By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
OLYMPIA – A friend of Robert Maddaus’s who spent the weekend in November 2009 helping the Rochester man track down who’d robbed him of five pounds methamphetamine and $30,000 testified yesterday in Maddaus’s murder trial.
Robert J. Maddaus Jr.
Matthew Tremblay, 30, took the stand in Thurston County Superior Court and recounted visits the pair made to talk with various people including the night of Nov. 15, after which 40-year-old Shaun A. Peterson end up handcuffed and fatally shot on Capitol Boulevard in Olympia.
Tremblay said he met up with Maddaus at the Olympia apartment of Dan Leville and Falyn Grimes.
“He told me he was going to question Shaun, he was trying to get me to help him,” Tremblay said.
Peterson was already handcuffed, Tremblay testified.
Maddaus, 41, is on trial for first-degree murder and other charges in Peterson’ death. His attorney Richard Woodrow has said he plans to show it was Tremblay who shot Peterson.
Shaun Allen Peterson
Tremblay testified, as have Leville and Grimes that they, Maddaus and Peterson were listening to a recording of voices talking about the robbery.
Maddaus believed it included Peterson’s voice, Tremblay didn’t agree, Tremblay said.
Tremblay said he suggested they leave, as he could tell Leville was uncomfortable and Maddaus yelled at him.
“I believe around that time, Shaun had enough of the situation and left out the front door,” Tremblay said.
Tremblay said Maddaus followed Peterson out while Tremblay gathered up some items in a plastic bag.
He testified he then put the bag in the trunk of Maddaus’s VW Jetta.
“While I was loading stuff in the car, I hear gunshots,” Tremblay said.
Tremblay said he looked, saw Maddaus with a gun, saw Peterson turn and run down the street.
“I got in the car and picked up Bobby,” he said.
Then, Tremblay testified to a series of events that was heard for the first time, according to both Woodrow and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau.
He spoke of stopping at one point and Maddaus taking over the driving. He said also, Maddaus ran back to where Peterson was, running by him crouched, as though he were going to shoot him in the head. But he didn’t hear any more gun shots, he said.
The two men drove to Rochester, to the home of a friend of Maddaus’s named “Josie”, Tremblay said.
There, Maddaus put gasoline on his arms to get rid of gunpowder and took a shower, Tremblay testified.
•••
Read about:
• Inside the apartment that night, here
• The robbery at Maddaus’s Rochester mobile home, here
• Day one of Maddaus’s trial, here
• Why the first jury pool had to be dismissed, here
• Why Maddaus was convicted of just simple possession in Lewis County last month, here
• How Maddaus refused to testify against Robbie Russell in September, here
• How Russell and Maddaus tried to outrun sheriff’s deputies a week and a half after Peterson’s death, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter