Posts Tagged ‘By Sharyn L. Decker’

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Onalaska man accused in fatal shooting of suspected burglar goes before a judge

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
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Ronald A. Brady speaks with his lawyer Don Blair Tuesday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A judge ordered Ronald A. Brady yesterday to turn in all his firearms to the sheriff’s office.

The Onalaska man appeared in Lewis County Superior Court on felony charges, six months after he reportedly opened fire on two suspected burglars at his Onalaska house killing one of them.

Brady, 60, is charged with first-degree manslaughter and first-degree assault for the events that left 56-year-old Thomas McKenzie of Morton dead outside Brady’s house. McKenzie’s wife, Joanna McKenzie, 32, escaped uninjured.

Brady said very little in court yesterday, as his attorney Don Blair addressed bail for his client.

“Mr. Brady is 60 years old, he’s lived in Lewis County for 20 years,” Blair told the judge. “It’s been six months since the occurrence; if he wanted to he could have moved to Costa Rica – if he had a passport.”

Judge James Lawler ordered a $50,000 unsecured appearance bond. Among the conditions of release pending the outcome of the case was that Brady cannot possess any firearms.

According to charging documents, Brady admitted shooting at the pair outside his house he was renovating on the 2100 block of state Route 508, describing to deputies opening his garage door and finding two flashlights shined in his face.

He told sheriff’s detectives he was staying overnight at the house in case burglars from earlier in the day returned. Brady resides in a nearby rental home.

Thomas McKenzie died from a gunshot wound to his chest and leaves behind nine children and other family members.

Brady’s neighbors, Jack and Sharon Tipping, were in the Chehalis courtroom to show support for their neighbor and tenant.

Brady began renting from them almost 15 years ago after his house burned down and has resided alone as he has been rebuilding his house, the couple said.

“He’s a friendly enough guy, not outgoing, a bit of a recluse,” Jack Tipping said after the brief hearing. “He’s a good neighbor, he’s a fine upstanding person. I think it’ just an unfortunate thing that happened.”

Jack Tipping said Brady phoned him the night it happened to let him know why there were flashing lights and police cars at his house.

Brady’s home had been broken into before, as has the Tippings, the couple said.

“We’ve all been burglarized before and people don’t have a lot of sympathy for burglars, my self included,” Jack Tipping said.

Brady is scheduled to return to court for his arraignment on Oct. 21.

•••

This news story was updated at 9:55 a.m. on Wednesday Oct. 13, 2010
•••

For more of the details of what prosecutors allege happened, read the Sept. 24, 2010 story “Onalaska man charged in April’s fatal shooting of suspected burglar” here

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Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

TOLEDO HOME SAVED FROM FIRE THAT BURNED GARGE TO THE GROUND

• A blaze yesterday morning in Toledo destroyed a detached garage but a nearby house sustained only minimal damage. Firefighters from Lewis County Fire District 2 were called about 9 a.m. to the 100 block of Cooper Road off state Route 505. “We went right to the house, the garage was already on the ground and the back side of the house had already started to burn,” Fire Lt. Tracy Summers said. The residents were not home at the time. Firefighters from Winlock and Vader assisted. A lot of tools and motor parts were lost, according to Fire Investigator Jay Birley. He said this morning he doesn’t yet know what caused the fire.

GRAFFITI IN CENTRALIA

• Centralia police yesterday took two reports of spray-painted graffiti on the outsides of buildings. One was on the 100 block of West First Street and the other on the 200 block of South Pearl Street. Centralia police Sgt. Stacy Denham said one of them contained the word “Sensa.” Denham said he is not sure what was meant by it, but said it is a martial arts term for a teacher or boss.

THEFTS AND BREAK-INS

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday somebody stole more than $6,000 of items from a storage shed on the 400 block of Conrad Road in Winlock. A deputy took a report Saturday evening and learned that among the items missing were a power tools, a Kawasaki motorcycle, televisions, a floor jack and a propane tank. Damage done to wiring, gas lines and a sewer hose totaled an estimated $1,800, according to the report. The victim lives out of town and the break-in apparently occurred in previous weeks.

• A deputy took a report on Saturday about a break-in to a shop on the 700 block of Gish Road in Onalaska. Among the items stolen were a miter saw, a Stihl chainsaw and five sets of drive sockets, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. it had occurred sometime in the previous two to three weeks.

• Somebody broke the window of a Honda Civic and left the glove box open after it was left broken down Sunday evening on the side of the road near Old Highway 99 and the Oregon Trail Road, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. The Chehalis woman who owns the car had removed the stereo and put it in the trunk, and nothing was missing, the sheriff’s office reported.

