Denise R. Salts answers questions from Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Denise R. Salts was tentative with many of her answers on the witness stand today, but more certain on a three points.
Salts, 52, said she recalled hearing only one gunshot that night while she was outside watering her tomato plants.
She said she went in through her back door and saw Ryan McCarthy at the dining room table, her longtime boyfriend David West Sr. sitting on the floor and John A. Booth standing facing the living room with his arms crossed.
“I didn’t see him have a gun in his hand, but he is the one who shot me,” Salts said identifying Booth as the man sitting at the at the defense table.
Salts was the lone survivor when she and three others were shot at her Wings Way home near Salkum in August 2010.
The first week of Booth’s triple-murder trial in Lewis County Superior Court came to a close with a little more than an hour of her testimony.
Salts spent about 19 days at Madigan Hospital with a life-threatening gunshot wound through her face, according to the doctor who treated her.
It was a small entry wound to the right of her nose, but the bullet fractured her jaw and other bones before exiting behind her left ear, according to Dr. Brian Chen.
As Salts was transported to the hospital on Aug. 21, 2010, her 52-year-old boyfriend, his 16-year-old son and a 50-year-old friend lay fatally wounded in her house, which was transformed into an active crime scene.
“She’s undoubtedly the strongest woman I’ve ever known,” her friend Pam Ferry said during an afternoon break in court proceedings. “And the fragile-ist at the same time.”
Ferry said she was referring to Salts’ strength to face Booth in court.
Ferry noted how much her friend’s life had changed.
“She gets frustrated, because she can’t remember things,” she said.
Salts said she lives in Randle now. She had lived at the Salkum-Onalaska area home less than a year when the homicides took place, she said.
That day, she said under questioning by Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher, she had gone to town and returned around 10 p.m.
Her friend John Lindberg showed up about a half hour later, she said. Tony Williams, 50, had come over around 7 p.m., she said.
She didn’t know Booth and McCarthy, except they had come to the house once before about two weeks earlier with Robbie Russell, she said.
She thought about five minutes elapsed from the time she went inside and before she was shot, she said.
“I see Dave, Dave was sitting down on the floor,” Salts said. “I knew something was wrong.”
She recalled Booth coming towards the back door and saying to her ‘are you gonna call the cops?’ she said.
She said she asked him to leave.
Under questioning by defense attorney Roger Hunko, Salts said she was near the refrigerator and Booth pushed her.
“I was coming through the door, I was right by the fridge, his arms were like this” she said crossing her arms, “And I got shot.”
When asked how close Booth was to her, she held her hands about two and half feet apart.
Salts testified that after Booth and McCarthy left, her boyfriend was alive. She lay on the floor for what felt like hours, she said.
“I tried to, I tried to move myself over to Dave,” she said. “I was too weak to go far.”
Yes, she had previously said she thought she had seen McCarthy with a gun, she said. And she told a deputy she thought he had a machete also, she testified.
Did she remember telling detective Bruce Kimsey she had been outside taking care of her goats and horses? Hunko asked her.
“I was not taking care of my goats and horses, I was watering my tomato plants,” Salts said. “The horses were chores the kids did.”
Do you recall when you talked with Kimsey, you said Booth said “how ya doing?” and then you got shot? Hunko asked her.
“I guess,” Salts said.
Do you recall how many shots you heard from outside? she was asked.
“One,” Salts replied.
Her friend Lindberg has previously testified that that night, West Sr. asked him if he had any money on him, money Lindberg was certain West Sr. was going to hand over to Booth.
Lindberg described he was two steps behind West Sr. after West Sr. grabbed a shotgun from his bedroom, walked down the hallway, cocked it, and aimed toward the dining room table, trying to get Booth and McCarthy to leave.
That’s when the shooting began and Lindberg fled to a back bedroom, which he later escaped from after the shooting ended, according to Lindberg.
Booth, 32, is charged with the attempted murder of Salts, second-degree murder of West Sr., first-degree murder of David “D.J. West Jr. and first-degree murder of Williams.
He is also charged with attempted extortion. Prosecutors allege he and McCarthy were “taxing” West and others on behalf of Robbie Russell.
McCarthy, 30, has been sent to prison for 14 years after a plea agreement, where he did not admit guilt.
Russell, early on named a person-of-interest in the triple homicide, was not charged in the case, but was sent to prison following unrelated convictions.
Testimony is scheduled to resume on Monday morning.
Also on the witness stand today were:
• Jennifer Dahlberg, a forensic scientist, who said she found DNA on a gun she was asked to test that came back positive for Booth.
• Shawna Trent Booth who was asked to identify a cell phone as her husband’s but said she couldn’t.
• Gregory Sage, who said he knows Booth as “Big Six” from working out at a gym testified that Booth phoned him in August 2010 and; “He said a guy pulled a shotgun on me and I had to drop him.”
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
I sometimes wonder where justice stops and just us begins when the prosecuter decided not to seek the death penalty for booth for his role in these murders the grownups is one thing they were in the game and new the consequences but when he took the 15 year old boy put him on his knees begging for his life then shot him executional style while his dad watched was pure malice and there shouldn’t have been any other option but the death penalty what gives the prosecuter the right to decide when even the judge said that if there ever was a clear cut case for the death penalty in lewis county this would be it I wonder if it is all about the money the prosecution claims it would cost 1 million dollars to try booth for capital murder and didnt want to spend the money but will spend 3 million over the next few years for his appeals and legal issues but has no problem spending the money to try robert lusk for murder in his role of death by sales for selling some herion that claimed a life sure he should be held accountable for his action but murder I dont think so manslaughter or delivery maybe.
Well, Diddles, if you’re “tired of hearing about Booth,” there’s no law that says you HAVE to read Sharyn’s coverage of his trial. Unless Kim Jong-Il has taken over the government, none of this is required reading…you’re free to entertain yourself elsewhere. You’d love Pyongyang: They aren’t covering this trial at all there.
I concur with George and Jennifer. Kudos!
Diddles, I’m pretty sure you meant to say “We’re tired of hearing about Booth. Move on. Booth is a loser. We’re tired of hearing about him.” Or at least that’s what I’m reading…
But speak for yourself. Sharyn is doing an awesome job keeping us informed about what is going on in our community, and this horrific event is very much a part of our community. Many people want to hear all the facts as they get presented, and they want to find out about the outcome of the trials.
Thank you, Sharyn.
were tierd of hearing about booth move on. booth is a looser were tierd of hearing about him
thanks for the great continued coverage of this case! i know that I personally read this daily to see the latest developments! with the cost of fuel we cant all be at the court house, so Sharyn, thanks for keeping us all updated! you do a great job!