Lewis County Sirens.com

The search for bodies at the fire scene on Northeast First Street is a slow process.

Updated at 5:04 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

WINLOCK – The scene was somber as an investigator examined the area inside the blackened shell of what was a two-story house, hovering in the basket of a manlift while firefighters assisted below.

“We believe we have a location of one of the victims,” Winlock Police Department Chief Terry Williams announced shortly after 12:15 p.m.

A woman and two little girls didn’t make it out when fire broke out overnight. A father and two boys are said to be in the care of the Red Cross.

Winlock Police Chief Terry Williams

“It’s just heart wrenching,” Winlock Mayor Lonnie Dowell said.

“My heart goes out to them,” Dowell said. “I can’t imagine losing half my family.”

The north end of the main street through the little town that sits three miles west of Interstate 5 is blocked off today, with barricades and yellow tape.

Chief Williams said the blended family had lived there perhaps a year; they were renting. He didn’t release any names.

“I knew of them,” Williams said.

Former Mayor Glen Cook who operated the machine to help Fire Investigator Samuel Patrick take photos from above, lives just down the street. Cook said when he phoned 911, he could see a little glow at the back of the house. Before he could finish explaining the location to the call taker, flames were coming out everywhere on the first floor, he said.

Another neighbor spoke of an explosion that rocked his house and woke his family up.

Chief Williams was dispatched at 2:45 a.m., just 10 minutes after the fire department was called out. He had only initial information from the man who lived there.

“The father indicated he grabbed the two boys and headed out the door,” Williams said. “She was right behind him, and he told her to get down, get down low.”

She didn’t come out, Williams said.

“He’s not even certain what happened,” Williams said of the father.

The residence, at 807 N.E. First Street, was built in 1904, according to county records. The Lewis County Assessor’s most recent information notes the one bathroomed home as in fair to average condition and heated with space heaters.

A representative of Puget Sound Energy said it was served by natural gas.

The front door of the main floor faced First Street. The house had a sort of basement on the backside, so it could be considered three stories, Williams said. Today, the top floor was gone.

Assisting Williams and his department were detectives from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, Napavine Police Chief Chris Salyers, and members of the fire departments.

They were taking up debris layer by layer, searching for victims. Specialists from the Washington State Patrol came to create a map of the premises, once a suspected victim was found.

A fire investigator for Puget Sound Energy arrived at about noon.

Williams said the oldest of the children is a 9-year-old boy. The school district sent out a message this morning stating they will be providing support as needed to students and staff.

Mayor Dowell said a vigil is going to be held tonight, at the park in the center of town where the giant egg is. Umpqua Bank is accepting donations in an account already set up, he said.

Williams, who has been a police officer in Winlock since 1979, said its the third fire with child victims he can recall.

“They’re never easy, especially when there’s children,” he said.

Update: Just after 4 p.m. today, Chief Williams indicated investigators have recovered the remains of three victims, by way of the department’s Facebook page. The investigation into the cause of the fire will continue, according to Williams.
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For background, read “Possibly fatal house fire erupts in Winlock” from Thursday February 26, 2015 at 6:14 a.m., here

Citizens should expect travel delays on Northeast First Street thorough the day.

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Examining the interior of what was a two-story house.

Marcus T. Dantinne, left, accompanied by attorney Shane O’Rourke, told the judge he was sorry for what he did.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 24-year-old who called in an anonymous bomb threat to a Morton lumber mill and admitted to police he just wanted to get a friend out of work so they could hang out was sentenced today to house arrest.

Marcus T. Dantinne pleaded guilty to threat to bomb property, a felony. He apologized this morning in Lewis County Superior Court.

“I truly am greatly sorry for all the badness I’ve caused throughout this,” Dantinne told the judge. “I’m seeking attention from Cascade Mental Health right now.”

Dantinne, who lives with his mother in Morton, was arrested on Nov. 17, after the scare that shut down Alta Forest Products just north of town of some 60 employees. The company’s mill in Shelton was also evacuated because they didn’t know if the threat was site specific.

Police traced the call to Dantinne who reportedly took the phone apart so he wouldn’t be discovered.

Dantinne spent two days jail before being allowed to wait out his case by posting an unsecured, but co-signed  $10,000 bond. His mother was with him in the courtroom today.

He faced a standard sentencing range of three to nine months of lockup, but the lawyers agreed to recommend he be sentenced as a first-time offender, meaning zero to 90 days in jail.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead and defense attorney Shane O’Rourke agreed he should serve one month, and suggested to the judge he be allowed to do so under electronic home monitoring.

This morning in court, O’Rourke read a letter from Dantinne’s social worker regarding his eligibility for the alternative; she expressed he suffered from severe social anxiety, and that confinement at the county jail would be detrimental.

The young man has several issues, one of which is autism spectrum disorder, but has been very focused on his outpatient treatment, according to the letter.

Judge Nelson Hunt went along with the sentence.

“Kind of a stupid reason for a bomb threat,” Hunt said. “Usually there’s more to it, than I want a day off with my friend.”

Hunt advised him he has lost his right to possess firearms, and ordered him to begin his electronic home monitoring stint by the evening of March 17.

Dantinne will be under supervision for a year, during which he will have to comply with all his treatment requirements, according to Halstead.

Not yet determined, is the amount he will owe in restitution.

Halstead told the judge the mill indicates the hoax cost them a tad bit over $42,000.
•••

For background, read “Authorities: ‘Dumb’ bomb threat brings class B felony charge” from Wednesday November 19, 2014, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – They called it mental health first aid.

