Lewis County Sirens.com

This news story was updated at 6:40 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Amber Alert for 4-year-old Jacek Reed who was taken this morning from Chehalis by his father has been cancelled.

Chehalis police say Dustin Reed was taken into custody about 2:30 p.m. by the Bonney Lake Police Department.

Dustin Reed

The child was with him and is unharmed, according to Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer.

Chehalis detectives located the pair by tracing Reed’s cell phone.

Police began looking for the 34-year-old Army soldier home on leave after he took the child out of his mother’s arms by force on the sidewalk outside a family counseling center about 9:15 a.m. today, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

Police were told Reed put the boy in his car in such a way the child bumped his head and then Reed’s vehicle struck the mother’s friend who stood behind the car as it backed out.

The mother had gone to the Human Response Network on the 100 block of Northwest Chehalis Avenue this morning to get a protection order in place against the father following an incident overnight in Napavine, according to Schaffer.

Jacek Reed

Napavine police were called about 1:30 a.m. to the mother’ home in Napavine, where she was with her boyfriend and the child, according to Schaffer. Reed arrived and pushed his way in, insisting on seeing his son, Schaffer said.

Reed, who lives in Fort Knox, Kentucky, is believed to have other family who live in Centralia.

Police today said Reed is on antidepressants and has access to weapons, although no weapon was seen at the time of the abduction.

Schaffer said officers “pinged” Reed’s cell phone and then fed the results to the  Bonney Lake Police Department. He was taken into custody by Bonney Lake police without incident this afternoon.

Police don’t know where Reed was headed with the child.

“We don’t know what his plans were,” Schaffer said. “When they interviewed him, he was not very forthcoming.”

The chief said Reed was to be booked for the assault with the car. The friend sustained what Schaffer thought was a minor injury to his leg.

Further potential charges will be evaluated by the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office, according to police.

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See this morning’s news story about the Amber Alert by scrolling down, or here

This news item was updated at 11:45 a.m

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Police are looking for a black 1995 Infinity after a 4-year-old boy was apparently taken by force this morning from a family counseling center in Chehalis by his father, who is home on military leave.

Dustin Reed

Officers are looking for Dustin Reed, 34, of Fort Knox, Kentucky, according to a news release.

Early information suggests about 9:15 a.m. Reed assaulted a friend of the mother’s as he was leaving and the child may have sustained some injury as he was put in the car, police reported.

Chehalis police say they think Reed has family in the Centralia area.

His car was last seen heading toward Interstate 5.

The four-door vehicle bears a license plate reading 617 TQP, according to police.

An Amber alert describes the child as wearing blue jeans, blue boots, a blue flannel jacket and a bluish-gray Mario T-shirt.

Jacek Reed

The blue-eyed, brown-haired boy has a buzz cut and a red mark under his left eye, according to the alert.

The father is described as a 5-foot 9-inch tall white male weighing 160 pounds, also with blue eyes and brown hair.

It began at a shelter or counseling center on Northwest Chehalis Avenue in Chehalis, according to authorities.

Reed is on antidepressants and has access to weapons, but no weapon was seen at the time of the abduction, according to the alert.

Chehalis police noted the mother’s friend was assaulted by means of a vehicle as Reed was leaving, but did not describe the seriousness or provide details.

Chehalis police believe the car belongs to Reed’s brother.

The alert asks anyone with information to call 360-748-8605

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Follow Amber alert at http://www.amberalert.com/en/alerts/state/?type=washington/

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A father and his two teenage sons escaped an overnight house fire in Toledo which virtually destroyed a two-story home.

Volunteers from five departments answered the 4:11 a.m. call to Blakeley Lane, about three miles east of town, according to Lewis County Fire District 2 Chief Grant Wiltbank.

The two boys were sleeping downstairs where the fire is suspected to have begun, Wiltbank said.

“From what I understand, one of them smelled smoke and raised the alarm,” he said.

The father had to get out through a second-story sliding window, he said.

No injuries were reported.

The house was probably about 75 percent involved when crews arrived and even though it was knocked down rather quickly, it took until almost 9 o’clock this morning to chase down and root out fire in various spots above the wood ceiling, Wiltbank said.

Wiltbank, who was at his regular job out of town until this morning, was quick to offer high praise for Assistant Chief Mike Dorothy, who was incident commander, and the 25 personnel who responded.

He said he just couldn’t be more impressed with the caliber of people – volunteers – who answer these calls.

“Everybody did an extraordinarily good job, particularly working in sub-freezing conditions for several hours …” he said. “My hat goes off to all of them.”

The last of the District 2 firefighters didn’t finish up and leave the station until 11:30 a.m., he said.

The cause is being investigated, but appears to be accidental, appearing to have originated in an area on the ground floor near the stairway, several feet from a wood stove, Wiltbank said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 22-year-old Silver Creek man survived an overnight crash in which his pickup truck traveled down an embankment striking several trees and came to rest in a creek bed, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Daniel R. McKechnie crawled out of the vehicle and walked to a friend’s house to get help, responders said.

Lewis County Fire District 3 Chief Matt Hadaller estimated the truck landed about 50 yards off state Route 122.

McKechnie was taken to Morton General Hospital with cuts to his hands and head, the state patrol reported.

“Yeah, he was a lucky guy,” Hadaller said this morning.

Troopers were called about 2:35 a.m. to the scene west of Mossyrock near Lake Road.

The 1995 Ford pickup was described as totaled. Hadaller said he didn’t notice any water in the creek, calling it a ravine where the vehicle landed.

The investigating trooper blamed driving too fast on a curve and indicated McKechnie was to be cited for driving under the influence. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and said he was ejected from the truck, according to responders.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Olympian reports a 22-year-old Olympia man was found guilty yesterday in an October road rage incident in which multiple shots were fired at a pickup truck driven by a 58-year-old man from Ethel.

Donald Palmer of Ethel, and his passenger, Margaret Eldridge of Elma, reported the incident happened about 9 p.m. on Oct. 31.

It began on state Route 101 in Mason County and ended near the Black Lake Boulevard exit in west Thurston County, according to the Washington State Patrol.

News reporter Jeremy Pawloski notes that Reed C. Boysen, 22, was convicted yesterday in Thurston County Superior Court of two counts of second-degree assault and one count of drive by shooting.

Read Pawloski’s news story here

Erik R. Massa waits after his court appearance to talk with his attorney.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Randle taxidermist Erik R. Massa pleaded not guilty today to second-degree murder in the apparent beating death of a 58-year-old welder from Federal Way.

Massa, 43, was in Lewis County Superior Court this morning for the brief hearing. He remains free on $25,000 bail.

Massa was charged two and a half weeks ago in the March 14 death of Guy W. LaFontaine.

Guy LaFontaine

LaFontaine died with two broken eye sockets and other blunt force injuries to his torso and extremities. Detectives found a broken shotgun with blood on it in an empty silo next to Massa’s shop, according to charging documents.

The two men are related by marriage.

Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher this morning told the judge Massa and his wife are going through a “bitter divorce” and asked the judge to remind him he’s prohibited from having contact with potential witnesses in the case.

Massa’s attorney, Chris Baum, asked Judge Richard Brosey if his client’s conditions of release could be changed, so he would be free to leave Lewis County to visit his children in Pierce County and for church in Longview. Brosey said yes.

The trial was scheduled for the week of Sept. 19

Both attorneys said they expected it would last five days.
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Read background on the case, here

Read Randle man who died over the weekend was witness in murder case” here