POLICE CHIEF BERG TEACHES, LEARNS ABOUT NEW TECHNOLOGY

• Centralia Police Chief Bob Berg was among some 30 law enforcement officers who attended a rural law enforcement technology institute last week, an event held in Coronado, Calif. which Berg called innovative and informative. Among the topics of discussion were crime mapping, records management, communications, and technologies related to patrol vehicles, aviation and digital video, according to a news release yesterday. Participation was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice, according to the news release. Berg was a presenter as well, speaking about implementing electronic ticketing. Berg noted the most beneficial aspect was the interaction with his contemporaries. “I found that other departments are facing the same issues that we encounter and that there are some good solutions out there that are reasonable in cost,” Berg said in the news release. “Moreover, it reinforced my belief that the Centralia Police Department is in the forefront of implementing and using new technology for law enforcement.”

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Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Monday, October 11th, 2010

TOLEDO COUPLE FINDS THEIR HOUSE TRASHED

• A pair of Toledo residents returned home Saturday evening to find someone had dumped paint throughout their house on the walls, floors and furniture, as well as left writing with a black permanent marker in various places including the walls and appliances. The damage, which added up to an estimated $50,000, also included three televisions – one which was struck by a hammer – several broken windows and bleach and vinegar poured around the home, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Somebody also fired a shot through a window, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said this morning. It happened on the 500 block of state Route 506 sometime between Friday and Saturday evening, Brown said. The suspect, the 38-year-old daughter of one of the residents, was interviewed in the Pacific County Jail and admitted the damage, Brown said. She was not arrested, but the case was referred to the prosecutor’s office for charges of first-degree malicious mischief and theft of a firearm, according to Brown.

UNRULY ARRESTEES

• Centralia police booked a 29-year-old Rochester man into jail Saturday afternoon after he reportedly kicked out the rear window of a patrol car. Ryan A. McCarter, of Rochester, was arrested for second-degree malicious mischief. It followed a contact with an officer about 4 p.m. on the 700 block of West Cherry Street. Why he was put in the patrol car was not reported by police.

• A wanted man found hiding in a closet was uncooperative and damaged a patrol car when he banged his head against the side window and plastic divider early Saturday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies responding to a tip on the whereabouts of John T. Malantich went to a residence on the 200 block of Newaukum Valley Road in Chehalis about 5 a.m. Saturday to arrest him for a warrant, according to the sheriff’s office.

OUT-OF-TOWNERS MAKE GETAWAY INTO DEAD END

• While Chehalis police take reports virtually every day of shoplifting, most often from Wal-Mart, a trio of individuals made their job a little easier on Saturday afternoon by fleeing north in their vehicle towards Home Depot and to the car dealership where the road dead-ends. Officers were called about 3:35 p.m. by a witness who saw two men run out of the store and hop into a waiting van, according to police. As police were responding, the van, being followed by a witness, got turned around and was stopped just beyond the northbound entrance to Interstate 5 at Chamber of Commerce Way, detective Sgt. Rick McNamara said. Police recovered two DVD players. The three were arrested for third-degree theft, a misdemeanor, and then released. They are Calvert R. Anderson, 27, of Lacey; Nicole D. Haas, 21, of Lacey; and Jeffrey A. Bennett, 30, of Tumwater, McNamara said.

PAIR PUNCHED BY PASSING STRANGERS

• Another type of call that keeps Centralia and Chehalis police fairly busy is misdemeanor assault, however, the assailants are not usually strangers, and it most commonly involves bar fights on the weekends, according to detective Sgt. Rick McNamara. However, an officer was called about 2:20 a.m. on Saturday to the 400 block of North Market Boulevard in Chehalis after a male reported two males walking by punched him and his friend in the head. The two subjects were not found, McNamara said.

10-YEAR-OLD GIRL LOCKED UP FOR ALLEGED ASSAULT

• Centralia police arrested a 10-year-old girl for felony assault on Saturday afternoon. A summary of the incident from the Centralia Police Department does not make note of the type of alleged assault, but the girl was taken to the Lewis County juvenile detention facility following contact with an officer about 3 p.m. on the 1100 block of Scammon Creek Road, according to police. Centralia police Sgt. Stacy Denham later said the child was angry at her mother’s boyfriend and when the mother returned home and began to deal with the issue, the girl threw a jar at her mother, which missed but struck her younger brother in the head. He had to get stitches, Denham said. The girl was arrested for second-degree assault. Denham said children between the ages of zero and eight are incapable of committing a crime in the eyes of the courts, and those 8 to 12 years old are presumed incapable as well, but sometimes can be found through a lengthy process as knowledgeable and mature enough to be charged with a crime.

