Lewis County Sirens.com

Updated at 3:24 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 69-year-old man who drove himself to a Vader restaurant after sustaining a gunshot wound to his abdomen is recovering at a Tacoma hospital.

His 43-year-old female roommate has been arrested for first-degree assault.

The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded about 4:40 a.m. to a Ryderwood home after receiving 911 calls from both John Stiller and Linda Cochran.

He said his roommate shot him and he was trying to get out of the house; she said she had just shot somebody inside her house, according to the sheriff’s office.

Stiller was able to leave, get into his vehicle and drive himself to the Little Crane Cafe in Vader where he was met by aid and a deputy, according to responders.

He was airlifted to Tacoma General Hospital where underwent surgery, the sheriff’s office reported this afternoon. The (Longview) Daily News reports the sheriff said the injuries did not appear to be life threatening.

The sheriff’s office stated Cochran stayed on the line with the 911 dispatcher who advised deputies the woman continued to shoot randomly; however Cochran was talked out of of the residence and taken in to custody without incident, according a news release from the sheriff’s office.

It’s unknown why she shot him, but appears she may be dealing with some mental issues, the sheriff’s office said.

Stiller was shot with a hunting rifle believed to be owned by Cochran, the sheriff’s office said.

He is sedated but will remain in the hospital during this initial recovery stage, the sheriff’s office reported this afternoon.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Napavine area family lost everything in a house fire this morning, except their lives.

Crews called about 5 a.m. to the 300 block of Raubuck Road found fire in the front room of the two-story house and extinguished it, according to Fire Investigator Derrick Paul.

Two adults and four children escaped safely, according to Paul.

“There were working smoke detectors throughout the house, that’s what woke the parents up,” Paul said. “The fact is smoke detectors quite possibly saved the lives of all those kids.”

A pet dog was evacuated as well, according to Lewis County Fire District 5. The parents were treated at the scene for minor smoke inhalation, according to Paul.

Five fire departments battled the blaze, according to District 5.

Paul said the the fire damage was confined to the front room, although the rest of the house sustained heavy smoke damage.

It appeared the blaze began next to the chimney, Paul said. A fire had been left burning overnight in a fireplace insert, their only source of heat, he said.

After everyone had cleared the scene, part of the family returned and called 911 about 9:45 a.m. when they saw smoke, according to Paul.

“This time there was fire throughout the residence,” he said. “Basically, it burned to the ground.”

It’s undetermined what caused the second fire, but it’s a possibility an unextinguished ember flared up, Paul said.

“That sort of stuff does happen, nobody wants it to happen, we try real hard to make sure it doesn’t happen,” he said.

Paul said the Red Cross is assisting.

He also noted he wanted to emphasize that especially this time of year when the cold weather has more folks burning in fireplaces, that chimneys should be checked.

Earlier this morning, multiple occupants of a two-story house southwest of Littlerock escaped another house fire.

Crews were called about 3:40 a.m. to the 13900 block of Vue Street Southwest, according to West Thurston Fire Authority.

While there were smoke detectors, an overnight guest was awakened to smoke before they went off and found fire in the laundry room, Chief Robert Scott said.

Five fire departments responded to assist. Flames had extended into the roof in one area, the attic space of the second floor and over the garage, according to Scott.

The home was left with smoke and soot damage to most of the second floor, Scott said.

In that case, one male was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and a minor burn to his hand, Scott said. Five or six people escaped the fire, he said

The cause is under investigation.

A house in the Bordeaux area southwest of Littlerock caught fire this morning. / Courtesy photo by Robert Scott

SUSPICIOUS FIRE NEAR ETHEL

• Firefighters were called about 3:30 a.m. today when a car parked at a residence on the 200 block of Larmon Road caught fire. It was fully involved when crews arrived; they extinguished it, according to Lewis County Fire District 5. Assistant Chief Jeff Lee said the vehicle had apparently been sitting for awhile unused. The cause is under investigation, Lee said.

WARRANT ARREST

• Police responded overnight to the area off the 1200 block of Rush Road near Napavine after an individual ran from a traffic stop. Centralia’s police dog Lobo was summoned around 1 a.m. and after a short track, captured 32-year-old Raymond D. Faure with his teeth, according to the Centralia Police Department. Faure was wanted on at least one warrant from Centralia, according to police. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

BURGLARY

• Centralia police were called about 6 p.m. yesterday regarding someone breaking into a garage at the 400 block of West Magnolia Street.

