In brief: Woman to face charges in 1990 prostitute killings
A woman who recently completed her sentence on a federal weapons charge is back in Spokane to face charges that she killed three women in 1990.
At the time of the killings, Donna Perry was a man named Douglas Perry. She was booked into the Spokane County Jail on Friday and will face a judge this week, KXLY-TV reported.
Detectives say DNA links Perry to the killings of three prostitutes between February and May 1990: Yolanda Sapp, Nickie Lowe and Kathleen Brisbois. Each was shot to death.
The cases went cold for years and were once thought to be connected to Spokane serial killer Robert Yates. Detectives started working on the case again in 2005 and said they linked them to Perry in 2012.
Perry underwent gender reassignment surgery in Thailand in 2000. It wasn’t immediately clear if she has a lawyer.
After Perry’s 2012 arrest by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a DNA sample taken from her was placed into the national Combined DNA Index System, a database of DNA collected from convicted offenders. It matched DNA evidence found by investigators underneath Kathy Brisbois’ fingernails, police said.
Detainees eating again, but protest not yet over
SEATTLE – Most of the immigration detainees on hunger strike at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma may be eating again, but the protest is far from over.
On Friday, the ACLU of Washington state said it will represent three men who remained under medical observation as the strike hit the one-week mark.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been monitoring the detainees’ refusal to eat.
One hasn’t eaten since the protest began the previous Friday, when more than 700 of the center’s 13,000 detainees were participating. Two others ate on Thursday, but not enough to remove them from medical supervision.
The detention center must get a court order to force-feed the men, and the ACLU said it will oppose on their behalf any such effort.
U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said he’s pushing for answers from immigration officials over concerns detainees have raised regarding getting bond, better treatment, food and pay.
ICE has said it’s working to address the detainees’ concerns, but recently released detainees say they saw no change.
Army Corps increasing Dworshak Dam output
AHSAHKA, Idaho – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to increase flows leaving Dworshak Dam in North Idaho starting today to make room for snowmelt.
Clearwater River flows will increase from 14,100 cubic feet per second to about 17,100, officials told the Lewiston Tribune.
The reservoir on Friday was at an elevation of 1,535 feet, about 65 feet below full pool, according to the Army Corps.