DRUGS

• Gary L. Lohr, 64, of Centralia, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail overnight for possession of methamphetamine, according to the Centralia Police Department. The arrest followed a contact just before 3 a.m. near the 2400 block of North Pearl Street.

• Police took a report of the theft of prescription medications from a residence on the 2900 block of Mount Vista Road on Friday afternoon. Just before 3 o’clock the following morning, an officer took another report of the theft of medication – and a cell phone – from an address on the 1100 block of West Chestnut Street.

CAMPAIGN SIGN THEFT

• Chehalis police were called Friday afternoon and told all of an individual’s campaign signs were missing from Northeast Kresky Avenue. Lewis County Assessor Dianne Dorey’s signs seemed to have vanished from elsewhere in town as well as from Centralia and around the county, according to the report.

LOG TRUCK LOSES LOAD ON BRIDGE

• Nobody was injured but a Honda Civic ran into a log on the roadway after a Centralia truck truck driver spilled his load of logs on U.S. Highway 101 north of Humptulips in Grays Harbor County on Friday, according to the Washington State Patrol. William E. Mattox, 50, was southbound and attempting to pass another vehicle when he overcorrected and lost his pup trailer and logs on the Humptulips Bridge, according to the state patrol. It happened just before 6 a.m. He was cited for driving too fast, the patrol reported. The Honda, being driven by a 21-year-old woman, was totaled.

•••

Sirens was updated at 10 a.m. on Tuesday Oct. 12, 2010

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Commentary: The Ronda Reynolds case is now a book

Monday, October 11th, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Ronda Reynolds’ mother is accompanying true crime writer Ann Rule on a book signing tour as the hardcover edition of Rule’s take on the 1998 death of the former trooper in Toledo is released.

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"In the Still of the Night" by Ann Rule

The two women will be in San Antonio, Texas tomorrow and then on Saturday at a book signing in Spokane, Barb Thompson’s hometown.

“In the Still of the Night” opens in the Chehalis courtroom this past November and travels back more than a decade to the days before Christmas in 1998 when Reynolds was found with a bullet in her head on the floor of a walk-in closet inside her home.

I wish I could write a review, but I haven’t read the book yet.

Thompson has read it and says Rule told her daughter’s story very, very well.

“I would rate it as one of the best she has written – not because it is about my daughter but it is a very heartfelt, very compelling story and she told it so eloquently,” Thompson said in a note to me late last month.

She also wrote that Rule told more about her than she would have preferred, but said it was a small price to pay to get the story out there.

Ronda Reynolds

Thompson said she expects Rule will have a book signing at Centralia College “at some point” and perhaps another local bookstore, but no dates had yet been set.

In the meantime, it looks like it can be ordered online now, from the publisher, Simon & Schuster, from Amazon.com and others.

The curious can read parts of it online on both those web sites including the lengthy “foreword” and what looks like the entire first chapter.

I am very much looking forward to reading it as I’ve followed the case since I began working at The Chronicle almost a decade ago. It’s a story I’m very proud of.

Not long after I was hired to cover crime at the newspaper, executive editor Michael Wagar – who was fairly new there at the time – told me, there’s something I want you to look at.

This woman, he said and I’m paraphrasing, said her daughter was killed and it was labeled a suicide and she couldn’t get the newspaper’s previous editor to write about it.

I began going through the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports – at least one binder Thompson had gotten through a public disclosure request – and saw an incredibly interesting story there to be told.

Apparently the prevailing thinking had been, “we don’t write about suicides.” Well sure, I thought, the fact that an individual has committed suicide in and of itself is not necessarily newsworthy.

But at that time, in mid-2001, the sheriff’s office had reopened the case, asking outsiders to review it, and had gotten the Lewis County coroner to change the death certificate from suicide to undetermined. Of course it was newsworthy, whether or not it was currently being examined by a team of specialists at the state Attorney General’s Office.

But here’s what followed. Then-Sheriff John McCroskey, maybe the most charming and most popular elected official in the county, put some amount of pressure on my editor not to report and write the story. At least, McCroskey asked, just wait and write what happens after the Attorney General’s Office decides what they think about it.

We didn’t wait.

We published the story in early 2002 and continued to cover it over the years as Thompson eventually got the courts to allow an unprecedented judicial review of a corners decision.

My news reporting relationship with McCroskey’s office never did get very comfortable or easy. But an important story got told.

I’m thrilled that Rule, probably best known for her book “The Stranger Beside Me” about serial killer Ted Bundy, chose to write about the case. Even more people now will get some insight into the back story of the way that law enforcement and a coroner, at least in one community, at one time, worked together.

