Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Jesse Karr, the 31-year-old National Guardsman charged in the gunshot death of his girlfriend, has been found not guilty.

A Lewis County jury returned a not guilty verdict just before noon on both charges of  first-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter.

Karr, now 31, said he was unloading 28-year-old Sara M. Whitson’s handgun when it accidentally discharged in their Chehalis apartment. She died during emergency surgery.

The jury of eight women and four men began deliberations at noon yesterday, went home for the night and returned a verdict at 11:45 a.m. today.

Judge Nelson Hunt presided over the trial in Lewis County Superior Court.

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Read about the opening day of the trial here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Lewis County jury is expected to resume deliberations this morning in the September 2009 gunshot death of 28-year-old Sara M. Whitson of Chehalis.

Whitson’s then-live-in boyfriend Jesse P. Karr is charged with manslaughter in the case.

The National Guardsman had just returned home from Iraq about a month earlier when aid and police were called to their apartment to a report of an accidental gunshot.

Karr said he was unloading Whitson’s .22 caliber pistol when it went off in his hand, shooting him in his finger and Whitson in the abdomen. She died during emergency surgery.

Centralia defense attorney Don McConnell contends it was a tragic accident; Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes told jurors it was a reckless act.

A jury of eight women and four men began deliberating at noon yesterday and went home at 5:30 p.m. They were set to return at 9 o’clock this morning to the courthouse in Chehalis.

The jury is contemplating first-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter.

Karr, now 31, remains free on bail.

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Read background on the case, here

This news item was updated at 9:50 a.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A pair of Chehalis residents were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after a single-vehicle wreck last night on Centralia-Alpha Road.

Riley R. Jones and Ashley R. Dour, both 23 years old, suffered head and chest trauma, according to the Washington State Patrol.

They are both listed in serious condition this morning, and in the intensive care unit at the hospital.

Troopers and aid called just after 11:30 p.m. to the 1100 block of Centralia-Alpha Road – near Logan Hill Road, east of Chehalis – found a 1996 Dodge Intrepid totaled and two patients.

The car had been heading eastbound when it crossed the centerline and traveled approximately 200 feet along a ditch striking two driveways and going airborne, according to the state patrol. The car hit several trees before coming on rest on its side about 20 feet off the road, the state patrol reported.

The driver, Jones, was wearing a seatbelt but Dour was not, according to the investigating trooper.

The state patrol reports drugs or alcohol were believed to be involved.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Centralia police detectives are investigating if any criminal circumstances are involved in an overnight incident in which a young woman was hospitalized after suffering an apparent miscarriage.

The 25-year-old woman was taken by ambulance to Providence Centralia Hospital, and staff there asked police to check the welfare of a possible fetus she said had expired and was at her home, according to police.

Neighbors had called 911 after hearing calls for help coming from her residence, according to police.

Officers responded about 2:15 a.m. to the home where they found “the remains” in a container under a sink.

Centralia Police Department spokesperson John Panco indicated that was the primary unusual circumstance that prompted detectives to investigate.

He declined to comment if the size of the “remains” were of a size to be expected.

“Anytime we go to a residence and find remains in a container under a sink in a residence, we have to keep it open for the possibility of a crime,” Panco said.

The woman said she was about 21-weeks along, police reported. She said she spontaneously aborted the fetus during the night, Panco said.

Panco said he wasn’t aware if anyone had been with the woman at her home.

The police department did not reveal the woman’s identity, or even the location of her home except to say it was in the city of Centralia.

The remains have been turned over the the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.

Detectives are still in the early stages of their investigation, working in conjunction with the prosecutor’s office,  according to police.