Man found dead in room at Spokane Valley motel
Law enforcement officials were investigating the death of a 22-year-old Spokane man Wednesday found dead by his father in their motel room.
An autopsy for Kenneth Kerry Olson is scheduled for today, Spokane Valley police spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said. Olson’s father, Kristopher David Olson, 49, was charged with possession of a controlled substance in connection with drugs found in the motel room.
About 7:15 a.m., Kristopher Olson of Colville called 911 and told dispatchers he awoke to find his son dead in their room at Red Top Motel, 7217 E. Trent Ave., Reagan said. He told police his son had just left a methadone treatment program and that he may have ingested drugs prior to his death.
Other Red Top motel guests told officers they heard sounds of a loud argument in the Olsons’ room about 9 or 10 p.m. Tuesday, but didn’t call police, Reagan said.
Kenneth Olson had three arrest warrants pending at the time of his death.
Reagan said the father was interviewed by police Wednesday, then booked into Spokane County Jail on the drug charge.
Body found after raft accident
Riggins, Idaho The body of a Moscow man who died in a Salmon River rafting accident has been recovered.
The Salmon River Dive Team found Steven Campbell’s body on Tuesday.
Campbell’s raft overturned in a rapid last Friday, dumping his 7-year-old daughter and the family dog into the water as well, the Idaho County sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The girl and dog were both wearing flotation jackets and were rescued, but Campbell was not wearing a life jacket.
Campbell’s body was recovered near the Twin Bridges area, about 20 miles downstream.
Rail line may open to tourists
Lewiston Passenger train service for tourists is being considered again on a railroad line east of Lewiston.
A dinner train ran excursions from Lewiston up the Clearwater River as recently as 2002.
Bountiful Grain & Craig Mountain Railroad General Manager Stan Patterson said he envisions passenger service to Orofino could begin next spring. BG&CM acquired the lease to the Kooskia line, which is owned by Great Northwest Railroad.
The lease includes the line from the railroad yard east of Lewiston about 70 miles to Kooskia, including a spur line through Orofino to the Konkolville Lumber Co.
The BG&CM will continue to run freight service, shipping mostly forest products to five mills east of Lewiston.
Teen expected to take stand
Hailey, Idaho An Idaho teen convicted of killing her parents in 2003 was expected to take the stand today at her sentencing hearing, KTVB-TV reported.
Sarah Johnson, 18, faces two mandatory life sentences for killing Diane and Alan Johnson in their Bellevue home on Sept. 3, 2003, but 5th District Judge Barry Wood has wide discretion and could impose a sentence that would allow for eventual parole.
At the first of two days of scheduled sentencing testimony on Wednesday, members of her family, including her brother Matt, as well as aunts, uncles and her grandmother, told the court that Johnson had refused to take responsibility for the slayings — and as a result should spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Sarah Johnson was convicted March 16 of killing her parents in what Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling and other law enforcement agents said was a dispute between the girl and her father over her older boyfriend, Bruno Santos, a 19-year-old undocumented immigrant.