Speaking of which, most of you know that after almost 30 years, elected Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson will retire from that position.

Even though a judge, after last November’s judicial review ordered Wilson to change the death certificate and remove the “suicide” label, it’s doubtful Wilson will do so before the end of his term. He’s appealed the order.

However, there are two men running in November to be the next Lewis County coroner.

Warren McLeod and Micheal Hurley said publicly last week at a candidates forum in Adna what they plan to do about the Reynolds’ case if they are elected.

Both said they will change the manner of death to undetermined.

•••

Read my story about the five days in court last November after which “Jury finds coroner erred in ruling former troopers death a suicide” here

Barb Thompson put together a web site called “Justice for Ronda” where you can read her story about the case and see some excerpts from case reports and my very first news story on Jan. 10, 2002. She also added updates over the years to a site called “Real Crimes” which has a message board on it with reader comments.

If you are a subscriber to The (Centralia)  Chronicle, you can read stories beginning in mid-2002 on the case by searching their archives.

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Registered sex offender charged with sneaking into home, sitting on woman’s bed

Saturday, October 9th, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A judge set bail at $250,000 yesterday for a Centralia man accused of sneaking into a neighbor woman’s house while she slept.

Centralia police reported yesterday a woman sleeping with her child woke up about 1 a.m. on Thursday to find a stranger sitting on her bed holding women’s lingerie.

A registered sex offender who lives a block from her on North Pearl Street was arrested later that day at his home.

Michael A. Sanders, 42, has been felony-free for five years and lived at the same address for the past six or seven months, defense attorney Bob Schroeter told the judge yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court as bail was contemplated.

Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes said Sanders became a registered sex offender following a conviction for voyeurism in the year 2000 in Okanogan County.

Hayes said Sanders was convicted of felony harassment in 2003, failing to register as a sex offender four times and for fourth-degree assault, domestic violence in 2005. He also pleaded guilty last month in Chehalis Municipal Court to telephone harassment, for making phone calls of a sexual nature, Hayes told the judge.

Judge James Lawler agreed with Hayes’ concerns about “escalating behavior,” given the allegation the suspect was in the victim’s bedroom, when he decided on the bail amount.

Sanders was charged yesterday with voyeurism and residential burglary with a sexual motivation.

Charging documents in his case give the following account, which is somewhat different than Centralia police reported yesterday.

The woman was asleep with her child and when she woke up, a man sitting on her bed reached toward her head with one hand while holding her lingerie (top and panties) in the other hand.

She grabbed her child, stood up and walked toward the front door, telling the man to follow her.

They exchanged a few words and she closed the door after the man walked outside and then she called her aunt and then 911.

As she escorted him outside, the man looked confused and said, “I was bringing you a pack of cigarettes.”

The woman had asked him how he got inside and he said, “I came in because I heard you say come in.”

Police said they think he came in a window. She told police she had seen the man earlier in the evening sitting at her neighbor’s porch and had given him a couple cigarettes.

Officers initially suspected another man, her neighbor’s son, and the woman identified a picture of that man as the man who came into her house.

Later Thursday, Officer Gary Byrnes showed the woman two photo montages: one with the neighbor’s son and another with Sanders. She pointed out Sanders and said she didn’t know how she could have gotten them mixed up.

Byrnes went to Sanders home, was invited into the kitchen, and arrested him.

Sanders remains in the Lewis County Jail.

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Three guesses as to who got in trouble for the “good-sized” chunk of meth found inside the jail

Saturday, October 9th, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A golf ball-sized chunk of methamphetamine was found inside the Lewis County Jail and authorities say they have traced it back to … Robbie Russell.

Russell, 46, who is being held on three pending cases, was booked into the Chehalis facility in late August after the owner of Jail Sucks Bail Bond Co. decided to revoke Russell’s bonds and brought Russell to the jail.

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Robert Shawn Russell

Russell denies bringing the drug into the jail, and volunteered to tell authorities how it got there, but, after he was charged yesterday with delivery of a controlled substance, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meager said, “I’m not wild about (his) story.”

The charge is a class B felony.

When the accused appeared before a judge yesterday afternoon, his bail was set at $20,000. He is scheduled to make his plea on the charge next Thursday in Lewis County Superior Court.

Charging documents offer two versions of how the meth got inside the lock-up facility, including Russell’s statement a fellow inmate walked by, gave him a handshake and slipped a packet wrapped in paper into his hand. Then Russell gave it away, and gave more away again when it came back into his possession, according to charging documents.

Deputy Prosecutor Meagher said he doesn’t know how the dope got into the jail, but Russell implicated himself as delivering it when he spoke to the detective.

