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

Man gets 20 years for killing great-aunt

The Spokesman-Review

A Spokane man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for brutally killing his great-aunt.

Robert Mattausch, 50, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in connection with the November killing of 89-year-old Opal Moreland.

On Friday, a Superior Court judge sentenced Mattausch to 240 months in prison minus the 146 days he has spent in jail since his arrest, according to court records.

Mattausch told Spokane police that on Nov. 22, he entered his great-aunt’s home at 6707 N. Drumheller St. with a key and struck her in the head with a chunk of concrete as Moreland was typing on her computer.

He told detectives that he took Moreland into her basement, where he bound her with duct tape before stabbing her to death, according to court records.

Mattausch told Detective Tim Madsen he then drove to Lewiston to evade capture.

After getting some sleep, Mattausch returned to Spokane on the evening of Nov. 23 and turned himself in to authorities, Madsen wrote in court records.

– Thomas Clouse

Spokane Valley

Buried puppy finds new home in Idaho

He’s not Stinky anymore.

The black Lab puppy who was buried under a few feet of dirt in a Spokane Valley backyard is now spending his days in Hayden, with a new owner.

And he has a new name: Chance.

The dog was adopted Friday, said Nancy Hill, director of Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service.

No one has come forward with information about who could have buried the dog, Hill said. The case remains under investigation.

– Christopher Rodkey