Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Tenino mother of three wore a bullet-proof vest in court on Tuesday in Chehalis when she was charged with drive-by shooting.

Christina Palomares, 24, was arrested early Saturday morning shortly after the incident in a Chehalis neighborhood.

The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office alleges that Palomares was driving a red Chevrolet Blazer when one of three male passengers stuck a pistol out the window and fired a round that missed several people standing outside but struck an unoccupied parked vehicle. It happened about 12:15 a.m. on Saturday at the 400 block of Southwest William Street.

Authorities describe the shooting as related to a debt owed to somebody called “Candy man” and perpetrated by the LVL gang.

“I’m very concerned about my client’s well being right now,” defense attorney Bob Schroeter said following the brief hearing in in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon.

Judge Nelson Hunt ordered her held on $250,000 bail.

Court papers describe several stories that Palomares told police detectives after she was picked up in Thurston County; each version slightly different.

In one interview, Palomares said a passenger told her husband to “shoot them or he would kill her (Christina) and he would not become an LVL,” charging papers allege.

LVL stands for Little Valley Locos or Little Valley Lokotes a gang locally made up mostly of individuals who grew up in Centralia when it was particularly active in the summer of 2007.

The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office planned to issue warrants today for the arrests of others they believe are involved. Witnesses implicate two different men as the shooter.

Chehalis police describe those at the house as reluctant to give information out of fear of retaliation. A .45 caliber shell casing was found at the scene.

According to charging documents, one man who thinks he might have been a target was arrested last month in connection with drug dealing and the LVL gang had taken over his business while he was in custody.

Chehalis police officers, along with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team executed a search warrant at the home where Palomares lives with her husband on the 200 block of 171st Avenue Southeast in Tenino on Monday evening. They didn’t find the gun they were looking for or any of the suspects, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

The did find indications Palomares’s husband had gathered up his clothes and fled. They also found a bullet proof vest, a pistol box with bullets inside, a shoulder holster and some other ammunition, according to charging documents.

Chehalis police this morning reported that he turned himself in to the jail. Ruben Palomares, 25, was booked about 7 p.m. last night, according to the Lewis County Jail inmate booking roster.

A half dozen individuals who described themselves as family and friends of Christina Palomares were in the courtroom Tuesday afternoon.

Defense attorney Schroeter requested Christina Palomares be held on $20,000 bail. He said she has children and a stable job; she has worked at the AM/PM in Rochester for the past three years.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Steve Scott argued for $500,000 bail. Christina Palomares has a juvenile drug conviction and two misdemeanor assaults in her past, according to attorneys.

Drive-by shooting is a class B felony, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. She was initially arrested for first-degree assault, a crime with a possible penalty of life in prison.

She is scheduled to return to Lewis County Superior Court on Thursday morning to make her plea.

Chehalis police this morning are asking anyone with any information on the whereabouts of the remaining two suspects to call them or call Lewis County CrimeStoppers.

They are: Andrew Morales Loberg, 19, of Chehalis; and Juan Valentino Vasquez, also known by his street name “Grover”, 24, of Centralia.
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This news story was updated at 11:55 a.m.

Volunteers search the area along the Tenino to Yelm bicycle trail adjacent to state Route 507 near Churchill Road Southeast on Tuesday where the sheriff's office thinks Vanda Boone was attacked.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

TENINO – The woman whose body was found in the passenger compartment of a Tenino man’s pickup truck Sunday night has been identified as Vanda Skau Boone, a 60-year-old who moved to Yelm from New York this past March.

Vanda Skau Boone, from her MySpace

She died because her throat was cut and from blunt force injuries to her head and neck, according to the Thurston County Coroner.

The manner of death is homicide, Coroner Gary Warnock said this afternoon.

It’s a sad story, according to Warnock.

“On her way moving out here, her moving van caught fire and she lost everything,” Warnock said. “She has no family. Her only brother died a month ago in Brazil.”

Warnock said he concluded she died on Sunday, not so long before law enforcement officers pulled over the truck, because she was still warm.

Significant other conditions that contributed to her death were probable asphyxia due to strangulation or smothering, the coroner said.

About 30 volunteers from search and rescue groups in Thurston and Pierce counties scoured the area on the Tenino to Yelm bicycle trail today where the sheriff’s office thinks she was attacked on Sunday.

Thurston County sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy said they found a pair of shoes they think belong to the victim.

To read more on this news story, either scroll down or click here.

The Thurston County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone who saw Bernard Howell III or his silver Nissan pickup truck in the Tenino area yesterday afternoon or evening to call 360-786-5531 or Crime Stoppers at 360-493-2222

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – The Tenino man arrested last night when he was pulled over with dead woman inside his pickup truck saw a judge this afternoon who set bail at $750,000.

Bernard K. Howell III, 26, is being held on suspicion of second-degree murder, but has not been charged.

Bernard K. Howell III

A declaration supporting probable cause filed by the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office reports the woman bundled in a sleeping bag in the passenger compartment of Howell’s truck was partially unclothed.

Howell told a deputy he found the woman dead and laying beside a trail in Tenino and engaged in sex with her, and was going to save her family the cost of a funeral by burying her in a swamp, the declaration alleges.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John M. Jones told the judge this afternoon Howell has a history of mental health problems. Both Jones and a defense attorney suggested Judge Christine Pomeroy be prepared to allow Howell to be evaluated by doctors from Western State Hospital after he is formally charged.

Howell, who said he works for the Tenino Meat Co. has no criminal history, according to Patrick O’Connor, who represented him from the Office of Assigned Counsel.

An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. Authorities have not revealed what they suspect as the cause of death except to say it was homicidal violence.

Car keys and a wallet with business cards identifying its owner as a 60-year-old woman were found in Howell’s pickup truck, according to the declaration. The Thurston County Office this morning reported the Toyota RAVE4 they found on state Route 507 belongs to a Yelm woman who has not been been seen since yesterday morning.

The Thurston County Coroner’s Office has not yet confirmed the identity of the body.

Authorities report that Howell said he found the body when he went for a walk yesterday afternoon on the bicycle path known as the Yelm to Tenino Trail. The sheriff’s office erroneously reported earlier today it was the Chehalis Western Trail.

He also said he took $11 and her car keys and drove her vehicle around for several hours before returning with plastic bags, a sleeping bags, zip ties, bungie cords and a 10 pound weight.

Detectives found what they believe is the crime scene on the bike trail, just east of Churchill Road about 4 o’clock this morning. Blood and other evidence there were documented, according to the declaration.

Howell said he had no part in her death, the declaration reports.

Chief Criminal Deputy Jim Chamberlain of the sheriff’s office said he expects detectives will revisit the case of Nancy Moyer, a 36-year-old woman who went missing from her Tenino home last year, with Howell in mind. However, they have no evidence linking Howell to Moyer, Chamberlain said.

The sheriff’s office is asking anyone who saw the suspect yesterday or last night, or his vehicle, in the Tenino area to call 360-786-5531 or Crime Stoppers at 360-493-2222.

The photo released of the silver Nissan pickup truck shows a freezer in the back. There was no evidence of human remains inside the freezer, Chamberlain said.

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This news story has been corrected since it was first posted. The age of the woman whose wallet was found in Howell’s truck was initially incorrectly reported as one year younger than she really was.

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For more details, read today’s earlier news story about last night’s arrest near the elementary school in Tenino by scrolling down or clicking here.