Walla Walla Teenager Accused Of Killing Girlfriend’s Parents Boy Arrested In Gunshot Deaths; Case Moved To Adult Court

A 16-year-old boy was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder in the shooting deaths of his girlfriend’s parents.

Michael D. Jansen, 16, was charged in the juvenile division of Walla Walla Superior Court with two counts of first-degree murder in the July 25 deaths of Lester Leroy Lake and Velma Jean Lake at their rural home.

At a brief court proceeding, Judge Robert Zagelow declined to set bail “given the gravity of the charges” and signed an order transferring the case from juvenile court to adult court.

Jansen - boyfriend of the Lakes’ 16-year-old daughter, Starr - was being held without bail in the Walla Walla County Jail.

His attorney, William McCool, declined comment after the hearing.

Sheriff Bill Jackson called the arrest “a satisfactory step,” but said the investigation is ongoing.

An affidavit accompanying the charges indicated that in a search of Jansen’s home, officials found spent 9 mm casings, ammunition reloading equipment and cutoffs that “appeared to have blood splatters consistent with blow-back from gunshots.”

The victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds and 9 mm casings were found in the bedroom where they died, the affidavit indicated.

According to the affidavit, Starr Lake told deputies that Jansen had left her family home on a bicycle at about 9:20 p.m. on July 25, and that she then went to sleep in a basement bedroom.

She said she later heard shots and footsteps, and after some time went upstairs and found that her parents had been shot. She said she tried to call 911 but couldn’t get through, and then went outside and started screaming.

A neighbor who heard Starr’s screams took her in. Dispatchers were notified at 10:28 p.m.

Investigators believe the Lakes were shot at about 10 p.m. or later.

Court documents said Jansen’s father, David Dean Jansen, a gun collector, was missing a 9 mm pistol.

On the morning of July 26, the day after the homicides, deputies saw Michael and David Jansen looking through garbage cans at Walla Walla High School, according to the affidavit and a news release issued by the sheriff’s department.

The pistol reported missing by David Jansen was found two days later, on July 28, in a stream along the route his son would have taken home from the Lakes’ house.

Deputies also reported that a witness saw Michael Jansen riding a bicycle through the high school campus the night of July 25 and said he “appeared visibly shaken,” according to the affidavit.