Idaho Man Interviewed About Deaths
Authorities investigating the Spokane serial killings have visited a longtime suspect in three local deaths and two disappearances in the 1970s and 1980s.
The man was ruled out as a suspect in the Spokane case following a Wednesday interview with detectives, an official said Thursday.
The man, who wasn’t identified by police, and his attorney met Wednesday with two detectives from Spokane’s serial killer task force.
Lewiston Police Lt. Alan Johnson would not comment on what transpired during the meeting.
Task force investigators interviewed the man after receiving a tip that he might somehow be involved in the serial killings, said Capt. Doug Silver of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department.
“We do those kinds of interviews almost every day,” Silver said. “This isn’t unusual.”
They ruled the man out as a suspect in the murders of nine women attributed to Spokane’s serial killer, said Silver, a co-commander of the task force.
“He’s not even a person of interest at this point,” Silver said.
In the unsolved Lewiston-area killings and disappearances, however, he is still a prime suspect, Johnson said.
The killings of Kristina Nelson, 21, and Jacqueline Miller, 18, and the disappearance of 35-year-old Steven Pearsall were reopened about a year ago.
They all vanished on the same night in September 1982 and are all believed to have been at or near the Lewiston Civic Theater sometime during the night.
Almost two years after they disappeared, the bodies of the women were found on a brushy slope in Kendrick. Although Pearsall has never been found, he is not believed to be their killer.
Authorities announced years ago they believe the person responsible for the Civic Theater slayings also was involved in the 1979 disappearance of 12-year-old Christina White from Asotin, Wash.
White was attending the Asotin County Fair when she called her mother from a friend’s home to say she was feeling ill. Her mother told her to walk back to the fair when she felt better. She never arrived.
Johnson believes Kristen David, a University of Idaho student from Lewiston, fell prey to the same person. It is the first time police have publicly announced her demise may be linked to the others.
David, who was 22, disappeared in 1981 while riding her bike from Moscow to Lewiston. Eight days later, her headless torso and leg were found along the Snake River in Clarkston. The next day, the dismembered head, arms and part of a leg were found downriver.