Lewis County Sirens.com

Witness Frank Perkins describes who he saw with the elderly couple after seeing a picture of John Gregory Riffe in the news.

Updated at 7:23 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An individual who told police in 1985 he saw a man with the Maurins inside their car but wouldn’t be able to identify him contacted the prosecutor this week to say he recognized a photo of the now-deceased John Gregory Riffe shown on television news last week.

Frank Perkins, a retired truck stop manager, was one of 10 people who took the witness stand yesterday in the murder trial of Riffe’s brother, Ricky A. Riffe.

Prosecutors contend the Riffe brothers abducted Ed and Minnie Maurin from their Ethel home, and forced them to drive to their bank to withdraw cash before shooting them in the backs with a shotgun. The bodies of Ed, 81, and Minnie, 83, were discovered dumped on a logging road five days later, on Dec. 24, 1985.

Perkins spoke to an investigator that same week, and told him he couldn’t put the people to faces and wasn’t shown any montages of suspects, he testified yesterday. He said he was about 60 feet away from the car.

Back then, he got his news of the case from the radio, he said, but was surprised when he watched a KOMO TV story last week.

“It shocked me because it was like going back 30 years ago,” Perkins said. “I recognized the person I saw in the car on the TV.”

Perkins told the court that the morning of Dec. 19, 1985, the couple pulled up to a gas pump, sat there for a couple of minutes and then drove away.

It was at the truck stop off Interstate 5 exit 72, next to the Rib Eye restaurant, he said. In the back seat of the Chrysler was a light-bearded man in his 20s, wearing an Army jacket, according to Perkins.

“To be honest, I don’t remember, but it must have been around 8:30,” he told  Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead.

It caught his attention, because the automobile went to the pumps farthest from the building, and he always was watching for someone who might leave without paying, he said.

“I saw an older lady and a gentleman driver, and a younger fellow sitting between them in the backseat,” he said.

Perkins testified he normally ran to the bank in Centralia around 10:30 a.m. and he thought it was the usual time that day when he did so, and spotted what he thought was the same bearded man standing off National Avenue by Yard Birds holding a rifle or a shotgun. That person was wearing a dark knit cap, he said.

He knew there were ducks in the nearby swamp, but thought it somewhat brazen to hunt in town, he said. Perkins told defense attorney John Crowley there was no question he saw one person in the backseat of the Maurin’s car.

The Seattle-based attorney told jurors in opening statements last week that out of numerous witnesses, only one claims to have seen his client in the Maurin’s car, someone who was a teenager at the time and didn’t come forward for years.

Riffe, 55, is charged with murder, kidnapping, robbery and burglary. He is charged as a principal and / or as an accomplice to another person.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer told the jury last week in his opening, he would be calling a witness who heard the Riffes planning the crime.

Marty Smeltzer took the witness stand, since after the Maurin’s deaths he told police he overheard the brothers speak of it before it occurred.

Smeltzer testified he and his cousin were at a party on a logging road near Winston Creek back in 1985 and the Riffe brothers were about as far away as the width of the courtroom.

He was questioned by Prosecutor Meyer.

“We were all drinking,” he said. “Me and Matt, we overheard a conversation, gonna kill somebody. And take ’em to the bank, and they was leaving.”

“We didn’t know if it was kill or what,” he said. “But it was kinda obvious, because a week or two …” Smeltzer said, but was cut off by an objection which was sustained.

The lawyers and the judge conversed, in an attempt to phrase questions and get answers specific as to what Ricky Riffe said and what John Gregory Riffe said.

“Was there any conversation from Rick about a bank?” he was asked.

“No,” Smeltzer said.

“What did you hear Rick say about getting money?”

“They was going somewhere. I don’t know. I heard him say, going somewhere to get money,” Smeltzer said.

Under questioning from Crowley, Smeltzer said he told his story to a police officer in Mossyrock, he told it again when an officer visited him at the jail, he told it again to a detective in about 1992 and then last year to sheriff’s detective Bruce Kimsey.

“Are you sure that even happened?” Crowley asked.

“Yes,” came the reply.

