Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Volunteers find slain woman’s cash in purse

Associated Press

WENATCHEE – Thousands of dollars missing from the home of an 80-year-old woman killed by a transient she’d taken in was found inside the woman’s purse that her family donated to charity.

The purse belonging to June Larsen of Dryden, killed April 6 by Dennis E. Stutesman, was among the woman’s belongings that YWCA volunteers sorted through last week in preparation for an estate sale.

When volunteers Pat Wood and Thelma Erskine opened the bag they found inside neatly bundled stacks of $100 bills totaling $78,000.

“I’ve never seen that much money in my life,” Wood said.

The cash stemmed from sale of Larsen’s home in Lincoln City, Ore., last fall. Her son, David Larsen, had assumed his mother had kept it in a safe that was never found.

Stutesman, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the death, denied taking the money, David Larsen said.

After June Larsen’s death, the purse was found in her ransacked bedroom among scattered credit cards, her driver’s license and a bank envelope with $340 that was returned to the family.

It went overlooked, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Harum said, and neither detectives nor relatives opened it.

Monique Rosenau, June Larsen’s granddaughter, recalled hanging the purse on a dining room chair, where it remained until late May.

“We never looked in the purse because we assumed it had been dumped out,” Rosenau said.

The home was packed up and items stored in a garage until last Sunday when David Larsen and his wife drove from Lincoln City, Ore., to haul everything to the YWCA.

In appreciation for the return of the money, Larsen wrote a check to YWCA for $7,000.

“I appreciate their honesty,” Larsen said. “I think my mother would be happy to know that some of her money went to young ladies who needed assistance to get clothes and training.”

Larsen owned and operated the Curly Top Beauty Shop in Wenatchee for about 20 years.

She had taken Stutesman in and let him do chores in exchange for lodging.

Stutesman, 50, was arrested in Wenatchee driving Larsen’s car and later confessed to killing her, saying he used a white-handled letter opener to stab Larsen.