By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
OLYMPIA – Two individuals testified yesterday Matthew Tremblay told them he was the one who shot 40-year-old Shaun Peterson, after a Rochester man was jailed and charged with Peterson’s death in Olympia.
Shaun A. Peterson
Robert J. Maddaus Jr., 41, of Rochester, is on trial for first-degree murder in Thurston County Superior Court. Tremblay, 30, has testified he was with Maddaus the night Peterson died, but said Maddaus fired the shots.
Maddaus was a supplier to Tremblay and Peterson, who both were drug dealers, according to previous testimony.
Peterson was found handcuffed and fatally shot early the morning of Nov. 16, 2009 on Capitol Boulevard in Olympia. Maddaus had been trying to track down who’d robbed his Rochester mobile home of five pounds methamphetamine and $30,000, according to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau.
Robert J. Maddaus Jr.
As the trial moves through its third week, Maddaus’s attorney Richard Woodrow has begun calling witnesses for the defense.
Kyle G. Collins, 27, took the stand yesterday and described running into Tremblay about two months after the homicide, and driving around smoking methamphetamine together.
They had a conversation about it, Collins testified.
“He started crying, said it was an accident and said he was the one that shot Shaun Peterson,” Collins said.
Another witness, 23-year-old Miguel Rodriguez yesterday described meeting with Tremblay in December 2009 at a Motel 6 to purchase methamphetamine.
They talked about what happened in Olympia the month before, Rodriguez said.
Tremblay kept saying he knew Maddaus didn’t shoot Peterson, Rodriguez testified.
He said, because he was the one that killed him, Rodriguez said.
Also in court yesterday, a man who described himself as Tremblay’s drug dealing partner told the jury he was asked to retrieve what he thought was the murder weapon from Tremblay’s motel room soon after the shooting.
David “Nate” Hoffman testified he had his girlfriend pick it up and he made plans with Tremblay to leave town.
Two other witnesses testified yesterday being told by people who were in the Capitol Boulevard apartment of Dan Leville and Falyn Grimes that Maddaus was inside when the shots were heard outside. Leville and Grimes have testified both Maddaus and Tremblay were outside with Peterson.
Maddaus is charged with first-degree murder, four counts of witness tampering and unlawful possession of a firearm. He is also charged in the same case with attempted kidnapping and second-degree assault of a 25-year-old woman he suspected of being involved in stealing his drugs and money.
•••
Read about:
• Tremblay testifies Maddaus shot Peterson, here
• 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