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Two Holdup Suspects Face Murder Charge Third Man Also Arrested In North Side Stabbing

By Robin Rivers robinr@spokesman.com

FOR THE RECORD (September 16, 1997): Identification incorrect: Brodie A. Dowd, charged with second-degree murder in a Sept. 7 stabbing, was incorrectly identified in a Saturday story.

Two teenagers accused of a pair of violent holdups in downtown Spokane are now facing a murder charge.

Aaron R. Simpson and David L. Johnston, both 18, were charged Friday with second-degree murder in last weekend’s stabbing of 29-year-old Michael C. Flees of Spokane.

Nineteen-year-old Browdie A. Dowd also has been arrested in connection with the killing, police said.

Detectives said the trio was driving in north Spokane about 11:30 p.m. Sunday when they got into a dispute with another driver.

During a confrontation outside their cars in the 1500 block of East Crown, someone stabbed Flees in the abdomen. The suspects then drove away, police said.

Flees managed to drive a few blocks before collapsing behind the wheel in the intersection of Olympic and Pittsburg. A few minutes later, police found the dying man in the idling car.

Flees lived in the 1200 block of East Crown, about four blocks from where he was found.

Simpson and Johnston have been held in the Spokane County Jail since Monday, accused of attempted murder, first-degree robbery and second-degree robbery in the downtown crime spree.

Earlier that morning, police said the teenagers robbed neighboring convenience stores at the intersection of Third and Maple.

They allegedly held up a Conoco station about 4 a.m., stabbing clerk Mark Bessermin five times. He was released from Sacred Heart Medical Center on Thursday.

In the second robbery at a Texaco about 6 a.m. Monday, the thieves threw the clerk to the ground and kicked him in the head, police said.

Bond for Simpson and Johnston has been set at $500,000 apiece. No bond was set for Dowd.

Court records show Simpson was arrested last April for possession of a dangerous weapon. The charge was later dropped.

Johnston pleaded guilty in 1994 to two burglaries and a car theft in King County Juvenile Court.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: KNIFING VICTIM HAD DISCOVERED LOVE IN HIS LIFE Michael Flees walked through the door of his fiancee’s north Spokane home last Saturday with one thing on his mind - love. The 29-year-old construction worker had just returned from three months in Seattle, installing drywall. The long-distance relationship with Celeste Mul ler was too much for him to take. “He couldn’t stand to be without her,” said Flees’ mother, Lois Kleinfeldt. “So he quit his job Saturday morning and came back over here.” The next evening, Flees got in his car to make a quick trip to the store to buy beer. It was about 11 p.m. Three teens blocked the road two blocks from Flees’ East Crown home. He got out of his car to see what the problem was, Kleinfeldt said detectives told her. The teens surrounded Flees, clubbed with a bat and fatally stabbed him, she said. No robbery, no reason. A Spokane native, Flees enjoyed fishing along the Spokane River. He worked construction for years and would have started a new drywalling job Monday, his mother said. He had been wild - drinking and carousing, Kleinfeldt said. But all of that changed when he met Muller. “Mike was getting his life straightened out,” Kleinfeldt said. “He had found him a girl. They were very, very happy.” -Robin Rivers, staff writer

This sidebar appeared with the story: KNIFING VICTIM HAD DISCOVERED LOVE IN HIS LIFE Michael Flees walked through the door of his fiancee’s north Spokane home last Saturday with one thing on his mind - love. The 29-year-old construction worker had just returned from three months in Seattle, installing drywall. The long-distance relationship with Celeste Mul ler was too much for him to take. “He couldn’t stand to be without her,” said Flees’ mother, Lois Kleinfeldt. “So he quit his job Saturday morning and came back over here.” The next evening, Flees got in his car to make a quick trip to the store to buy beer. It was about 11 p.m. Three teens blocked the road two blocks from Flees’ East Crown home. He got out of his car to see what the problem was, Kleinfeldt said detectives told her. The teens surrounded Flees, clubbed with a bat and fatally stabbed him, she said. No robbery, no reason. A Spokane native, Flees enjoyed fishing along the Spokane River. He worked construction for years and would have started a new drywalling job Monday, his mother said. He had been wild - drinking and carousing, Kleinfeldt said. But all of that changed when he met Muller. “Mike was getting his life straightened out,” Kleinfeldt said. “He had found him a girl. They were very, very happy.” -Robin Rivers, staff writer