Couple charged with mistreating children

A couple were arrested Sunday and charged with mistreating their two children, Spokane police said.

Officers responded at 4 a.m. Sunday to a call of child abuse at 2124 E. Mallon Ave., police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a news release.

At the home, the officers found a 1-month-old girl in a crib and a 2-year-old girl in a separate bedroom. The officers found broken glass in the kitchen, along with food and baby formula on the floor, Cottam said.

The couple, 26-year-old Jared Scott Hunter and 22-year-old Rebecca L. Hunter, had been away from the home and left the children unattended for about five hours early Sunday, Cottam said.

They had left the home after arguing over drugs, Cottam said.

Officers interviewed the Hunters and then booked both into jail on two counts each of criminal mistreatment, Cottam said. Police also made arrangements for the welfare of the children, Cottam said.

Air searchers spot bodies on Mount Rainier

Ashford, Wash. A helicopter searching for two climbers overdue on Mount Rainier spotted two motionless bodies on the peak Monday evening, a Mount Rainier National Park ranger said.

No more could be done in the darkness, supervisory ranger Mike Gauthier said, but search crews planned to set out at daybreak to try to reach the climbers.

Tim Stark, 57, and his nephew Greg Stark, 27, both of Lakewood in Pierce County, had failed to return from a planned weekend trip to Camp Muir, at the 10,000-foot level of the 14,411-foot peak, Gauthier said. Family members reported them missing Monday.

The men set out on their trip Saturday but a heavy snowstorm hit the camp area over the weekend.

Several other climbers were delayed in coming back down the mountain but as Monday progressed and the Starks failed to return, “we of course became very concerned,” Gauthier said.

After the helicopter report, “it doesn’t seem very optimistic at this point,” he said.

Gauthier said the men may have been disoriented by the storm.

The bodies spotted from the helicopter were seen at about the 8,000-foot level on the Paradise Glacier. There was no sign the men had fallen but the ranger said, “It’s very easy to get lost (there). You just get blown off course.”

The bodies fit the description of the Starks, and where they would have been, although no positive identification has been made, he said.

No other climbers were reported missing on the peak.

Relatives have been notified of the findings, the ranger said.

Construction begins on Monroe, Howard streets

Construction starts this week on North Monroe and Howard streets.

Road repairs on Monroe Street, south of Francis Avenue, will be under way through Thursday.

Work will take place between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily and may reduce traffic to one lane in each direction.

In downtown Spokane, building construction means Howard Street will be closed between First and Second avenues from 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day through Tuesday, May 31.

Collision with dead moose injures two

Two North Idaho men were injured early Sunday morning when their vehicle crashed into a moose lying dead along the highway near Bonners Ferry, according to a crash report from the Idaho State Police.

Bonners Ferry resident Colin Mangus, 20, was northbound on U.S. Highway 95 around 1 a.m. when he crossed the centerline in his 1985 Chevrolet Camaro and struck the moose, which was lying on the opposite side of the highway. According to the Idaho State Police report, the carcass was on the side of the highway.

After hitting the moose, Mangus lost control of the vehicle, which then flipped. Both Mangus and a passenger, Ethan Wheeler, were taken to Bonner General Hospital in Sandpoint and later transferred by helicopter ambulance to Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene, according to the ISP.

The men were in fair condition Sunday, but have since been treated and released from the hospital, according to a nursing supervisor at the hospital.

The crash remains under investigation, including whether the two men were wearing seat belts. An ISP dispatcher said no further information was available about the cause of the crash.

Police seek suspect in Post Falls robbery

Post Falls police are looking for a woman involved in a violent robbery last week in which a Post Falls man was beaten, bound with tape and zip ties, and threatened with a shotgun.

The Post Falls man, who was not identified by police, had caught a ride home with the suspect from the Spokane Valley following a night out that started at a Stateline bar. Two men followed them to the man’s Post Falls home, and when they arrived, they beat him until he lost consciousness, according to Post Falls police.

The victim told police that when he came around, he was bound with tape and zip ties, and one of the men was pointing a shotgun at him. The two men and woman ransacked the home, taking his wallet, money and credit cards, and the victim was forced at gunpoint to divulge his bank account information, according to police.

The female suspect then left and withdrew money from the victim’s bank account, according to police.

Two male suspects were later arrested by Spokane County sheriff’s deputies and identified as Donald W. Brown, 26, and Steven L. Murphy, 25, both of Spokane.

The woman is still at large and is described as a white female, 28 to 32 years old, with dark, shoulder-length hair and a medium build. She may have a first name of Debra and goes by the street name of Angel.

The Post Falls police ask that anyone with information contact the department at (208) 773-3517 or leave an anonymous tip at www.postfallspolice.com by following a link from the “detective” page.