Man faces charges in Spokane woman’s slaying

Spokane police today submitted charging requests for a man suspected of murdering a Spokane woman several months ago. Derrick R. Vargas, 24, a sex offender in jail for an unrelated rape in September, has long been a suspect in the murder of Evon M. Moore, 48, whose body was found in an industrial area in east Spokane in August. Vargas faces charges of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, and first-degree kidnapping. On Aug. 13, Spokane police found Moore’s badly brutalized body near Ralph and Riverside in an alley. The Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing the case. Vargas was released from federal prison on Aug. 2 after serving about four years for a sex crime. He was arrested Sept. 23 after he was stopped for driving with a broken taillight and a woman jumped out of the truck and yelled, “He raped me!” Court documents show Vargas had the Moore’s purse in his East Trent apartment when detectives searched it after his arrest in the separate rape case. Detectives also found a pair of bloodied shoes that matched the shoe tread pattern found near Moore’s body and said tire tracks at the scene appeared to match the tread on his truck’s tires. Police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer DeRuwe said “an extensive investigative effort was conducted.”