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

Missing Spokane man presumed dead

The Spokesman-Review

A missing Hillyard man is presumed dead, Spokane police officials said Tuesday, but the suspect in his death is talking to California authorities.

John Wayne Thomson, 46, was captured Monday in Southern California where he was accused of attempted carjacking.

Thomson has already been charged with killing Kelso, Wash., resident Lori Hamm, 36, and Lucerne Valley, Calif., resident Charles Ray Hedlund, 55. Thomson is considered a suspect in the disappearance of 73-year-old James Ehrgott, who was last seen on July 6.

“For someone facing the serious charges that he is, I’m surprised he’s talking,” said Spokane police Lt. Scott Stevens.

Thomson has spoken to California authorities about Ehrgott, but Stevens wouldn’t elaborate.

Since Thomson was captured in San Bernardino County, authorities there have first crack at him, Stevens said, referring to when Thomson might return to Spokane.

“The good thing is he’s not on the streets,” Stevens said.

Jody Lawrence-Turner

Kootenai County

Second arson suspect surrenders to police

The second suspect in a July 15 cross-burning surrendered to the Kootenai County Jail on Monday, Spirit Lake Police Chief Tony Lamanna said.

Bail was set at $100,000 Tuesday for 23-year-old Michael R. Simmons. Co-defendant Nicholas J. Schmitt, 18, was arrested last week and has been released on bail.

Both men, from Spokane, are accused of lighting a cross fashioned from Tiki torches in front of the home of a black man in Spirit Lake. They have each been charged with criminal conspiracy and felony malicious harassment, a hate crime.

– Taryn Brodwater

Lead-poisoning expert will give presentation

An expert on lead poisoning will visit North Idaho this week to push for expanded blood testing for children.

Dr. John Rosen, professor of pediatrics and head of the division of Environmental Sciences at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, will give a presentation on the “completely preventable health issues” of lead at 7 p.m. Thursday at Kootenai Medical Center’s Health Resource Center in Coeur d’Alene.

The presentation is aimed at health professionals as well as parents of young children.

Rosen has been involved with the treatment of some 23,000 lead-poisoned children since the 1970s. He has long been calling for expanded blood testing for children living in Idaho’s Silver Valley and for better tracking of the region’s lead pollution.

– James Hagengruber