Man Charged In Murder Turns Himself In

Joseph A. “Critter” Rowe, 44, turned himself in Tuesday on a charge that he murdered another Tonasket, Wash., man last year while shooting a cow.

Rowe was charged last month with first-degree murder, five months after he allegedly killed Jack “Junior” Sherwood, 28, with two blasts from a 12-gauge shotgun.

Authorities said the shooting occurred Aug. 13 on a forest road about 20 miles east of Tonasket.

Rowe and Richard “Dusty” Lentz, 59, also of Tonasket, turned themselves in the next day, and court documents say Rowe admitted killing Sherwood. But Rowe and Lentz were released because the prosecutor was not ready to file formal charges.

Rowe claimed he fired to defend Lentz from Sherwood, who was armed with a .30-30 rifle.

“We have been able to prove, through the investigation, that it was otherwise,” said Brad Wilson, chief criminal deputy for the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Department.

Wilson said sheriff’s officers broke up a drunken fight among Rowe, Sherwood and others earlier on the day of the murder. Witnesses later told officers that Rowe subsequently said he needed to buy shotgun shells to shoot Sherwood.

Rowe and Lentz both went to a Tonasket hardware store to buy shells, Wilson said.

Despite their earlier fight, Sherwood agreed later in the day to go with Rowe and Lentz to poach a deer, Wilson said. Instead of a deer, though, they shot a rancher’s 6-month-old calf, Wilson said.

Then, he said, the men got into another argument and Sherwood was shot.

“They left Jack lying right beside the calf,” Wilson said. “It was pretty gruesome.”

Lentz has not been charged in the murder, but is serving jail time on an unrelated traffic conviction.

Rowe, who fled when he was charged Jan. 17, was being held in lieu of $250,000 bail. He was to have a preliminary court appearance today.

, DataTimes