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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

A Grim Deathbed Account Beating Victim’s Dying Words Lead To Likely Murder Charges

Bonnie Harris and Brian Coddington Staff writer

His victims invited him over.

When Dwayne Woods showed up early Saturday, he beat Jade Moore and Venus Shaver with a baseball bat, court documents say.

He raped Moore and forced her to help him search the Spokane Valley mobile home for valuables and money, according to the documents.

Two hours later, he attacked Venus Shaver’s sister, 22-year-old Telisha, when she walked into the trailer.

She was tied up, raped and hit on the head with the bat, sheriff’s detectives state in a four-page affidavit of probable cause filed Tuesday.

When he had finished, Woods ordered Moore to cut Telisha Shaver’s throat. Moore refused, and Woods smacked her with the bat again, according to the detectives.

The firsthand account of the bloody assault comes from the “dying declarations” of Moore, 18. She was the only victim able to give a statement to detectives at the hospital after the attack, and she did so only briefly, between surgeries.

“Basically, we have an eyewitness who made a one-time utterance and now she’s dead,” sheriff’s Lt. John Simmons said Tuesday.

As for Venus Shaver, who survived the attack, Simmons said: “She is still very confused. … She can’t provide us with any information.”

Prosecutors are expected to charge Woods today with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder and one count of first-degree assault.

If convicted, Woods could face the death penalty or mandatory life imprisonment under the state’s “three strikes” law. He has two prior assault convictions, both of which involved weapons.

Moore died Sunday along with Telisha Shaver, who never regained consciousness. Both suffered massive head injuries and had minor stab wounds from one of two knives used in the attack, according to autopsy reports.

Venus Shaver was listed in stable condition Tuesday but still is unable to recall the attack. The 19-year-old West Valley High School graduate thinks she was in a car accident, relatives said.

The girls all knew Woods, 25, because he had been dating Venus Shaver for the past few weeks, according to the Sheriff’s Department affidavit. The two had argued publicly Friday, the day before the attack, because Woods was angry she was going out without him, witnesses told detectives.

That night, Venus Shaver and Moore went to a party that Woods did not attend, friends said. When the women returned to Shaver’s aunt’s mobile home, where she had been house-sitting, they paged Woods and told him to come over.

He hadn’t arrived by 3:30 a.m., when another friend left the trailer, detectives said.

But Moore told detectives a man named “Dwayne” woke her up with a knife to her throat about 7:30 a.m. He ordered her to take off her clothes and raped her.

Moore saw Venus Shaver on the bed, covered with blood. Woods told her he’d “already taken care of Venus,” detectives said.

When Telisha and Venus Shaver’s mother arrived about 10:30 a.m., she saw a black man leaving the trailer but told detectives she didn’t recognize him. She called 911.

Medics found Moore curled in a fetal position in the corner of the bedroom. She was wearing only her bra, according to paramedic reports describing the scene.

Moore wouldn’t open her eyes, but was able to give medics her name and age, and asked them to call her father.

The Shaver sisters were lying next to each other on the bed, their hands bound with shoelaces behind their backs.

Telisha Shaver, who had a blanket pulled up over her shoulders, was dazed, but breathing. Her matted hair and neck were covered in blood and her eyes were black.

Venus Shaver lay unconscious on the bed. A blow from the bat split her scalp from her hairline past her right ear. She also had been stabbed five times in her torso and once in the neck.

Detectives found Moore’s purse miles away in a Dumpster, and said her bank card had been used at an automated teller machine after the assault.

The sisters’ uncle, Rock Nelson, said Tuesday the family is focusing on Venus’ recovery.

“It’s hard to believe an animal like that could be living among us,” he said.

Donations to the victims’ trust fund can be made at U.S. Bank branches in the Spokane area. The families did not have medical insurance.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Bonnie Harris Staff writer Staff writer Brian Coddington contributed to this report.