|
2001: A year like no other
2001 a year for murder, old and new LIONA TANNESEN AND JOHN GRABER, THE OLYMPIAN Originally published December 28, 2001
The year 2001 saw a break in a
series of Western Washington slayings that had been one of the most
notorious strings of unsolved murders in American history.
The year also brought to light a new set of bizarre and brutal
murders in South Sound.
It also chronicled the end of Timberline High School graduate Buford
Furrow's racist-fueled murder case.
All those cases brought sorrow and pain to local families, but
resolutions brought some relief and closure.
-In February, 15-year-old Jennie Osborn of Hoodsport was raped
and murdered by convicted sex offender Joseph Rosenow. Osborn's
death led to changes in the way law enforcement must notify communities.
-In March, Furrow was sentenced to five life sentences for shooting
and killing a Filipino postal worker after opening fire in a Jewish
community center in Los Angeles.
-In July, Lori Jones of Lacey was found dead under her bed July
8. The suspect in the case is Michael Braae, who has been connected
to the deaths, assaults or disappearances of other Washington and
Oregon women.
- In November, Gary Ridgway was arrested and is charged with murdering
four of the woman believed to have been the victims of the infamous
Green River killer.
But while the year brought more than its share of high-profile
slayings, Thurston County did not have more murders than usual in
2001.
The Thurston County Sheriff's Office investigated three homicide
cases in 2001. The year before there hadn't been any, but most years
there are three to five, Lt. Brad Watkins said.
The Lacey Police Department dealt with two homicides in the city
and investigated a third before determining the killing occurred
in Pierce County.
"Up until Lori Jones, we hadn't had one for four years," Lacey
police Lt. Tom Nelson said. "It's pretty unusual for us to have
that many."
Here are the details some of the cases that touched South Sound
this year.
Green
River Gary Nearly 20 years after the first victim was found in the Green River
in southern King County, Gary Ridgway was arrested Nov. 30 in connection
with four of the dozens of linked killings.
Now Lewis County investigators are taking a look at three old cases
as well.
Forty-nine women whose bodies were found between 1982 and 1984
are considered victims of the Green River killer. The first women
were found in or near the river, and many were prostitutes.
Ridgway has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder of
Marcia Chapman, Cynthia Hinds, Opal Mills and Carol Christensen.
DNA tests linked Ridgway to three of the women, and other evidence
linked him to the fourth, the King County Sheriff's Office has said.
The arrest was a relief to Melvyn Foster of Olympia, who police
investigated as a potential suspect in the 1980s. Lewis County investigators
now are taking another look at the deaths of three women in their
county.
- Monica Anderson, 32, was last seen getting into a brown van on
Commerce Street in Tacoma on June 24, 1984, said County Chief Criminal
Deputy Joe Doench.
Her body was found Aug. 12, 1984 in the Chehalis River northwest
of Chehalis.
- Susan Krueger, 42, was last seen March 11, 1985, when she was
released from the Pierce County Jail. Her body was found May 5,
1985, along Interstate 5 just west of Toledo.
- Mingon Hensley, 21, was eight to nine months pregnant when she
was last seen leaving the Deja Vu exotic dance club on Pacific Highway
South in Federal Way.
Hensley was reported missing July 9, 1991, and her body was found
about 11/2 miles east of Interstate 5 on U.S. Highway 12.
The three women are believed to have had links to prostitution,
were last seen in similar locations and died of homicidal violence,
Doench said.
"We're having to review our files," Doench said. "Evidence will
be looked at again. Any DNA testing will be done at that time."
