By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Jackie Marie Lawyer was a longtime fixture in Winlock’s Frost Road Trailer Park before she was fatally shot there last week, allegedly by a neighbor as they argued about “snitching”.
Richard J. F. Roth
Lawyer, 64, was the onsite manager, collecting rents and doing maintenance more than a dozen years ago when the park was temporarily put into the hands of Winlock accountant Don Lynch.
Lynch was stunned to hear the news of the resident he described as a single woman who lived there for quite some time before he took over.
“She worked hard for me, she was loyal as an employee; she could be a little fiery sometimes,” Lynch said after he learned of Lawyer’s death.
The trailer park, just east of Interstate 5 and north of Toledo, was put into receivership in the spring of 1997 related to the divorce of its owners, according to Lynch.
It was a difficult place to manage, he said.
Sheriff’s deputies were in there almost daily, he said, but with several evictions over time, he was able to reduce that to weekly visits, he said.
“There was a tremendous amount of things going on there, and Jackie was a tremendous help to me in getting it straightened up,” he said.
Lawyer died the morning of Nov. 4, of a penetrating gunshot wound to her chin and neck, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office. Lewis County sheriff’s deputies called just before 11 a.m. say she was dead when they arrived.
Detectives were told by 65-year-old Richard Joseph Frank Roth that Lawyer approached him as he was doing his laundry in the recreation building, repeatedly calling him a snitch for telling the park manager she was dumping ashes from her wood stove in the woods across the street.
Roth reportedly told detectives other tenants in the park had been having problems with Lawyer as well. He alleged she snuck around at night getting into people’s stuff and even stealing, dressed like a “Ninja”, according to charging documents.
Roth told detective Bruce Kimsey that after the incident in the recreation building, he took his laundry soap back to his van and put his .22 revolver in his back pocket. When he was confronted by Lawyer again, he pulled it out, pointed it at her neck and squeezed the trigger from about three feet away, according to charging documents.
The 65-year-old also told the detective it was all kind of blurry; she was holding a coffee cup and he did not know at what point he retrieved the weapon.
Roth pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder on Wednesday.
The crime carries a possible penalty of life in prison. A trial date was set for the week of Jan. 3.
A cousin of Roth’s was in Lewis County Superior Court for his appearance, but like a trio of women who came to support him the week before, declined to speak on the record about him.
Roth lived alone in a home-made wood trailer, moving to the Frost Road park a few months ago, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
The social security recipient was living in Castle Rock – described by defense attorney Bob Schroeter as “Baja Lewis County” for about three years before that.
He also has an address in Klamath Falls in southern Oregon; Schroeter said he lived just across the border in Tule Lake, Calif. His assets include a van and a 1960 motor home.
Roth’s background includes a conviction in 1969 for escape out of Sacramento, Calif. and for being an “ex-con with a gun” in 1982, according to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office. Attorneys involved in the current case said they did not know what the underlying felony conviction was for.
Roth was brought to both his court appearances in a wheelchair; a neighbor has said he walks with a cane.
He was recently hospitalized for a heart procedure, and takes medication for his heart, his thyroid and his cholesterol, according to authorities.
His court-appointed attorney Mike Underwood on Wednesday said he’s got some “health issues”.
“He’s 65 years old, he has trouble getting around,” Underwood said.
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Jackie Lawyer was 64, not 66 as the sheriff’s office and coroner’s office initially reported.
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For more details and photos from the Nov. 4 events in Winlock, scroll down to read “Woman, 66, fatally shot in Winlock trailer park, neighbor arrested” or click here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter