Lewis County Sirens.com

John A. Booth Jr.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Law enforcement believes the second two murders in Onalaska were committed in part to eliminate witnesses from the first killing, according to court documents filed in the weekend  triple homicide case.

Charges filed late yesterday against John Allen Booth Jr. include a count of extortion. The 31-year-old suspect from Onalaska is still at large and considered armed and extremely dangerous.

The details of what happened inside the house off Gore Road early Saturday morning remain sketchy, as a judge sealed the affidavit of probable cause, the document describing the evidence that accompanies the information document filed when an individual is charged with a felony.

John A. Booth Jr.

At least three witnesses survived the shootings and their lives are at risk as long as Booth isn’t caught, prosecutors wrote in their declaration asking Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey to seal part of the file. One witness is a 51-year-old listed yesterday afternoon as in stable condition, whose gender authorities have not confirmed.

Booth is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, and one count of attempted first-degree murder.

The dead are David J. West Sr. 52, and his son David J. West Jr., 16, who lived in the sand-colored rambler and also Tony E. Williams, 50, of Mineral.

Booth is also charged with first-degree extortion and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He is convicted felon who was just released in December from his third stay in prison.

Bail is set at $10 million.

Court documents accuse Booth of second-degree murder, intentionally causing the death of West Sr. They allege first-degree murder – premeditated and intended – in the slayings of West’s 16-year-old son David West Jr. and Tony E. Williams, 50, of Mineral.

The maximum penalty for those, and for attempted murder, is life in prison. The extortion and firearm possession each have a maximum penalty of 10 years.

Booth’s address is listed by the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office as on the 1500 block of Middle Fork Road in Onalaska, the same place it has been since his first adult felony arrest when he was 18 years old.

An man described by the sheriff as a person of interest was booked yesterday morning into the Lewis County Jail. Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield said the individual was picked up by the state Department of Corrections for a probation violation.

More later.

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For more details on the fatal shootings, either scroll down or click here.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A $10 million warrant was issued late today for the arrest of John Allen Booth Jr. wanted for two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder in connection with the slayings off Gore Road this weekend.

John A. Booth Jr.

The 31-year-old man from Onalaska is still at large.

Another person has been arrested and is in custody in the Lewis County Jail.

Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield called the individual a person of interest in the case but declined to say more about what that meant. Mansfield said the individual was picked up by the state Department of Corrections for a probation violation.

Mansfield in a news release this afternoon said the survivor from the triple homicide is in stable condition. The sheriff said the fourth victim of Saturday’s early morning shootings is 51 years old. He still won’t reveal if that person is a male or a female.

Booth was just released in December from his third stint in Washington prisons.

When deputies arrived about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday to the Onalaska-area home, they found three dead. They are David J. West Sr. 52, and his son David J. West Jr., 16, who lived there and also Tony E. Williams, 50, of Mineral. The status of West Sr.s girlfriend who reportedly resided there hasn’t been revealed by the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office released an updated photo of Booth and say he is still believed to be driving a turquoise 1995 Saturn Coupe, with a license plate of 319 UEB.

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For more details on the fatal shootings, either scroll down or click here.

David J. West Jr., 16, with his dad's motorcycle from the teenager's MySpace page

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Sixteen-year-old Forrest Moore of Onalaska described his slain friend as a student who got “amazing” grades, with a father who kept a fairly tight leash on him and who looked forward to one day inheriting his dad’s root-beer colored show car, a 1968 442 Oldsmobile.

David J. West Jr., 16, was one of three people found shot dead inside his Onalaska area home early Saturday morning.

“He was a rare friend, he loved life, he never got in any trouble,” Forrest said yesterday. “He pretty much got to do whatever he wanted that was legal, he had a good life.”

David, who went by D.J. died along with his father David J. West Sr. 52, and Tony E. Williams, 50, of Mineral in the West’s rental home off Gore Road, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A fourth individual who was wounded with a gunshot was hospitalized.

Authorities have issued a nationwide arrest warrant for the suspect, 31-year-old John Allen Booth Jr. from Onalaska.

The two teenagers became best friends when they were both new at Onalaska High School, according to Forrest. D.J. came from Mossyrock and Forrest moved to Gore Road from Centralia.

The two more or less kept to themselves because they were both the type who didn’t talk much, according to Forrest.

The teenagers hung out at D.J.’s house a lot, so much that when Forrest planned to stay over again Friday night, D.J.’s father said no, because he’d been spending the night so much lately. Forrest said it made his mother cry to know he easily could have been there when the shootings happened.

Forrest said his friend’s father was somewhat strict, giving his son a curfew but letting him do lots of things as long as he knew where his son was and how to get a hold of him.

“His dad was a really great dad for him , he was like his best friend,” Forrest said.

The boys spent one day late last week helping clean up rocks from around the West’s cement fish pond. “I made $40 and that’s the only reason I could go to the fair,” Forrest said.

He said D.J. recently confided in him how tough it was going to be when his dad went away to prison soon because he’d never really been away from him.

Forrest described D.J.’s father’s trouble as coming from when he and a friend beat up some kids.

West Sr. was arrested last summer after he and two other men allegedly ambushed several teenagers camping outside Winlock when West Sr. was reportedly trying to get back money he believed some of them had stolen from him. West. Sr. admitted hitting a 17-year-old boy with a jack handle, and retrieving $4,000, according to charging documents in his case. Another man, 45-year-old Robert S. Russell, allegedly brandished a handgun and fired a shot during the incident. West Sr. has pleaded guilty but his sentencing has been repeatedly postponed, according to court records.

Forrest said he doesn’t think the weekend killing was about a drug debt, like the sheriff’s office says. D.J.’s father didn’t seem like that kind of person, he said.

“He had a lot of friends over but I knew nothing about drugs, he seemed clean to me,” Forrest said. “I just want the true story to be told, I don’t want them slandered.”

The teenager said he even met the suspect Booth Jr. at D.J.’s house when he came over one night several weeks ago with another man.

“He was really big and really scary, but quite polite,” he said. He had really huge arms, he added. “He didn’t strike me as bad.”
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For more details on the fatal shootings, either scroll down or click here.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Two of the three people slain in the early Saturday morning shooting in the Onalaska area are a father and his 16-year-old son who lived in the house, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said this afternoon.

David J. West Sr. 52, and David J. West Jr., 16, were dead at the scene when deputies arrived about 2:30 a.m. yesterday.

The third individual who died is named as Tony E. Williams, 50, of Mineral, according to the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff Steve Mansfield is still not identifying the fourth person shot and wounded but said that person is in good enough condition they can talk and be interviewed by his detectives this afternoon. The individual was taken by Life Flight helicopter to an undisclosed hospital.

David West Jr. would have been a junior at Onalaska High School this fall, according to Forrest Moore, 16, who identified the young man who went by D.J. yesterday as his best friend.

Moore and two of his other friends yesterday said D.J. lived with his father and his father’s girlfriend at the house.

They also said a couple lived in a trailer on the property. Sheriff Mansfield said this afternoon there were other people who lived on the property who were not involved in any way.

John Allen Booth Jr.

The sheriff’s office is still searching for their suspect, John Allen Booth Jr., 31.

Mansfield said his office continues to work around the clock following up on dozens of leads. They are being assisted by several agencies across the state, he said.

Mansfield said in a news release he wants to remind the public Booth is armed and considered extremely dangerous.

The blue or teal Dodge Diplomat they thought Booth might driving has been found, Mansfield said. Now they are looking for another car he may be driving. It is a turquoise 1995 Saturn Coupe, with a license plate of 319 UEB.

“We need to get a hold of him,” Mansfield said. “My goal is to make that happen without anyone else getting hurt.”

Autopsies on the dead are scheduled for Monday, according to the sheriff’s office.
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For more details on the fatal shootings, either scroll down or click here.