Smeltzer told the court he’s slow on remembering, it takes him time, because of a head injury in 1980 when he fell off the roof of a barn.

Under further questioning from Meyer, he didn’t recall where the Riffes said they were going afterward, or what weapon they planned to use.

After borrowing Meyer’s reading glasses, and reviewing a transcript of his statement to Kimsey, his memory was much clearer.

“Alaska,” he said. “They was going to take two elderly people to the bank and get money.

“Yes, they wanted to kill ’em, dispose of the bodies

“It was a shotgun. Sawed off.”

Crowley had him read a passage, his response after Kimsey asked if he swore everything he said was true.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the truth,” Smeltzer read.
•••

Meanwhile, for previous coverage of the trial, if you are on the home page, scroll down

Retired Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Glade Austin answers question from Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead in court.

Updated

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The case of the kidnapping and murder of an elderly Ethel couple almost 28 years ago nearly ended in a mistrial yesterday as a witness blurted out information the judge had said needed to be avoided.

“Clearly that was not the answer I was expecting,” Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead told the judge after the jury was sent out of the courtroom.

Retired Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Glade Austin spent much of yesterday on the witness stand speaking about his role after the December 1985 slaying of Ed and Minnie Maurin, for the trial of longtime suspect Ricky A. Riffe who was arrested last year.

Austin, who retired in early 2002, was present during the debate by lawyers about what he could or could not say on the stand in Lewis County Superior Court.

“It should have been patently obvious to the witness we were not going anywhere near that,” Judge Brosey said. “What do you suggest I do, short of granting a mistrial?”

The issue those in the courtroom heard revolved around a tip that came in early 1991 from now-deceased Robin Riffe, that led investigators to the edge of Lake Mayfield where they dug up pieces of cloth or clothing from an old fire pit.

Austin told the jury he learned Riffe may have buried the items.

“She’s dead, I can’t cross examine her,” Defense attorney John Crowley told the judge.

Crowley called it a testimonial mistake that called for a mistrial, an issue he had already submitted a 20-page pre-trial brief on.

“Now there’s clear hearsay that’s been testified in front of the jury,” Crowley said.

After continued discussion, Judge Brosey denied the motion and prohibited prosecutors when they continued from eliciting any information the source of the information was Robin Riffe.

A jury of 12 plus five alternates are in their second week of a trial that is expected to last through the month. Several portions of yesterday included conversations out of earshot of jurors in which lawyers parsed out how to avoid hearsay evidence in the case of former witnesses who have since died.

Prosecutors have contended Riffe and his now-deceased brother John Gregory Riffe got into the couple’s home, uncovered bank records and forced the couple to go with them to the bank and withdraw money before shooting them in the backs with a shotgun inside their car and dumping their bodies on a logging road. Ed Maurin was 81, his wife was 83.

Austin was a sergeant when the deaths occurred.

Earlier yesterday, Austin spoke of a pair of women, one named Mary Jones who is now dead, working with a sketch artist to create a composite in connection with a man seen walking in the area of the Maurin’s car at which was discovered at Yard Birds. Information on the subject came both in front of the jury and also while the jury was sent out of the room as lawyers and the judge discussed which witness could properly testify to which details.

The sketch itself was held back so it could be introduced when a witness with first-hand information on its creation takes the stand.

Austin said the drawing would have been distributed widely on Dec. 24, 1985, when they still had no suspects.

The sheriff’s office began creating various montages, as the public called in to implicate various people and law enforcement officers offered names of people in the area they had in mind, Austin testified.

“I can’t say for sure exactly what the montages were based on,” he said.

Those in the courtroom heard of at least 14 sets of six photos each which were developed, none of which contained images of either Riffe brother, and that the two women did not select anyone from the montages.

Crowley objected to Austin telling the jury the dead woman didn’t choose anyone, since Crowley wouldn’t be able to cross examine her. He argued her non identification of the first 106 mug shots was non-verbal conduct.

“It’s a back door way of trying to sneak in hearsay,” Crowley said.

Judge Richard Brosey overruled that objection.