'Cowboy' Mike
Michael Braae will probably begin and end the new year in court battling a slew of charges that range from attempted first-degree murder to eluding police. What he may not do in 2002 is stand trial in Thurston County for the alleged killing of Lori Jones of Lacey. Braae is set to go to trial in Payette County, Idaho, Jan. 22 on two charges of aggravated assault against a police officer and one charge of eluding police. Those charges stem from his dramatic July 20 capture after he led Idaho State Police officers on a brief vehicle chase, shot at them and jumped off a 40-foot bridge into the Snake River. After his trial in Idaho, Braae, 41, will probably be extradited to Yakima where he will face charges of attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Yelm woman Marchelle Morgan and a charge of felon in possession of a firearm. Once there, the judicial process starts over, with him entering a plea on those charges. That could happen quickly, but the trial is not likely to begin for six months to a year after the arraignment, said Yakima County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ken Ramm. "I'm sure his attorney is going to want time to go over everything," Ramm said. Only after that trial is done is Braae likely to come to Olympia to face charges in the Jones case. Those charges have yet to be filed. In all, police believe he has been involved in violent crimes against as many as 10 Northwest women over the years. Lacey Police detectives Bev Reinhold, Keith Mercer and Chris Wenschhof were the first to link Braae to several missing persons reports after Jones, 44, was found dead at the Summer Ridge Apartments. They have pieced together the personality of the man who liked to call himself "Cowboy Mike." Braae, 41, grew up in Sumner, which was a small farming town east of Tacoma then. Even in high school he had a penchant for western wear, but his classmates considered him something of a loner. As he got older, he drifted from Spanaway to Roy, Olympia, Tum-water, Lacey and Yelm. He liked out-of-the way taverns and karaoke bars where he would strum his guitar and pick up women. He had been in and out of jail since he was 19 and managed to slip under probation authorities' radar because of miscommunications within the penal system. Police now believe that Braae shot Morgan, 50, in the head and left her to die on the side of a rural Yakima road July 14. Braae and Morgan apparently got in an argument while in a tavern, carried the dispute outside and eventually got into a truck where Braae's gun was, Ramm said. Ramm said it is going to be difficult to prove that Braae intentionally manipulated Morgan to get her into the truck so he could shoot her, Ramm said. That is the only way that he will be able to prove the shooting was premeditated, Ramm said. "We may have to restructure some of our charges," Ramm said. "The next one down is second-degree (attempted) murder." Morgan was severely injured but did not die; she has given authorities her account of the story, eliminating the need to prove who shot her, Ramm said. Thurston County officials are waiting to see what happens in Payette and Yakima counties before they take action against Braae, said Lacey Police Lt. Tom Nelson. If Braae is convicted in Payette and Yakima counties, he will be eligible for a stiffer penalty in Thurston County, Nelson said. But Payette County Prosecuting Attorney Anne Marie-Kelso said she would drop her charges if Thurston County officials would file theirs. "If he's tried for murder and convicted, chances are he is going to get the death penalty or life in prison and it would be superfluous to have other charges against him," Marie-Kelso said. She said Payette is a county of about 20,000 people and does not have a lot of money to prosecute Braae. Ramm also wants Thurston County officials to file charges so he can figure out how much prison time Braae may be eligible for under various charges. "He could be looking at over 60 years in prison and not even do his prison sentence in Idaho," Ramm said.
A repeat offender
Fifteen-year-old Jennie Osborn's family was devastated and the community was outraged when convicted sex offender Joseph Rosenow violently raped her and she died of her injuries. The family has filed a civil lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections and Mason County alleging Rosenow was not properly supervised and the community was not properly notified. No date has been set for the case. Rosenow is serving a life prison term after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, which was his third strike. Sheriff Steve Whybark said his officers had hoped for the death penalty. "I think most of our people felt that could have been appropriate," Whybark said. "That's not what happened."
Fueled
by race
It has been 16 months since white supremacist and Thurston County
native Buford Oneal Furrow Jr. turned himself in for carrying out
a bloody assault on a Jewish community center in Los Angeles and
then killing a Filipino mail carrier.
Furrow called his rampage "a wake-up call to America to kill Jews."
An adult, a teen-ager and three young children were injured in
the automatic rifle fire at the center, but none died from the wounds.
Furrow eluded police by hailing a taxi cab and taking it all the
way to Las Vegas, where he stayed the night in a hotel room before
turning himself in. He plead guilty to the crimes in January in
a deal that spared him a death sentence. In March, he was sentenced
to five life terms in prison.
"I hold myself responsible for what happened ... I wish I had been
kept in the (mental) hospital I was previously in," Furrow said
at sentencing.
Furrow graduated from Timberline High School in Lacey in 1979 and
lived with his parents in their rural Thurston County home before
the attacks.
Both he and his ex-classmates described him as a loner. He became
a guard in the Aryan Nations and worked security at their compound
near Hayden Lake, Idaho, from 1994 to 1997.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Olympian Copyright 2001 back to main 2001: A year like no other index
|
|
|
 The Olympian - Olympia, Washington 
Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service. ©2002 The Olympian. |