Cluster of domestic violence homicides rocks Yakima County

Police said the assault began when Nancy Medina-Pimentel told her husband she didn’t want to go into the bedroom.

He grabbed her, tried to pull her in anyway, then wrapped one arm around her neck and placed the other over her mouth, preventing her from breathing. She struggled and broke free. He left the room, and when he came back he had a black pistol in his hand.

Celso Ramirez Navarrete threatened to kill himself, according to a Yakima Police Department probable cause affidavit filed April 24. He was later detained by police on suspicion of second-degree assault and felony harassment. But due to insufficient evidence, no charges were ever filed and as a result a no-contact order was extinguished three days after it was filed.

Six months later, both were dead. On Oct. 29, in the bedroom of their Yakima home, Ramirez Navarrete took a gun and fatally shot his wife before turning it on himself.

Medina-Pimentel’s death was just one of four Yakima County homicides within a week that authorities say stemmed in some way from domestic violence:

– On Oct. 26, Trae Oyler was riding in a car with friends near Tieton when a 27-year-old man, who had just been in a domestic violence incident with his girlfriend, drove by and shot and killed Oyler.

– On Oct. 28, Aurelia Galvan’s body was discovered at the Clear Creek waterfall overlook along U.S. Highway 12 near White Pass with stab wounds to her neck, allegedly at the hands of her husband.

– Medina-Pimentel’s and Ramirez Navarrete’s bodies were discovered Oct. 29.

– Two days later, Christopher Gilchrist was stabbed on Halloween night in Yakima after an argument with two other people, who were married. Police believe the wife, Tisha Bryant, and Gilchrist were stabbed by Bryant’s husband.

In 2013, 721 domestic violence cases were filed in District and Superior courts, according to data from the Yakima County Prosecutor’s Office. By 2015, the number had grown to 1,054 cases – a 46 percent increase over a three-year period.

Eighty percent of homicides in Yakima are a nexus to domestic violence, Yakima Police Department Chief Dominic Rizzi told council members during Thursday’s Yakima City Council Public Safety Committee meeting while addressing the recent cluster of homicides.

“Nowhere have I seen domestic violence like it’s going on here in the Valley,” he said. “It’s not isolated to any one demographic, income, any culture or any race. The domestic violence here is either reported at a higher level or is occurring at a higher level. I couldn’t tell you what it is.

“I think it’s something that as a city that we need to look at. It’s a disturbing trend. When you have serious crimes associated with domestic violence, it’s bad for the entire culture. It’s bad for the whole city in the whole. It hurts families, more than just one family. If we have a trend where it’s perceived to be acceptable, it will only get worse. We should look at this as a priority to address.”

He called on department heads to discuss programs to address domestic violence awareness.

Domestic violence homicides might all have one thing in common, said Abigail Mott, YWCA program director.

“Lethality factors have become something that the domestic violence movement has become more aware of,” Mott said. “We are taking more and more action on these particular factors because they happen to increase homicide risk. In our county, domestic violence homicides are relatively rare. So when they do happen, particularly like this in a cluster, it’s shocking. Usually, it’s pretty classic that when these homicides do occur and you read about the case, you notice the lethality factor that was pre-existing.”

Lethality factors include threatening a victim with a firearm, threatening to kill the victim or oneself, sexual assault, separation and strangulation, Mott said.

Before Oyler was killed, deputies said the suspect pointed a gun at his girlfriend and her friend and threatened to kill them. Deputies said he then left, and while driving near Tieton opened fire on a car carrying Oyler and three others.

“If you have been threatened with a weapon, that means that your homicide risk has gone up by a significant factor,” she said. “There is also this perception that domestic violence is hitting, that it’s battering. But strangulation is a huge lethality factor. It’s been proven that if you have been strangled, your odds of being killed go up.”

Last year in Washington State, 73 percent of the 54 domestic violence homicides were committed with a firearm, followed by strangulation at 15 percent, according to figures from the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Forty-five percent of domestic violence homicides occurred after the relationship ended or when the victim was in the process of leaving.

“It’s a power and control dynamic,” Mott said. “Even with lethality factors, it can be difficult to predict, because domestic violence is so complicated. Not every victim is going to know about the power and control wheel. It’s not safe to assume that someone who is subject to domestic violence will know they are in danger of being killed.”

