Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – While a judge last month authorized the release of the body of a 3-year-old boy whose October death has been ruled a homicide, it remains at the Lewis County Coroner’s Office because the parents don’t agree on which funeral home to use.

Coroner Warren McLeod is asking a judge to intervene.

Jasper Henderling-Warner

“This is something we’ve never come across,” McLeod said. “All I want is for Jasper to be released so he can be at rest.”

Jasper Henderling-Warner died from what the coroner called chronic battered child syndrome. The Vader couple who were caring for him, Danny and Brenda Wing, remain jailed pending a trial.

McLeod said his office has been in contact with the child’s mother, Nikki Warner who lives in the Vancouver area and his father, Casey Henderling who resides in Kelso. They are not married. The two agree Jasper should be cremated and his ashes split between them, McLeod said.

She wants to use a mortuary in Battle Ground, he’s picked out one in Longview, he said.

McLeod said state law allows him to release a decedent to the surviving parents, but doesn’t specify anything further such as the parent who has custody. He’s holding on to the body until he knows which funeral home to turn it over to, he said.

Last week, McLeod filed a civil action in Lewis County Superior Court. McLeod on Tuesday said he understands the papers would be served upon each parent this week. Then they have 20 days to respond.

The mother told detectives she and the Wings agreed they would be his guardians for a year beginning at the end of July, that she was homeless and traveling out of state to look for work.

Jasper died Oct. 5; the Wings were arrested Nov. 7 and charged with homicide by abuse; or, in the alternative, first-degree manslaughter.

The coroner said his office kept the boy’s body following the autopsy, in case defense attorneys wanted to conduct a second examination, which sometimes happens. On Jan. 28, McLeod was notified he no longer had to hold Jasper for the criminal case.

He said his office has been in contact with Jasper’s parents by phone, by email and even tried to get them in a room together to settle their disagreement.

“We’ve gone as far as we can go, we’re at an impasse,” he said.

Centralia City Manager Rob Hill, wearing cap, huddles with the five finalists for police chief after a public gathering at the train depot.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – In suits, ties and shiny shoes, they chatted, shook hands and answered questions from a small number of people who came out to meet them last night; the five men hoping to become Centralia’s next chief of police.

The short meet and greet in a conference room at the Centralia train depot followed a day of interviews from one panel of department heads and another comprised of select members of the community.

Newly elected Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza said he was kind of excited to see who would end up getting the job.

“We’re fortunate to have this caliber of candidates,” Snaza said. “We’re all about us working together.”

Snaza was one of five who had spoken to the finalists earlier in the day. Joining him in the interviews were Jenny Collins, executive director of the Visiting Nurses Foundation; Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer; Lacey Police Department Chief Dusty Pierpont; and Centralia College Athletic Director Bob Peters.

Centralia City Manager Rob Hill likewise seemed enthusiastic about the quality of the individuals he has to choose from.

“I’m pretty confident our next chief will come out of this group,” Hill said.

Centralia Police Department Chief Bob Berg is retiring in May, after 11 years in the job. With assistance from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, the city began a nationwide search in December, and screened applications from 20 individuals.

The pay for the head of the department with 31 commissioned officers in Lewis County’s most populated city was advertised as between about $100,000 and $122,000.

Two of the group come from the banks of Lake Michigan.

James Held has been chief of the Lake Forest (Illinois) Police Department for almost three years, an organization with 40 sworn officers.

Thirty miles to the south, Lt. Maury Richards has been with the Chicago Police Department for 23 years.

Carl Nielsen is a captain, and second in command at the Turlock Police Department in California’s central valley.

Closer to home, Rod Baker comes from the Pierce Transit Police Department, which he created. Baker is on a yearlong sabbatical to get his degree in criminal justice administration

And from inside the Centralia Police Department, Cmdr. James Rich is hoping to become its next chief.

Rich, with 33 years of law enforcement experience, said the agency has made huge strides in the past 10 to 15 years. He wants to help see it continue down that path, he said.

