Man Admits Role In Murdering Woman

Tue., Dec. 19, 1995

From Staff Reports

Ray A. Ellis, 46, pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree rendering criminal assistance for his role in the Oct. 28 murder of Chewelah, Wash., resident Tina Smith.

Stevens County Prosecutor Jerry Wetle said Ellis was present when John H. Steinkraus, 42, shot the 20-year-old Smith in the back of the head with a shotgun at a house in the Onion Creek area north of Colville.

Wetle said he will recommend that Ellis be sentenced to just two months in jail because Ellis led authorities to Smith’s body. The standard sentence would be 13 to 17 months.

Steinkraus and another suspect in the murder, Valerie L. Greenfield, 33, were arrested Thursday in Pinedale, Wyo. A fourth suspect, Randall C. Gardner, 37, remains at large.

All of the suspects had been living in the Onion Creek area. , DataTimes

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