By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The Kitsap Sun published a story over the weekend saying lawmakers will likely consider giving prison inmates more time off their sentences for good behavior as the state’s budget situation worsens.
Read news reporter Josh Farley’s story here
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Murder suspect Ryan McCarthy appeared in court yesterday afternoon with plans a trial date would be set but instead lawyers for both sides agreed to postpone picking a date as they are waiting for results from the state crime lab.
Ryan J. McCarthy
Olympia defense attorney Rick Cordes said his client would not mind giving up his “speedy trial rights” into April as he has yet to see much of the evidence, such as DNA, ballistics and prints.
McCarthy, 28, is charged with John Allen Booth Jr. in August’s triple homicide in the Salkum-Onalaska area. Both men have pleaded not guilty and remain in the Lewis County Jail.
A week ago, prosecutors upgraded the charges against Booth to include two counts of aggravated first-degree murder, potentially putting the death penalty on the table.
Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher indicated outside the courtroom after the brief hearing it’s not likely charges will be increased for McCarthy.
“There’s a chance, but it’s slim,” Meagher said. “I think Mr. McCarthy is appropriately charged at this point.”
Also yesterday afternoon, Meagher agreed to remove the prohibition against McCarthy being in communication with his wife, a witness in the case.
McCarthy’s wife, who lives in Redmond, and his mother were present for the proceedings in Lewis County Superior Court.
The two men are charged with murder and extortion in connection with the gunshot deaths on Aug. 21 of David J. West Sr. 52, his son David J. West Jr., 16, and Tony E. Williams, 50, of Randle, at the West’s Onalaska area home. Booth is also charged with attempted murder of 51-year-old Denise Salts who lived in the home.
Authorities believe the two men’s visit to the house on Wings Way was related to a drug debt collection.
•••
Read some of the previous stories on the case:
• “Death penalty is on the table” in Salkum slayings from Thursday Sept. 30, 2010 here
• “West Sr. pointed shotgun telling pair of ex-cons to leave his house, triggering triple homicide, unsealed court documents allege” from Saturday Sept. 4, 2010 here
• “Unsealed document: More details on Salkum slayings” from Monday Sept. 6, 2010 here
CENTRALIA WOMAN WAKES UP TO FIND STRANGER SITTING ON HER BED
• Centralia police are reporting this morning about an incident early yesterday in which a woman and her infant woke up to find a stranger sitting on her bed holding women’s lingerie. Officers called about 1 a.m. Thursday to a residence on the 600 block of North Pearl Street learned the woman remained calm and told the intruder she needed to go into another room, according to the Centralia Police Department. The man allowed her to leave and she fled the home with her baby, according to Officer Paul McCormick. Yesterday afternoon, police arrested a 42-year-old registered sex offender who lives a block away as their suspect, McCormick said. Michael A. Sanders was booked into the Lewis County Jail for residential burglary with sexual motivation. McCormick said it appears the intruder came in through a window.
CLOUD OF DUST DRAWS FIRE DEPARTMENT TO POWER PLANT
• Three men working at TransAlta’s power plant outside Centralia were taken to the hospital yesterday after they began coughing and hacking as they were cleaning a very long ventilation shaft. Firefighters called about 11:45 a.m. to the Big Hanaford Road facility concluded that probably a wind gust stirred up a dust cloud from the shaft causing the irritation. Riverside Fire Authority Chief Jim Walkowski said the workers were checked out and taken to the hospital as a precaution. The incident didn’t activate any of the atmospheric monitoring equipment, Walkowski said.
LOGGING EQUIPMENT DAMAGED FROM LOOSENED OIL DRAIN PLUG
• A deputy was called to a logging site west of Centralia after an equipment operator discovered somebody had loosened the oil drain plug on a Cat 245 logging shovel. The vandalism which occurred sometime between 5 p.m. Monday and 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday caused an estimated $26,000 damage, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The site is off the 5000 line off Cooks Hill Road and is being worked by a Montesano-based company called Papac Logging, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. A wrench had also been stolen from another piece of equipment, according to Brown. Brown said this morning it appeared the vandal would have had to have some knowledge of the equipment.
CAR PROWL
• Chehalis police were called about 9 a.m. yesterday to Northeast Summit Avenue about a vehicle prowl.
•••
Sharyn’s Sirens was updated at 10:38 a.m. today Friday Oct. 8, 2010
•••
CORRECTION: The middle initial of the man arrested for allegedly sneaking into a Centralia home where a woman woke up and found him sitting on her bed is “A”. The news item published earlier today incorrectly gave him a different middle initial.
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Commentary: The Ronda Reynolds case is now a book
October 11th, 2010By 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.
"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.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
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