Hill planned to conduct his interviews today, and expects to do his background checking in person, on one or more of his final choices, he said.

He has no set date for when he will make his decision, he said.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A casket was found wedged in a Lewis County creek over the weekend and authorities don’t yet know whether it contains a body.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said he was notified of the discovery on Sunday night and waded out to take a look at it yesterday.

“We can’t tell if it’s occupied or not,” McLeod said.

The steel gray casket is partially submerged, the foot end driven into the creek bottom, almost as if deposited there by raging floodwaters, he said.

He’s meeting, probably tomorrow, with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue coordinator to make a plan to pull it out, he said.

He has no idea how long it’s been there.

McLeod said it is a creek off the Newaukum River, on private property, but wouldn’t disclose the location.

“I don’t want people going there,” he said.

It could be that it washed out of a burial spot on private property upstream or it could be something that someone owned and was never used, he said.

McLeod said he’s been making inquiries and is unaware of any public cemetery in the area, but he is checking with the county health department which would have registered any burials on private property.

The lid is damaged, he said, and it’s even a possibility any remains it contained have escaped. He won’t know until they retrieve it, he said.

McLeod said he has learned that steel caskets sometimes have a tube attached to the exterior, inside which a funeral director would have placed identifying documents if it had been used for a burial.

It was found by somebody who likes to fish on the Newaukum, and was out walking on a neighbor’s property checking out damage from the last flood, he said.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Police seized cars, trucks, firearms and a den full of mounted animal heads from an Onalaska couple who allegedly admitted using proceeds from an overgrown personal medicinal marijuana operation to generate approximately $136,000 per year.

When James L. Arnold and Laveta L. Arnold were contacted last week at their home on the 200 block of Griel Road, they told officers they’d been growing it for more than 15 years, but during the past five have been selling it for profit, according to the Centralia Police Department.

A search warrant was served last Thursday morning, with Centralia police, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies and the SWAT Team.

They turned up more than 40 pounds of marijuana processed and packaged  for sale with a street value of at least $2,000 per pound, according to police. In a shop building, they located what police described as an elaborate indoor garden with 614 plants, according to police detective Patty Finch.

The state medical marijuana law allows for up to 15 plants or 24 ounces for a qualifying patient.

According to court documents, the couple initially agreed to cooperate with law enforcement, but a detective learned James Arnold was warning people he had said he’d help apprehend, and they were arrested on Tuesday.

The Arnolds were charged in Lewis County Superior Court with manufacture of marijuana, possession with intent to to deliver and with money laundering on Wednesday. Prosecutors contend it occurred within 1000 feet of school grounds and while armed with deadly weapons.

Detective Finch says the case will also be referred to the Internal Revenue Service for investigation of possible tax fraud and to state authorities for business tax evasion.

Bail was set at $25,000 for James and at $10,000 for Laveta. Their arraignments are scheduled for next Thursday at 3 p.m.

According to police and court documents, James, 55, owns Alpha Marine Installations based at the home, is a vice president of a medical marijuana dispensary in the Olympia area called Urban Medicinals as well as another location in the Tacoma area.

Among the five vehicles seized were a 1948 Ford hot rod pickup and a 1969 Chevy Corvette, according to Finch. The 33 guns included hunting rifles, assault rifles and handguns, Finch states.

Finch says Arnold admitted to purchasing all or part of the vehicles with proceeds from his marijuana growing operation, as well as financing numerous hunting safari trips to Africa to hunt large trophy animals.

Approximately 30 mounted animal heads were also taken from the home.

Law enforcement officers collected computers, personal and banking records and growing equipment along with some personal property and cell phones that all appear to be proceeds from the growing operation, according to Finch.

Court documents state Centralia Police Department’s Anti-Crime Team and the sheriff’s office opened a money laundering operation regarding the couple in between December and January, related to the sale of marijuana. Finch said in a news release last week’s search warrant followed several months of investigation.

The couple has no previous criminal history, according to their court files.