A key witness in an upcoming murder trial is in jail after investigators say she broke contact with them.

Colleen Sue Janson, 49, was booked just after midnight Friday on a $100,000 material witness warrant out of Spokane County Superior Court, and a misdemeanor warrant for third-degree driving while license suspended.

Crime Stoppers had offered a reward for information leading to her capture on Thursday.

Janson is expected to testify next month at the trial of Terry L. Conner, a 53-year-old Spokane man accused of stabbing another man to death in an apartment at 2614 E. Third Ave on Dec. 7, 2008.

Aaron D. Lyon, 30, also is charged with the murder of Timothy G. Eby, 50. His trial is set for April. Both men are jailed on $1 million bonds.

Police think the men stabbed Eby to death in a drug-related robbery that netted $7.25, according to court documents.

Janson had been staying with Lyon and Conner at the Bel Air motel, 1303 E. Sprague, at the time of the crime.

Investigators think she may have broken contact with them “because of an ongoing drug and alcohol problem,” according to a news release.

Court documents show Janson is not believed to have been present when Eby was killed, but she told police she had heard Lyon and Conner planning the murder, and that Conner bragged about having killed other people.

Janson told police she'd asked Lyon and Conner where they were going before the murder, and "Conner said they were going to rob the drug dealer who burned Lyon for $40," according to court documents.

Janson fell asleep and was awakened when the men returned and Conner was yelling at Lyon, saying Eby should have had $2,000, according to court documents.

When Janson asked what was wrong, Conner "grabbed her by the sweatshirt and said that he just 'stabbed the (expletive deleted) 15 times for $7.25, what do you think of that you dumb (expletive deleted)'?"

Read a previous story: Slaying may have been over $7.25

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