WRECKS

• Centralia police responded to five non-injury collisions before noon yesterday, all related to traveling too fast in the snow, according to the Centralia Police Department. Sgt. Kurt Reichert said there was about a half inch of snow in town that had iced over.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Prosecutors yesterday filed two charges of second-degree child assault against the boyfriend of the mother of a 4-year-old boy who was brought to the hospital over the weekend with various injuries including bruises on the outsides of his legs he said he got from “knife hand” spankings.

Ryon T. Connery

Ryon T. Connery, 31, was arrested after a deputy on Saturday spoke with the child and his grandparents at Providence Centralia Hospital and then his mother and Connery at the Winlock area home.

The boy had been brought to the emergency room to be looked at after he was dropped off at his great grandmother’s house that morning.

Connery went before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court on Monday, where he was ordered held on $75,000 bail and prosecutors were given two more days to file charges. At the time, the defense attorney said the boy was currently with his other parent.

He was brought before a judge again yesterday when the charges were filed.

The offense carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

According to charging documents, the boy said he got spanked because he had been breaking “house rules”, including stealing food.

The documents allege the following was learned by the investigating deputy:

The child explained the rug burn on his nose came from when he fell on his face trying to get away from a spanking, an abrasion on his face happened when Connery hit him on the leg and it knocked him over so that he struck his face on the floor.

The child’s mother admitted her son had been made to do wall squats, push ups and being sprayed by a hose at the same time and she knew he’d dropped a weight on his finger – which was broken. She told the deputy the scrapes on his face were from falling down.

But she denied the child was dunked in the outdoor pool and was not aware of the injuries on his chest and back.

When asked what his mother did while he was getting punished, the boy told the deputy she would just watch.

The youngster also had swollen ankle that appeared to have been burned or infected.

The sheriff’s office says the mother and Connery live near Winlock. A document in the court file indicates a Chehalis address for Connery.

The mother said she and Connery have been in a dating relationship about four months.

Connery is represented by Centralia lawyer David Arcuri.

His arraignment was scheduled for today.

Jerrell S. Redmill , in orange, represented by attorney David Arcuri, faces a judge who accepted his remorsefulness for robbing Chase Bank.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 54-year-old bank robber whose worst past crimes were mischief and disorderliness when he was in his early 20s apologized to the court yesterday and said he was truly ashamed.

Jerrell S. Redmill was in Lewis County Superior Court to be sentenced following a plea deal in connection with this past spring’s incident at Chase Bank in Chehalis. His wife, son and two grandchildren sat in the benches behind him as he spoke.

“Desperate or not, I’m responsible for what I did,” Jerrell S. Redmill.

The Kelso resident has been locked up in the Lewis County Jail since May 21, when after he handed a teller a note demanding cash, he got into his PT Cruiser and headed south on Interstate 5.

After he was pulled over by law enforcement officers who followed him into Cowlitz County, money was falling out of his shorts pockets, dropping onto the ground.

Centralia defense attorney David Arcuri appealed to the court to treat his client leniently, noting the crime was very desperate conduct out of a desperate situation related to injuries and being unable to work.

What Redmill did was clearly second-degree robbery, it just happened to take place at a bank which made it first-degree robbery, Arcuri said. Which is what Redmill pleaded guilty to.

The difference between the two in terms of penalty, would be a few months in the county jail or around three years in prison, according to the lawyer.

In Redmill’s case, he faced a sentence of something between 31 to 41 months of incarceration.

Judge James Lawler indicated to Redmill he didn’t doubt his sincerity.

“I’ve seen a lot of people come before me,” Lawler said. “I accept that you are one of the few that are truly remorseful.

“I will accept the deal and I will impose the low end of the range, 31 months.”

The little more than $1,000 the Kelso man gained from the robbery was recovered when he was arrested, on the ground outside his car and the rest on the driver’s side floor.

The same bank on South Market Boulevard was robbed in March of last year, by a pair of local men who got away briefly with less than $2,500 from Chase, moments after a failed attempt at the nearby Twin Star Credit Union – which keeps no cash in its drawers.