By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The 62-year-old man who died Saturday night on U.S. Highway 12 near Packwood was one of the witnesses in the recently filed murder case against Randle taxidermist Erik Massa.
Donald G. Diemert was dead at the scene of a wreck in which his Pontiac Grand Am struck a guard rail and then crossed the highway and ran into a rock wall.
Donald G. Diemert
Troopers said it was a slow speed crash, not serious enough it should have killed him. His dog traveling with him survived unhurt.
The investigation at the scene ruled out any mechanical failure, according to Washington State Patrol Sgt. Jason Ashley. Troopers are leaning towards some kind of medical issue or something like falling asleep at the wheel, Ashley said.
An autopsy is scheduled for today.
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said Diemert was one of several witnesses and they’ll just figure out how to prosecute the case without him.
Meyer declined to say what testimony Diemert would have offered. He is one of seven people listed in court documents as having given witness statements to detectives.
“Now we’re just looking to keep that story as complete as possible,” Meyer said yesterday.
Massa was charged two and a half weeks ago with second-degree murder for the March 14 death of Guy W. LaFontaine, 58, of Federal Way.
LaFontaine died with two broken eye sockets and other blunt force injuries to his torso and extremities. Detectives found a broken shotgun with blood on it in an empty silo next to Massa’s shop, according to charging documents.
Massa, 43, is free on $25,000 bail and expected in court tomorrow for his arraignment.
Diemert was a retired Boeing worker who was involved in the Back Country Horsemen and formerly an avid boater when he lived in Federal Way, according one of his ex-wives. He moved to the Randle-Packwood area in 1996, Linda Diemert said.
He did contract work such as plowing driveways in the winter and haying in the summer, she said.
The Army veteran who served in Germany and Vietnam was hospitalized for several months after breaking his back and neck in a fall off a barn he was building in the summer of 2009.
He was paralyzed about two months and only got out of the hospital and returned home early last year, according to Linda Diemert.
A neighbor and fellow Vietnam veteran called him a tough old buzzard. The roof accident seemed like a big wake up call to Diemert, Bill Serrahn said in an email message.
“It was pretty amazing how he fought his way back from that,” Serrahn wrote.
Serrahn wrote that Diemert was happy when he saw him last week. He’d been working on his place, met a woman he liked from Yakima and, he had plans.
“The Gods gave him a bonus round of an extra year and a half, but I guess it was time to go,” Serrahn wrote.
Diemert’s dog is being cared for temporarily by his neighbor and ex-wife Lona Westby.
He is survived by two daughters Debra Ann Benfer, 34, of Covington; Bonnie Lynn Taylor, 33, of San Diego; and a sister Charlotte Fuller in Arizona.
Linda Diemert said his burial will be at Mountain View Cemetery in Auburn, though some of his ashes will be scattered at two of his favorite places; the Cowlitz River and Blake Island in Puget Sound.
Instead of flowers, his family is suggesting donations to the Humane Society.
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