Arrest of murder suspect macabre tale
The trail that led authorities investigating the murder of a Western Washington couple to a Stevens County man was filled with gruesome discoveries and a list of leads provided by a confidential informant that sounded more like characters from a macabre fairy tale.
Tony Ray Williams, 50, of Chewelah, will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder or aggravated murder as well as first-degree robbery in the deaths of a couple, Mason County Prosecutor Gary Burleson said this week.
Tolya “Tony” Tolias, 44, and his wife, Ilmira Tolias, 24, were found shot to death Dec. 17 in their home on Harstene Island, near Shelton, Wash.
Tony Tolias had been shot in the head several times with a .380-caliber pistol and at least once with a 12-gauge shotgun. Ilmira Tolias was shot “multiple times at point-blank range” with a 12-gauge shotgun, Burleson said in a court document.
Stevens County sheriff’s deputies and Chewelah police arrested Williams on Jan. 12 at his home in Chewelah, on a Mason County warrant charging him with 12 counts of possessing stolen firearms and 12 counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
Officers also searched a home on Deep Lake Boundary Road in the Northport area, about 32 miles north of Colville. The searches targeted addresses identified by Mason County detectives.
The gun charges on which Williams was arrested aren’t directly related to the murder case. Burleson said Williams waived his right to speedy arraignment, and is being held without bail.
A judge ruled there was probable cause to hold Williams in the double-murder case.
According to the probable-cause statement Burleson filed in Mason County Superior Court, Williams had been staying in a Shelton-area motel on Dec. 11-12. One of three confidential informers in the murder investigation met Williams at the motel at Williams’ invitation, Burleson said.
The complex investigation revealed a criminal network in which Williams reportedly was known as “Grandpa,” and his alleged accomplice in the murders was known as “Little Red Riding Hood.”
Investigators identified Little Red Riding Hood as Jeaneane Marcell “Marcy” Mattis, 41. She, too, was arrested, but Burleson said he needs more information before deciding how to charge her in the murders of Tony and Ilmira Tolias and the theft of cash and other valuables from their home.
Burleson said the stolen items included collector coins and stamps, two firearms, jewelry and a safe that Tony Tolias kept in a cabin he used as an office. The Toliases owned an 11.3-acre waterfront tract with two homes and the cabin.
Surveillance equipment from a security system also was stolen, Burleson said in court.
According to Burleson’s affidavit, the crime may have been motivated by unspecified animosity between Williams and Tony Tolias. Williams told a confidential informer that he planned to shoot Ilmira Tolias first so her husband could watch her suffer.
The informer said Williams told her he planned to shoot each victim five times, Burleson stated.
In the course of the murder investigation, Burleson said, detectives learned Williams and two female associates had been arrested in Pierce County on Dec. 23 when a deputy spotted them with three stolen vehicles.
A sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun found in one of the vehicles was determined to be the gun that fired a spent shell found at the murder scene, Burleson stated. Also, he said, the shotgun matched the description of one a confidential informer said he saw Williams carrying nervously on the Tolias property on Dec. 15.
Investigators were led to Williams and Mattis by a man who lived in the second house on the Tolias property and was initially considered a suspect in the murders. That man was David W. “River Dave” Barnard, 37.
Burleson said Barnard admitted bringing a sawed-off shotgun to the property for Williams.
The weapon previously was in a home owned by a woman who said she thought the Toliases were killed because Tony Tolias angered “some people he shouldn’t have,” according to Burleson.
The prosecutor said a confidential informer reported a conversation in which Williams allegedly admitted killing the Toliases while accompanied by Mattis. Burleson said the informer had unpublished details of the crime.
The informer said Williams boasted about creating such a gory crime scene that investigators would be unable to find any evidence. Williams also told the informer he planted items at the crime scene to implicate Barnard, according to Burleson.
Detectives capped their investigation by obtaining tape recordings of phone calls Williams received from his prison inmate son, Levi Williams.
Speaking from his home in Chewelah, the elder Williams reportedly told his son he had been “over to the coast … taking care of something over there” at the time of the murders.
He said he “did something that will put me in the chair if they find out,” Burleson said.