Charging documents offer the following allegations:

It began early last week when one of Russell’s cell mates was caught with the golf ball-sized chunk and then two days later when another cell mate was found in possession of 1.9 grams of methamphetamine after a drug dog was brought in.

Those two inmates both pointed to Russell as the original source of the drug.

Timothy L. Rasmussen and Timothy Baloga spoke to detective Jeff Elder.

Baloga said Russell told him he brought the drugs into the jail with him when he first arrived, hidden “up his kiester”.

Baloga said Russell gave them to Rasmussen, making a deal Rasmussen would take them back out of the jail when he got out, giving half to Russell’s wife and keeping the other half. Rasmussen corroborated some of the latter part of that story.

Rasmussen, 54, from Aberdeen, was charged Monday with possession of methamphetamine. It’s not clear if Baloga has been charged with the same.

Russell, however, describes several times he tried to get rid of the meth, including giving one portion to his cousin and leaving another portion in the bathroom by the handicapped stall and telling Rasmussen he could find it there.

Russell told the detective the original handshaker contacted him again, saying somebody needed to pick up an item in an empty potato chip bag in his cell’s garbage can. It was brought to Russell while he was in the bathroom and he initially concealed it on his body and then placed it in a cup of liquid soap, left it in the bathroom and told Rasmussen about it.

“Russell stated he advised Rasmussen not to give it to anybody inside the jail and to just hang onto it until he was released,” charging documents say. But, Russell told the detective, Rasmussen started handing the drugs out.

Russell said he did tell Rasmussen to give them to his wife, but he was going to notify authorities about Rasmussen having the drugs. And he did.

On the morning of Sept. 27, Russell told a jail lieutenant Rasmussen had a large amount of drugs.

Russell, whose last address was in Centralia, has at least 20 pending felony charges, according to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.

His last felony conviction in Lewis County was in 1998. It was for possession of methamphetamine.

Russell also was implicated by the sheriff as a person of interest in August’s triple homicide in Salkum, but has not been charged with any crime in that case.
•••

Want to read more about Robbie Russell? Just type “Robbie Russell” or “Robert Russell” in the search box near the top right on the home page. He comes up in about 15 different stories in less than four months, including a mid-June arrest where police allegedly found a tennis ball-sized amount of meth in his possession.

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Breaking news: Morton teenager died by homicide, coroner’s office says

Friday, October 8th, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Coroner’s Office has determined 16-year-old Austin King’s death was a homicide.

Austin King

Austin King

The body of the Morton area teenager was found in July off a logging road a month after he disappeared from his home. It took until mid-August for authorities to confirm, though DNA, it was indeed the teenager.

Austin was reported missing June 24. He was initially classified by the sheriff’s office as a runaway, and two or three weeks later re-labeled endangered-missing.

Chief Deputy Coroner Dawn Harris said today the results of an examination by a forensic anthropologist were reviewed by the pathologist who conducted the autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.

All the necessary reports were back in the coroner’s office last Friday, Harris said. “It is a homicide,” Harris said.

Elected Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson put it this way: “Yes, that’s the way it looks right now,” Wilson said. “There’s an ongoing investigation.”

The coroner’s office is not releasing the cause of death at this time at the request of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The teenager was last seen by his mother Christy Harper at about 12:15 a.m. on June 23 when he said goodnight to her and went off to his detached bedroom outside of their mobile home with two buddies to watch television.

His body was found off a logging road some 10 miles from the family’s home in the Tilton River Mobile Home Park. Austin did not have a car, according to the sheriff’s office.

A memorial service for Austin will be held tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the gym at Morton High School. A potluck will follow, according to Austin’s mother.

•••

To read previous coverage of Austin King’s case, see below:

• “Breaking news: Morton area body confirmed as missing teenager Austin King, sheriff’s office says” from Friday Aug. 20, 2010

• “Park filled with mourners for missing Morton teenager Austin King” from Saturday July 24, 2010

• “News brief: Specialist to help examine body found near Morton” from Thursday July 22, 2010

• “Vigil for Morton teen still on; body found yesterday not identified” from Wednesday July 21, 2010

• “News brief: Body of male found near logging road outside of Morton” from Tuesday July 20, 2010

• “News brief: Sheriff’ office seeks tips to find missing teen” from Thursday July 1, 2010

• “Morton teenager remains missing” from Thursday July 1, 2010

• Also, Roy Stemman, a writer in the United Kingdom, published a story, “Psychic guides searchers to teens body” in his Paranormal Review on July 27, 2010 after interviewing psychic Sonya Grace and Morton resident and search organizer Jennifer Mau, founder of the local chapter of Guardians of the Children.

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