During Austin’s day on the stand, he spoke of the various tasks he engaged in during the investigation. He assisted detective Richard Herrington in lifting prints from around the couple’s house on U.S. Highway 12, he testified.

Yes, they found three place settings of tableware in the Maurin’s dishwasher, he said.

“You would naturally want to know who used those dishes,” Crowley suggested.

“It was a question in our minds, yes,” Austin replied.

Austin described taking photos of the Maurin’s abandoned Chrysler in the parking lot of Yard Birds in Chehalis on Dec. 20, 1985 and taking more pictures when their bodies were found off Stearns Hill Road on Dec. 24, 1985.

Three deputies conducted surveillance at the couple’s funeral on Dec. 28, 1985 at St. Francis Mission Catholic Church in Toledo, with one writing down license plates and another video taping in the parking lot and Austin attending the service itself.

On the one-year anniversary of the deaths, someone staked out the logging road on Stearns Hill Road, just in case the perpetrator returned, according to Austin.

Rodney Hadaller was questioned, Russ Hadaller’s name was included on a list as well, according to the former sergeant.

“My recollection is there were three or four people that got our attention, they were all eliminated,” Austin said.

A reward of $10,000 offered in early 1986 brought in even more tips from the public, he testified.

Austin estimated as many as 1,000 tips came in during the first two years, but then the case went cold until 1991, jurors heard.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer, left, and Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead during a break without the jury.

•••

Two of Minnie Maurin’s grown children – standing, center Denny Hadaller and Hazel Oberg – visit during a recess in Lewis County Superior Court.

•••

Ricky A. Riffe’s step-son, Jeremy Kern, sits in the audience behind the defense team in Lewis County Superior Court.

Richard Herrington, with assistance from Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead, displays Minnie Maurin’s house coat.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Testimony continued yesterday in the Ricky A. Riffe double murder trial, with the former Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputy displaying and describing pieces of evidence long-stored in anticipation of an arrest in the 1985 case.

A dozen jurors along with five alternates entered their second week in Lewis County Superior Court, of hearing witnesses discuss the apparent abduction and shotgun deaths of elderly Ethel couple, Ed and Wilhelmina “Minnie” Maurin.

Riffe, 55, is charged with kidnapping, robbery, murder and burglary. He was arrested and charged last year.

Richard Herrington took the witness stand again and told of the items he collected during the autopsy conducted on the couple the same day their bodies were found on a logging road, Dec. 24, 1985.

From 83-year-old Minnie Maurin, Herrington – with assistance from Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead – showed the jury her house coat, dress, white sweater, under garments and one shoe which matched a shoe found on the floor board of the couple’s 1969 Chrysler Newport sedan.

The darkened blood stains were obscured by the clear plastic evidence bags they were contained in.

Herrington displayed 81-year-old Ed Maurin’s clothing and a wallet from his pants containing $39 in bills.

Also collected at the funeral home from Ed Maurin was a Sterling Savings withdrawal slip showing the removal of $8,500 and a remaining balance of a little over $36,000, Herrington testified.

Prosecutors believe Riffe and his now-deceased brother John Gregory Riffe got into the couple’s home, uncovered bank records and forced the couple to go with them to the bank and withdraw money before shooting them in the backs with a shotgun inside their car.

Herrington held up a plastic bag he said contained some double-aught buckshot retrieved by the doctor.

Numerous autopsy photographs were passed to the jurors to see.

Under questioning by Halstead, Herrington said no shotgun shells or casings were found at the Maurin property, at the scene on the logging road or even inside the car.

He spoke of returning to the Maurin’s home on Dec. 21, 1985, the day after the couple’s car was found abandoned in the parking lot of Yard Birds, to “process” the scene again.

He primarily spoke of lifting finger prints, from several Rainier beer cans, pieces of glass from the furnace room floor near a broken window and also from their car.

He was not asked who the prints belonged to.

Relatively few prints were found on and in the Chrysler, according to Herrington.

“Usually I would find a lot more prints than this,” Herrington said.

Testimony is expected to continue this morning.

Ricky A. Riffe, right, listens as his lawyer John Crowley, addresses Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey.