Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An elderly woman separated from her companions while berry picking in the woods northeast of Packwood on Sunday was found dead yesterday morning by search and rescue personnel.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was notified at 4:40 p.m. on Sunday the 82-year-old Yakima woman was missing.

The family of the woman, Barbara Weed, was on scene when her body was located about 10:20 a.m. yesterday in the area of Forest Service Road 45, according to authorities.

The sheriff’s office states it is conducting a standard-protocol death investigation.

Weed’s cause of death won’t be released until after an autopsy which is scheduled for later this week, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.

Updated

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 47-year-old Centralia woman reported missing a little more than a week ago was found dead more than a mile from where her vehicle was discovered in a wooded area in Lincoln County, Oregon, the Centralia Police Department announced this morning.

Crystal D. Chipman was last seen in Centralia about 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 18. Police believed she was driving a white Ford F150 pickup truck and noted she had a history of medical issues that required medication.

Centralia detective John Panco today said the department was notified on Friday by an official with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office that Chipman’s vehicle was located by a logger. A deputy subsequently found Chipman, deceased. There were no obvious signs of trauma to her body, according to Panco.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office described the location of the vehicle as 4.5 miles up a logging road outside Lincoln City and said they found evidence suggesting its driver had left the area and may have been despondent. Search teams worked for nearly five hours before finding Chipman’s body 1.6 miles away, according to the sheriff’s office.

Foul play is not suspected, according to Lincoln County authorities.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Chehalis police and firefighters called about 11:30 p.m. on Friday for a shooting at a house on Southwest First Street found a man inside with a wound on his upper arm, according to the Chehalis Fire Department.

He was treated and transported to Providence Centralia Hospital for what initially appeared to be an accident involving another person, according to the fire department.

There was nobody from the police department to provide any information today.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Chehalis police, firefighters and the coroner were called yesterday afternoon when a man was found dead inside a car in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Chehalis.

The gray Buick was parked in the northeast corner of the lot on the 1600 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue and apparently had not moved for at least a couple of days, according to authorities.

Police don’t suspect foul play, Chehalis Police Department spokesperson Linda Bailey said. But the Lewis County Coroner’s Office will look into why he died, Bailey said.

The 52-year-old man had been living out of his vehicle, Bailey said.

The 911 call came in at 3:04 p.m. The fire department had to break a window to gain access.

Fire Capt. Ted McCarty said he learned the man visited a friend in the area pretty much every day, a friend who had last seen him a couple of days earlier and after growing concerned, went to Wal-Mart to check on him and discovered he was dead.

McCarty said the victim was from Texas. The coroner is expected to release his name after contacting next-of-kin.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 32-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a fire that destroyed a mobile home on the 300 block of Minkler Road in Winlock earlier this month which was attributed to a marital dispute.

His wife was not home at the time, but lost about $5,000 worth of her belongings in the blaze that occurred on July 13, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The husband, Jason B. Buchanan, allegedly started the fire between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. that day, according to the sheriff’s office. His wife had been socializing with a 28-year-old male friend who Buchanan allegedly threatened to kill, Chief Deputy Bruce Kimsey said.

Buchanan was booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree arson, felony harassment and for an unrelated case of third-degree malicious mischief, according to Kimsey.

Firefighters responded on July 13 to fully engulfed single-wide mobile home in a trailer park. A fire investigator and sheriff’s detective J.S. Humphrey looked into the cause.

The mobile home, valued at about $15,000, was a total loss, according to Kimsey.

Investigators reportedly found Buchanan made statements to various people about causing the fire, Kimsey stated in a press release.

Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza in a written statement praised the outstanding performance and team work by his detective and the investigator from the Chehalis Fire Department in “solving a crime like this that devastated a family, and could have impacted so many more if the fire had spread to other homes.”

Buchanan is tentatively scheduled to be brought before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Local law enforcement agencies have recently gotten a large number of reports from members of the public who have received phone calls from scammers attempting to trick people into sending them money or revealing personal information.

The bogus collection calls are coming from numerous long distance phone numbers, according to Centralia Police Department detective Patty Finch.

“The callers are identifying themselves as the IRS or warrant service companies,” Finch stated in a press release yesterday. “In most reports, the callers are telling the victims that a warrant has been issued for their arrest or they are being sued.”

The Centralia Police Department, the Chehalis Police Department and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office have all been getting reports from potential victims, Finch said.

Some scammers are requesting peoples’ credit card information over the telephone.

The Internal Revenue Service does not telephone individuals to demand immediate payment and does not require a specific method of payment such as a prepaid debit card, a gift card or a wire transfer. Generally, the federal agency will first mail taxpayers a bill if any taxes are owed.

The IRS will never ask for credit card or debit card numbers over the phone.

Finch cautions members of the public to use caution when speaking with any callers and to never provide bank card information until after independently confirming a request is legitimate.

For more information about various tax scams, check the IRS website, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Deputies responding to a report of a motorist firing shots at another car while chasing it in Onalaska last night came upon the two vehicles wrecked at Shanklin and Burchette roads and subsequently arrested a 38-year-old local man.

The 21-year-old Onalaska man whose Volkswagen Jetta came under gunfire was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital to be treated for head and neck trauma, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said this morning it’s not clear what prompted the incident.

Deputies were called about the moving dispute about 9:15 p.m. and arrived to the crash scene to find the suspect was gone, but a .45 caliber handgun was located under his 1995 Honda Civic, according to the sheriff’s office.

A track by a police dog eventually turned up the suspect, Two Dogs Fasaga, 38, of Onalaska, who was arrested for first-degree assault and other offenses, Breen said. A 39-year-old woman from Auburn who allegedly arrived to potentially transport Fasaga out of the area was arrested and booked for first-degree rendering criminal assistance, Breen said.

The 21-year-old told deputies he had been trying to get away from the unknown male driver who had shot at him several times and when he made a turn onto Burchette Road, the suspect’s Honda Civic hit a ditch, began to flip and roll, and then shoved the 21-year-old’s Jetta into a guard rail, Breen said. Both cars were totaled, he said.

Breen didn’t specify if the victim was injured from the wreck or from a bullet.

Fasaga was booked into the Lewis County Jail also for drive-by shooting, hit and tun injury, unlawful possession of a firearm and reckless driving, according to the sheriff’s office.