Providers from Cascade Mental Health have been teaching local law enforcement officers about the many disorders people are affected by and how to best deal with them in the field, as well as how to obtain resources for them.

Sheriff Rob Snaza

Over the past two weeks or so, 52 officers from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies each got five hours of training at the clinic’s Centralia location, according to the sheriff’s office.

It’s part of partnership between the sheriff’s office and Cascade Mental Health, that is already in place at the jail and is expanding.

Deputies and corrections officers are often the first to see and deal with people suffering from mental health disorders, and they continue to see many of them, according to Sheriff Rob Snaza.

Snaza says the jail is not always the best place for them.

“Law enforcement has a tough job of needing to enforce laws, yet apply basic understanding of mental health disorders to specific situations so they can try to seek appropriate resources to help people,” Snaza stated in a news release announcing the training earlier this week.

Corrections Bureau Chief Kevin Hanson notes in the news release his people and Cascade Mental Health have been working together, well, for many years.

They are in the process of strengthening programs already in place to ensure the best possible outcomes for those affected by mental health issues, according to Hanson.

Hanson recently shared with the Lewis County Board of Commissioners that he and Deputy Chief Bruce Kimsey were accepted as board members at Cascade Mental Health.

Hanson also said regular meetings are now underway for what they are calling Mental Health Alternative Programs, something that is akin to an informal mental health court.

The prosecutors and courts are on board with it, he said.

The sheriff’s office is also developing something called a Crisis Intervention Team / Critical Incident Response Team to work both at the jail and out in the field, according to Chief Deputy Stacy Brown.

Sheriff Snaza is allowing those who are interested to undergo further training in regard to that, according to Brown.

Undersheriff Wes Rethwill told county commissioners at a recent meeting the sheriff’s office is ahead of the curve on what is a huge issue across the state, across the country.

“In the past, they get into the criminal justice system” Rethwill said. “That’s not working, how it’s been handled in the past.”

Detectives and the coroner’s office had to hike into the trees to recover the remains of a female.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Human remains found by a survey crew on a wooded Chehalis hillside yesterday are those of a female, but authorities don’t know who she is.

Chehalis Police Department detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said, after finishing up the recovery today, there were no indications of foul play.

Police were called about 12:45 p.m. yesterday to the 2200 block of Northeast Kresky Avenue after the discovery, about a quarter mile east of the roadway, according to police. Officers hiked into the scene and confirmed the remains were human.

Chehalis detectives, members of the Lewis County Coroner’s Office and a forensic anthropologist spent the morning today collecting evidence and making the removal.

Wilson said the mostly skeletal remains were laying out in the open. There were no signs of a transient camp or something similar, he said.

A little more than four years ago, a homeless man was found dead in his tent in the same general area. He was 67 years old and died of a complication related to cancer.

The area, east of the Yard Birds Mall, is above a swath of property where some earthmoving and cleanup is underway.

Wilson said the police department doesn’t have any missing people. He said he can estimate the individual has been dead around a year, based partly on items they found.

Personal belongings were found near the victim, police said.

The place where she was found was remote, Coroner Warren McLeod said.

“The climb was such a steep angle, the fire department put up ropes for us to hang on to so we wouldn’t fall,” he said.

Both Wilson and McLeod said they found some clues to a possible identity.

“We’re working on a lead on who this person might be,” McLeod said. “We’re going to see if we can find any local dental work or X-Rays.”

The condition of the body is such that no autopsy can be done. McLeod is arranging for the remains to be sent to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office where Dr. Kathleen Taylor, the forensic anthropologist, will examine them.

She will help to try to find out who the female is and do an examination that may help her establish a cause of death, he said.

Police tape blocks off a trail taken to recover human remains today.

Taylor R. Rushton goes before a judge for a bail hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 36-year-old Lewis County man accused of going to a female friend’s workplace and shooting up her unoccupied vehicle will get his chance to make a plea in Lewis County Superior Court on Thursday.

Taylor R. Rushton was arrested last week and ordered held on $50,000 bail.

The arrest came after an investigation of an incident that took place at the beginning of the month at the Chevron station on Mellen Street in Centralia.

Police called about 2 a.m. on Feb. 7 found several small holes in the front quarter panel of Nichole Perry’s small four-door car, according to charging documents.

Charging documents state Perry told police Rushton had shown up about 11 p.m. and accused her of taking his car key and then returned three hours later and fired upon her vehicle.

The clerk said she was inside when she saw the green truck pull up near her car, Rushton get out, pull out a handgun and shoot it four or five times, the documents state.

Charging documents say the green Ford Ranger was last seen approaching the freeway entrance; and another witness described its driver as 5-feet 8-inches tall wearing a baseball cap.

Officers recreating the scene concluded the shots were fired from a close distance and also fired towards the north, so persons walking or driving on Mellen Street could have been harmed, the documents allege.

Police believe the two are or were dating, and but when Rushton appeared in court last week, defense attorney Don Blair said both of them deny ever having any kind of relationship.

Rushton was arrested on Wednesday and on Thursday prosecutors charged him with one count of drive-by shooting, alleging it was a domestic violence incident. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors asked for him to be held on $100,000 bail, citing the dangerousness of the incident. Blair argued against that, noting the rural Chehalis resident has lived here his whole life, has a job and owns his own home.

“He made no efforts to flee, he has no criminal history,” Blair told the judge.

Judge Nelson Hunt said the fact the two denied a dating relationship meant any motive is unknown, necessitating higher bail.

The firearm used had not been located by police, according to the court documents.

Blair said he expected Rushton was going to retain him. His arraignment is Thursday morning.