A victim cannot always assess their own threat level, but that does not make it OK to blame the victim, she said.

“When these types of things happen, it’s not the first time,” said Mike Bastinelli, Yakima Police Department spokesman. ”Many times the perpetrator will have a restraining order and they will violate it. Homicide is not common, but unfortunately it does happen and it has to be taken seriously. Most times the victims, who are usually women, are involved in a vicious cycle.“

Mott said homicide is the culmination of prior domestic violence incidents that might have forced the aggressor to take ultimate measures to regain control.

“We started out the year with Marcelina Briones, who was beat to death with a baseball bat,” Bastinelli said.

Police said Briones was bludgeoned to death in January by her boyfriend, who had threatened to kill her in 2015 if she called police. In October 2015, Briones reported that her boyfriend had punched her several times and slammed her head against the headboard after she told him she wanted to leave him. The man is facing murder charges and is expected to go to trial in February. He violated a no-contact order when he visited her, police said.

Shortly after Medina-Pimentel’s initial reported domestic violence encounter with her husband, she also was protected by a no-contact order.

County Prosecutor Joseph Brusic said domestic violence cases, which have increased in Yakima County in recent years, are some of the most difficult to prosecute. “We want to be aggressively prosecuting these cases,” Brusic said. “But we cannot prosecute cases based on no evidence. When evidence changes, it affects the case.”

Prosecutors declined to press charges in late April following Medina-Pimentel’s report of domestic violence.

“We did not believe that we had sufficient evidence,” Brusic said. “He didn’t point the gun at his wife. He threatened to end his own life and not his wife’s. We just did not have enough.”

Brusic, who stands by his office’s April decision, said domestic violence is a major problem in Yakima County and he wants to tackle it. The challenge for the prosecutor’s office is to increase the number of convictions.

In 2013, for example, of 721 domestic violence cases, 330 resulted in guilty pleas and about 240 were dismissed. That can happen for a number of reasons, including evidence problems or a decision by a victim to not testify. The remaining 151 cases include not guilty verdicts, cases in which prosecutors determined charges were not warranted, and cases left pending at the end of the year.

As a result, Brusic’s office recently instituted a new domestic violence reporting protocol and is working with local law enforcement agencies and others to ensure all police and sheriff’s deputies are gathering the same evidence and filing reports that contain the same information regardless of jurisdiction.

That makes it easier for the prosecutor’s office to seek charges when appropriate, with the hope of securing convictions more often.

In a September Yakima Herald-Republic story, Brusic said the addition of the reporting protocol was a landmark change in how the county handles domestic violence cases because it brings consistency to the process.

“It’s just a better way to investigate these crimes. There is no question about it,” Brusic said at the time. One problem Brusic’s office faces is when victims and witnesses do not cooperate with the case.

There are a number of factors that go into that, Bastinelli said.

“Sometimes the victim is fearful (of their abuser),” he said. “They might not be cooperative for fear.”

Financial reasons also play a role, he said.

“The ultimate end is to gain control,” Mott said, referring to abusers. “Domestic violence is not defined by battering alone. It can be defined as financial abuse, emotional abuse, manipulation, isolation, using others, such as children.”

The abuser might play on systems of oppression, such as an undocumented victim whose abuser might threaten to have them deported if they call police, Mott said.

The YWCA, which is the largest provider of domestic violence services in Yakima County, served 6,349 individuals last year, Mott said.

The majority of its clients are white females in their 20s and 30s, Mott said.

“However, 30 to 40 percent of the individuals we serve are Latino,” she said. “Several of our full-time staff are bilingual, which helps to meet the needs of our Latino clients, many of whom are monolingual or limited-English-proficiency Spanish speakers. We also serve men, children and teens. The majority of our clients also have little to no income, as domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness for women and their children.

“The fact that most of our clients are female is reflective of the fact that a disproportionate number of domestic violence victims are women; however, we certainly provide support to the smaller proportion of men who seek our services.”

Mott said domestic violence cases may look like private, personal matters involving family members or couples, but they are really societal issues.

“Look at how it affects us,” Mott said. “And in a major way.”