Murder Verdicts ‘A Relief’ Victim’s Husband Says Loukaitis Planned Killings, Was Not Insane

Steve Caires was convinced Barry Loukaitis was guilty of premeditated murder in the shooting deaths of two students and Caires’ wife of 28 years. But he suffered an anxiety-riddled month waiting to see if a jury would believe the “truly erroneous” defense contention that the 16-year-old was insane at the time of the Moses Lake murders.

“The fact that he was found guilty is a relief,” Caires, 54, said Thursday, a day after the guilty verdicts were delivered in Seattle. “Even though it was very evident that he was guilty, it could be distorted. In my mind and in my heart, he was no more insane than the man on the moon.”

Caires said he believes that had Loukaitis truly been mentally troubled, it would have been spotted by Caires himself, an assistant principal who had disciplined the youth shortly before the murders, or to his wife, Leona Caires, a math teacher whose second college major was psychology.

But in the couple’s conversations, Caires said, “never once was Barry brought up. That to me tells me a whole lot.”

Moreover, it was clear to Steve Caires that the 1996 classroom slayings were premeditated.

Loukaitis took into account that Leona Caires’ algebra class started at 1:45 p.m. and that a side door to the building would be left open for seventh-graders to come into the building after lunch.

“He knew when to come into the building,” said Caires, now principal of Palouse Elementary School and Garfield-Palouse High School. “He knew what door would be open.”

Jurors found Loukaitis guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the students’ deaths and one count of second-degree murder in Caires’ death.

Steve Caires would have preferred a first-degree conviction in his wife’s death, too, but reasoned that the net effect - life imprisonment - is satisfactory.

“The end result is what we wanted - at least what I wanted,” said Caires. “I didn’t want him on the streets in my children’s lifetime in any way, shape or form. … It’s not much satisfaction, but at least justice has come forth.”

Caires has four children, all in college: Debora, 24; Matthew, 23; and 21-year-old twins, Damian, a Washington State University student, and Victoria, who is studying at the Intercollegiate Center for Nursing Education in Spokane.

Upon hearing of the verdict Wednesday, Caires drove north to the home he and his wife had designed and built in Coeur d’Alene. He reflected on her as he drove past the sun-splashed fields and forests off U.S. Highway 95, then stopped and spoke by her grave at Forest Cemetery in Coeur d’Alene.

“You move on,” he said Thursday. “But you don’t move on and leave the thoughts and memories and dreams that you built with a person for 28-1/2 years. You carry those with you for the rest of your life.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo