to police. She also said he was wearing white tennis shoes, blue “skinny” jeans and a gray and black coat, according to police.

Anyone with information on the incident may contact police by calling the non-emergency number at Lewis County dispatch, 360-740-1105.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Douglas Blankenship was carrying seven pounds of hamburger with him as he bicycled back home to Chehalis after a trip to Reicherts Meats in Centralia.

It happened really fast, he said.

He was headed down Cascade Avenue near the post office, when the door of a parked car opened, he said. He pulled his hand away so it wouldn’t get crushed.

“I was in the air, I went over the handle bars,” he said. “I just tucked my head.”

Blankenship said he hit the ground and when he opened his eyes, three women were sitting next to him, telling him not to move.

The accident about 3:45 p.m. last Monday sent him to the emergency room at Providence Centralia Hospital.

No bones were broken, just a lot of scraped skin and bruised body parts, he said after getting released.

Now, the 40-year-old is wondering if anyone else saw what happened. The police report didn’t make note of any witnesses, he said.

Blankenship said he’s not working, he doesn’t have insurance and he’s got medical bills.

“The doctor said the lady’s insurance should cover it, but when I mentioned about the lady’s insurance, the officer wasn’t really going that route,” he said.

After the incident, the Chehalis Police Department said the driver was getting ready to go into the post office and said she checked but didn’t see him, before opening her door. The bicyclist told police he was traveling close to the sidewalk, although not on it, and went to go around the car when its door opened, police said.

Blankenship said the hospital finished with him around 7:30 p.m. or 8 o’clock that night, and nurses – or someone – paid for a taxi to get him over to the fire department, where his bike and hamburger were.

He was appreciative of all of them for helping him out, he said. But now he’s uncertain what to do next.

“I’m just taking it step by step, this has never happened to me before” he said. “I’m trying to find out if anyone saw it.”

He didn’t think to gather names of witnesses himself before the ambulance took him away, he said.

He said he vaguely recalls a woman in a vehicle across the street, and is hoping she saw what took place, and will contact him. He can be reached at 360-388-388-0114.

The scene on Interstate 5 near Toutle Park Road. / Courtesy photo by Washington State Department of Transportation

Updated at 1:12 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 52-year-old motorcyclist from Toledo was killed in a collision yesterday on Interstate 5 in Cowlitz County that was caused by debris on the roadway.

Troopers were called just before 4 p.m. to the scene about three miles north of Castle Rock where a Ford Mustang had landed on top of the center barrier and the motorcyclist had been thrown across it onto the southbound lanes, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Both had been traveling northbound, according to the state patrol.

The wreck partially shut down the freeway for hours.

It began when Patricia L. Warrick, 55, of Ocean Shores, struck an object on the roadway causing her to lose control of her car which hit the motorcycle, according to the state patrol. The 2013 Harley Davidson SLD103 then hit the jersey barrier and went over onto the opposite lane.

The motorcyclist is identified as Nadine A. Beaman, 52, of Toledo.

The investigating trooper reports Warrick was injured and transported to Providence Centralia Hospital. She was treated and has been released by this morning, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Trooper Will Finn, a spokesperson for the state patrol, said he was told the item on the road was a 10-inch by 10-inch by 10-inch piece of metal that appeared to belong to a commercial vehicle, as though it had fell off a semi truck.

Both vehicles were impounded. No charges are expected.