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

Five expected to plead guilty in South Hill murder-for-hire case

Five of the men accused of working for James Henrikson, the man investigators believe ordered the murder of North Dakota oilman Doug Carlile in his South Hill home, are expected to plead guilty to charges today.

Timothy E. Suckow, Todd D. Bates, Robert A. Delao, Lazaro T. Pesina and Robby Joe Wahrer are scheduled to sign plea agreements ahead of a trial that is tentatively scheduled to begin in Spokane next month, according to court documents released on Tuesday. A grand jury handed down an indictment in September 2014 accusing Suckow of shooting and killing Carlile in December 2013 at the direction of Henrikson, who told police he’d been jilted on an oil lease.

Wahrer was arrested in April 2014 on suspicion that he drove the van in which Suckow fled the scene after he allegedly killed Carlile. Investigators say Suckow broke into Carlile’s home, then shot and killed him as Carlile returned from church with his wife. Pesina is accused of helping Henrikson find a hit man and aiding in the plot to kill Carlile, according to court documents.

Delao and Bates are accused of acting at Henrikson’s direction to target other business foes, according to court records.

Investigators believe Suckow also acted at Henrikson’s direction to kill Kristopher “K.C.” Clarke, one of Henrikson’s oil field employees, in North Dakota in February 2012. Clarke’s body has not been found.

Henrikson’s trial is scheduled for Oct. 5 in Spokane.

But Henrikson’s attorneys have argued that media coverage leading up to the trial has tainted the jury pool against him, and have requested the trial be moved.

Details of the guilty plea agreements, including which charges the men will plead to, have not been released.

Henrikson was moved to the Yakima County Jail last month after a rope made of bedsheets was discovered swinging from his Spokane County Jail cell.

Later today, attorneys are expected to argue how much physical evidence may be admitted at trial, including phone records and testimony of certain witnesses. All of the men have been in custody since the indictment was handed down more than a year ago.