Man accused in shooting deaths of woman’s husband, 19, and ex, 70

PORTLAND – An Oregon man has been charged with killing his mother-in-law’s 19-year-old husband and 70-year-old ex-husband during a family trip to the coast, authorities said.

Timothy Henson then kidnapped his wife and mother-and-law before officers discovered them off a spur road a few miles from the scene of the double homicide, said R. Paul Frasier, the Coos County district attorney.

Henson, 43, was arraigned Tuesday afternoon on charges of aggravated murder, assault and kidnapping. A judge set bail at $6 million and provided him with a court-appointed attorney.

The violence erupted Sunday evening in a Chevrolet Blazer. After the relatives spent a day visiting beaches, a dispute arose as the vehicle traveled on Highway 101 south of Bandon, Ore.

Henson allegedly fired one to three shots inside the vehicle, with a bullet hitting his wife, 30-year-old Vallena Tuell, in the forearm. The car came to a stop and Henson shot George Micheaux III, 19, and Milton Chester Leach, 70, outside the vehicle, Frasier said.

Micheaux died at the scene. Leach was removed from life support Monday at a Portland hospital.

The district attorney said he would present the case to a grand jury later this week.

The family lived together in Myrtle Creek, Ore., about 90 miles east of the crime scene. Henson and his wife lived in the house, the Micheauxs have a trailer on the property, and Leach, the ex-husband of Ruth Sherrie Micheaux, stayed in the garage.

Frasier said Leach had terminal lung cancer, and the weekend getaway was a chance for him to enjoy the coast for perhaps a final time.

It’s unclear when Leach and 47-year-old Ruth Micheaux got divorced. She and her teenage husband were married in New Mexico in November 2009.