Father To Start Serving Time For Directing Son To Kill Neighbor

Richard F. Welch was arrested Friday night after he failed to report to the Pend Oreille County Jail for transportation to a state penitentiary.

Welch, 53, had been free since his April 1991 first-degree manslaughter conviction. He was to begin serving a 31-month prison term Friday after the state Supreme Court refused to hear the latest of his voluminous appeals.

Welch was convicted for directing his 14-year-old son, Shane, to kill a neighbor, Thomas McDermott, with whom Welch was arguing.