In brief: Murder case witness jailed on warrant

A key witness in an upcoming murder trial is in jail after investigators say she broke contact with them.

Colleen Sue Janson, 49, was booked just after midnight Friday on a $100,000 material witness warrant out of Spokane County Superior Court and a misdemeanor warrant for third-degree driving while license suspended.

Janson is expected to testify next month at the trial of Terry L. Conner, a 53-year-old Spokane man accused of stabbing another man to death in an apartment at 2614 E. Third Ave. on Dec. 7, 2008.

Aaron D. Lyon, 30, also is charged with the murder of Timothy G. Eby, 50. His trial is set for April. Both men are jailed on $1 million bonds.

Janson had been staying with Lyon and Conner at the Bel-Air 7 Motel, 1303 E. Sprague Ave., at the time of the crime.

Investigators think she may have broken contact with them “because of an ongoing drug and alcohol problem,” according to a news release.

Meghann M. Cuniff

Indiana man will be extradited to Spokane

Spokane County Sheriff’s investigators will fly to Indiana this week to bring a sex offender back to Spokane County.

Michael Lee Williams, 30, was convicted of first-degree child molestation in 1991 and 1992. He was arrested Feb. 17 in Lawrence County, Ind., on a Spokane County warrant for failing to register as a sex offender, the Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday.

Williams, a level 2 sex offender, has been living in Indiana with his wife and children, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputy Damon Simmons and Detective John Grandinetti will extradite Williams to Spokane.

Meghann M. Cuniff

Suspect accused of three bank heists

A man suspected of bank robbery in Coeur d’Alene has been accused of robbing two Spokane financial institutions.

Michael R. Kent, 38, appeared in Spokane County Superior Court on Thursday on one count of first-degree bank robbery in connection with a Dec. 16 heist at Chase Bank, 822 W. Francis Ave. He’s also accused of the Dec. 24 robbery at Numerica Credit Union, 1916 W. Francis Ave., according to court documents.

Kent also is a suspect in the Jan. 12 robbery at the Washington Trust Bank in downtown Coeur d’Alene, according to court documents filed Wednesday in Superior Court.

In each case, the robber handed a teller a note demanding money and indicated he had a gun but never displayed one.

Meghann M. Cuniff