By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The suspect in the death of a man found handcuffed and shot to death on an Olympia street last November is expected in a Lewis County courtroom tomorrow, to face charges related to pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin police say he had in his possession when he was captured in the Chehalis Industrial Park.
Robert John Maddaus Jr. 40, is charged with first-degree murder in Thurston County in the case of Shaun A. Peterson, 40, who was found dead Nov. 16 on Capitol Way Southeast. Maddaus was apprehended almost two weeks later by Lewis County sheriff’s deputies who followed the red Corvette in which he was a passenger.
When the car was searched, detectives found a nine millimeter pistol, more than $35,000 cash and a green backpack which contained two and a half pounds of methamphetamine, nearly a half pound of cocaine and almost one-third pound of heroin, according to charging documents in Thurston County Superior Court.
The driver of the car was Robert S. Russell, the Centralia man being held in the Lewis County Jail on four pending criminal cases of his own and as a person of interest in last month’s triple homicide in the Onalaska-Salkum area, according to court papers.
Robert Shawn Russell
Russell was working as a confidential informant, helping Olympia police find Maddaus that night, according to a sheriff’s office incident report.
Detective Chris Johnstone, the Olympia police officer assigned to the Maddaus homicide, wouldn’t comment on Russell’s role or why he would agree to assist police. The two men knew each other, according to Johnstone.
“Their relationship appeared to be centered around the distribution of methamphetamine,” Johnstone said last week.
Maddaus is a Rochester resident, according to court documents. Russell had addresses in both Chehalis and Tumwater when the pair were picked up.
Maddaus is charged in Lewis County Superior Court with possession of each of the three drugs with intent to deliver, as well as unlawful possession of a firearm. He is expected to appear before a judge in Chehalis tomorrow afternoon. Russell has not been charged in connection with the late-November pursuit.
Court documents and police reports offer a detailed account of the pursuit and eventual crash of the Corvette the night of Nov. 27.
A warrant had been issued for Maddaus after the homicide and Olympia police were actively looking for him, according to an affidavit for a search warrant on the car.
Olympia detectives learned he was going to be at a residence on the 2100 block of Jackson Highway and would be departing in a red Corvette. Russell would contact detectives when he was in contact with Maddaus, according to a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
At about 5:30 p.m., plans began to form for the Lewis County Sheriff’s office SWAT team to assist.
It wasn’t until 11:30 p.m., moments after the SWAT team had disassembled, when Deputy Sgt. Rob Snaza and detective Dan Riordan got word the car was leaving and got behind it as it turned off Jackson Highway onto Rush Road, according to incident reports.
The driver pulled over near Maurin Road, but then looked back and sped away fishtailing, Snaza wrote in his report. Snaza used his patrol car to do a so-called PIT maneuver, intentionally spinning out the fleeing car.
The Corvette slid sideways into the ongoing lane, hit a culvert and went airborne, flipping around, Riordan wrote.
Olympia police took over. Maddaus was taken into custody. Neither the sheriff’s office incident report nor the documents charging Maddaus with the drugs make mention of what was done with Russell.
Olympia detective Johnstone’s affidavit however explains why Russell seemingly changed his mind about helping police get Maddaus.
Russell attempted to pull over but Maddaus placed something hard that felt like a knife under his right arm and told him to move. Johnstone wrote.
The drug charges against Maddaus were originally filed in Thurston County with the murder, attempted kidnapping and four counts of witness tampering. In mid-August, an order was signed changing the venue for the drug charges to Lewis County. His murder trial is currently scheduled for the first week in October.
Russell was facing a trial next week on a charge of possessing methamphetamine with intent to deliver from a Centralia case this past spring, but this morning attorneys agreed to postpone that trial. He is also scheduled for a trial the end of this month for possession of stolen property.
When Lewis county deputies went to his residence on Jackson Highway on another matter last December 19 – three weeks after the Corvette chase incident – they found a black Dodge Caliber that was reported stolen.
The vehicle belongs to Maddaus.
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The (Centralia) Chronicle posted aerial video from the Washington State Patrol’s “Smokey four” of the pursuit and the stop. Watch it here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter