Murderer Takes Woman Hostage At State Prison Killer Of Esta Rolfe Subdued By Squad After Counselor Held For Three Hours

A murderer serving life without parole for killing a Wilbur, Wash., woman took a counselor hostage at a state prison Monday, but the incident ended without injury when a special squad subdued the inmate after nearly three hours.

Prison spokeswoman Patricia Woolcock said Charles Bolton, 23, was armed with a razor blade attached to a toothbrush when he took a female counselor hostage about 10:15 a.m.

All other inmates at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center, which has 858 prisoners, were locked in their cells, she said. Prison officials expected to lift the lockdown after making sure everything was under control.

Bolton is serving a life sentence for aggravated first-degree murder after raping 75-year-old Esta Rolfe and throwing her off a Spokane Valley bridge.

The night of Jan. 3, 1993, Bolton attacked Rolfe in her upstairs bedroom using a pair of scissors as a weapon, authorities said.

Early the next morning, Bolton forced her into her Buick Skylark and drove to Spokane, 65 miles to the east.

He took her to the Sullivan Road Bridge and threw her over the side to the icy Spokane River.

Then, Bolton is believed to have done the same to Rolfe’s pet dachshund, Queenie.

Bolton was diagnosed as schizophrenic and mentally retarded before pleading guilty in that case.

He transferred to the Clallam Bay prison, about 40 miles west of Port Angeles, on July 11, 1994, Woolcock said.

Woolcock would not identify the counselor taken hostage but said she was a full-time employee. She suffered a couple of scratches but “she’s doing fine,” Woolcock said.

Woolcock said she didn’t know what set off Bolton. She described the counselor as a case manager who handles details about inmates’ activities within the prison.

The incident occurred in the prison’s closecustody housing unit, which is one step below maximum security, Woolcock said. Bolton was assigned to the unit, but was moved to a segregation unit after a six-member emergency response team, dressed in riot gear, moved in about 1 p.m. and subdued him, she said.

Officials negotiated with Bolton during the standoff, but Woolcock said she did not know what his demands were.

Woolcock said she had no record of Bolton committing previous infractions in prison. It would be up to the Clallam County sheriff’s office to determine whether charges would be filed, she said.

“He’s already in for life, but we want the message out that this is not to occur and they will be handled and dealt with,” she said.

Bolton pleaded guilty in November 1993 to killing Rolfe.

In an earlier case, Bolton and another man admitted taking two girls, ages 10 and 12, from Longview to Alturas, Calif. Authorities said the girls initially agreed to go with Bolton and the other man, but then were held against their will after changing their minds. Bolton was sentenced in March 1992 to a year in prison for second-degree kidnapping.

Scott Mason, Bolton’s attorney in the Rolfe slaying, has said Bolton was supposed to be taking several medications, including Thorazine, an anti-psychotic drug, as a condition of his release after serving time for the kidnapping. Bolton stopped taking the drugs shortly before Rolfe was killed, he said.

Woolcock said Bolton had been receiving “regular medical treatment” in prison, but she did not have details.