By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The Olympian reports that a Rochester woman said she can’t think of anyone who would want to hurt her after a possible explosive device was found in her vehicle’s gas tank this this morning.
News reporter Jeremy Pawloski wrote today that bomb squad technicians investigated.
For more, read “Explosive device left in Rochester car prompts inquiry” from The Olympian on Tuesday Sept. 27, 2011, here
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
BNSF Railway is continuing to inspect its rail line “around the clock” after the discovery yesterday of tampering in between Vancouver, Wash. and Chehalis.
“We’re looking at all aspects, all components of our railroad structures and bridges,” BNSF spokesperson Gus Melonas said at mid-day.
They are keeping on eye on the north to south tracks affected yesterday as well as throughout the Pacific Northwest, Melonas said.
Freight and passenger train traffic was shut down after the first incident was reported about 11 a.m. yesterday at the Longview Junction, according to Melonas.
The tracks were reopened in the early afternoon after inspections.
BNSF is being vague about the nature of the tampering; Melonas wouldn’t say if it caused any equipment malfunctions.
He did say there have been no interruptions of service since they reopened.
The tracks carry about 50 trains daily, 10 of which are Amtrak passenger trains.
The freight trains carry all manner of loads, including hazardous materials “from A to Z,” Melonas said, although he was quick to point out no related fatalities have occurred since 1981.
The railway police are working with outside agencies to ensure the safe movement of trains, he said.
Chehalis and Napavine police said they have had no dealings in their cities with BNSF about the issues, but yesterday about 1 p.m., Winlock Police Chief Terry Williams assisted them in processing some evidence at the north end of town, Williams said.
Williams declined to elaborate in part because he was only helping with another agency’s investigation.
Melonas declined to say if BNSF was also working with Homeland Security, only saying it’s not uncommon for them to work with local and national agencies.
“We’re not speculating at this point,” he said as to whether the tampering might be related to the dispute the Longview longshoreman are involved with.
BNSF is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to arrest and conviction. Melonas said details can be left at BNSF’s crime line at 1-800-832-5452.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Firefighters called about 10:10 a.m. today to a mobile home fire in Napavine extinguished it quickly but found signs it was intentionally set, according to Lewis County Fire District 5.
Fire Chief Eric Linn said nobody was home when crews arrived but heavy smoke was coming from all ends of the mobile home.
Firefighters put out flames in a couple of the bedrooms and subsequently found three separate areas inside where the fire started and a petroleum-type container, Linn said.
The family – with children – who live there are on their way to the residence now, Linn said.
The single-wide sits in a mobile home park on Forest Lane, off Forest-Napavine Road, according to Linn.
A fire investigator and sheriff’s detectives are examining the scene, he said.
Crews from Fire Districts in Winlock and rural Chehalis assisted, and they managed to save about 80 percent of the home, he said.
Linn said it appeared at least one pet perished, a hamster-type animal.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Law enforcement concluded their investigation into the prison death of a former Lewis County man deciding it was a suicide.
Daniel W. Johnson, 54, was found dead in his cell with a plastic bag over his head at Stafford Creek Corrections Center near Aberdeen in July.
Johnson began his prison sentence in 1993, convicted of murder after a man and a woman were found stabbed to death in a home on Elk Creek Road near Doty. The victims were the resident, Paul Pilz, and his friend Eleanor Warden.
The Grays Harbor County coroner concluded the manner of death was undetermined, finding possible asphyxia and an irregular heartbeat, but the sheriff’s office said today they found several reasons to label it suicide.
Johnson had no defensive wounds, and according to his parents had mental issues and had tried to commit suicide before, Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office detective Sgt. Steven Shumate said.
“It’s a combination of a number of things, we’re very confident it’s a suicide and not a homicide,” Shumate said.
When Johnson was found by his cell mate the morning of July 27, he also had a cord around his neck, but no ligature marks from it, Shumate said.
Shumate said detectives learned Johnson rarely left his cell, and had collected some plastic bags even though the prison had stopped using them some time ago. It was a thin bag that was not secured around his neck, Shumate said.
Correspondence between Johnson and a relative of one of his victims also were looked at, Shumate said.
Johnson was serving a 27-year sentence following the December 1991 deaths in West Lewis County.
Johnson, then 34, had just been released from psychiatric treatment days earlier, and had a five-year psychiatric history, according to court documents.
Coroner Dan Burns said there was nothing to indicate homicide, but the cause of death was arrhythmia – even though there was no disease that would explain it – and a significant condition was the asphyxiation due to the plastic bag.
•••
Read previous story from Saturday July 30, 2011, here
ROLLOVER CRASH ON PEARL STREET BRIDGE
• A 67-year-old Tenino man escaped serious injuries when he swerved to miss either a possum or a cat and rolled his car on the bridge at the 1200 block of North Pearl Street in Centralia last night. Aid and police called about 11:35 p.m. found the Mitsubishi Mirage on its top but the driver had only minor injuries, according to Centralia police. He didn’t hit the animal and was not cited, police said.
SMASH AND GRAB
• Centralia police were called twice yesterday to vehicle prowls in which somebody broke out a side window to get inside. From the 1200 block of Harrison Avenue a purse was stolen and about two hours later a report was taken about a radar detector missing from a vehicle on the 1800 block of Harrison Avenue, according to the Centralia Police Department.
CAR SPRAY PAINTED
• Chehalis police were called yesterday morning to the 1400 block of Southwest Kelly Avenue where someone had spray painted the word “druggy” on a car during the night, with purple paint.
RED CROSS VAN TAMPERED WITH
• Somebody damaged a Red Cross van on the 1800 block of South Market Boulevard in Chehalis apparently trying to siphon gas from it, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
An Elbe-area man was arrested overnight after he reportedly walked into a fire station and said he fatally shot another man on his property and hid the body, according to The (Tacoma) News Tribune.
Reporter Stacey Mulick writes detectives believe the victim is the suspect’s daughter’s boyfriend.
Read Mulick’s news item, here
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The Olympian reports the Centralia mother of the 4-month-old who died on Saturday has been charged with second-degree murder, with aggravating circumstances.
Rachel Bryan, 20, was arrested last week and her baby taken to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma with head injuries.
News reporter Jeremy Pawloski writes that four days before the infant was hurt, Child Protective Services began investigating if she was a fit mother.
Read Pawloski’s story here
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