{"id":12545,"date":"2012-05-25T17:00:57","date_gmt":"2012-05-26T00:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=12545"},"modified":"2012-06-02T21:26:20","modified_gmt":"2012-06-03T04:26:20","slug":"breaking-news-boyfriend-held-for-investigation-of-rape-murder-of-centralia-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=12545","title":{"rendered":"Breaking news: Mother’s boyfriend held for investigation of rape, murder of Centralia child"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2012.0525.james.reeder.toddler_2\"<\/a>

James M. Reeder is escorted out of court and back down to the jail.<\/p><\/div>\n

Updated at 11:37 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker
\nLewis County Sirens news reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

CHEHALIS – Prosecutors told a judge this afternoon they believe a Centralia toddler was raped and tortured before she died.<\/p>\n

James M. Reeder, 25, appeared before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon. He is the mother’s live-in boyfriend.<\/p>\n

Reeder was not charged, but was ordered held on probable cause for murder, child rape and assault.<\/p>\n

Koralynn Fister, 2, was pronounced dead at Providence Centralia Hospital yesterday after Reeder carried her to a house across the street and said he found her face down in the bathtub after he stepped out to get a towel. He was arrested last night.<\/p>\n

\"2012.0526koralynn.fistermidapril.trimmed_2\"<\/a>

Koralynn Fister<\/p><\/div>\n

Defense attorney Bob Schroeter said his client absolutely and positively denies the allegations and has no history of any felony.<\/p>\n

The judge ordered the Centralia resident held on $5 million bail.<\/p>\n

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer requested a 72-hour hold on Reeder to allow more time for investigation and a final charging decision.<\/p>\n

The filed declaration of probable cause describes significant bruising, cuts, abrasions and other wounds found on the child’s body, some in more advanced stages of healing than others.<\/p>\n

Among the injuries noted were palm-sized pieces of skin missing from her buttocks, caused according to forensic evaluation, by traumatic injuries inflicted upon the child.<\/p>\n

The declaration also mentions missing skin on the top and bottom of a toe, but offers no specific explanation for how any wounds were inflicted.<\/p>\n

The pathologist’s examination found four distinct areas of head trauma, according to the declaration. Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said earlier today Koralynn died from that and drowning.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Meyer indicated in his filing he believed probable cause existed for at least two counts of rape and assault.<\/p>\n

Meyer’s declaration says none of the injuries were noted in a well-child exam conducted in early April and that Reeder has been living with the mother and her two daughters for about 10 weeks.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor wrote that Reeder persuaded the mother about a month ago\u00a0 to divide up parenting duties and would insist when the mother left, she take the oldest daughter with her, leaving him time alone with the toddler.<\/p>\n

A passage in the declaration includes Reeder telling police the bath began shortly after the mother and older child left the residence at about 12:30 p.m., and neighbors reporting it was around 3:15 p.m. when Reeder was beating on their door, holding the girl and yelling for help.<\/p>\n

The fire department was called at 3:09 p.m.<\/p>\n

The neighbors said Reeder did CPR on their porch until aid arrived. A witness indicated the child was cold to the touch, according to the declaration.<\/p>\n

Centralia Police Department Officer Gary Byrnes noticed the smell of burnt marijuana inside the house, the declaration states.<\/p>\n

When Prosecutor Meyer asked for high bail, he said Reeder was a danger to others, even the mother.<\/p>\n

“I won’t go into graphic detail, but suffice it to say, that in my career this is the worst case of child abuse and neglect that I have seen,” Meyer said.<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Schroeter asked for reasonable bail, pointed out to the judge a row of Reeder’s family members sitting in the back of the courtroom.<\/p>\n

“Nobody is more distraught about this situation than Mr. Reeder,” Schroeter said.<\/p>\n

“All indications are one person took positive action on behalf of this child,” he said. “And that is Mr. Reeder.”<\/p>\n

Judge Richard Brosey granted prosecutor’s request to return Reeder to the courtroom on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Police today continued searching the house off of West Oakview Avenue.<\/p>\n

The 4-year-old half sister has been taken into temporary protective custody.<\/p>\n

The state Department of Social and Health Services Children’s Administration issued a statement saying they have no record of history involving the child, nor any previous allegations of abuse or neglect against the mother, Becky Heupel or her boyfriend.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n

Scroll down to read previous stories, if you are on the home page<\/a> of Lewis County Sirens.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated at 11:37 p.m. By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker Lewis County Sirens news reporter CHEHALIS – Prosecutors told a judge this afternoon they believe a Centralia toddler was raped and tortured before she died. James M. Reeder, 25, appeared before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon. He is the mother’s live-in boyfriend. Reeder […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-12545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story","tag-by-sharyn-l-decker","tag-news-reporter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12545"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12681,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12545\/revisions\/12681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}