Woman’s body may have link to suspect in Spokane case

Cowlitz County sheriff’s detectives were waiting Wednesday night for test results to determine whether a decomposed body belonged to a woman believed to have been killed by a man who also is suspected of killing missing Spokane resident James F. Ehrgott.

Authorities suspect Ehrgott, 73, and Longview, Wash., resident Lori A. Hamm, 36, both were killed by former Spokane resident John Wayne Thomson, 46.

The Daily News of Longview reported that authorities notified Hamm’s relatives when a woman’s body was found Tuesday in woods about 50 yards off a road between Kelso and Castle Rock. The death was considered a homicide, but no details were released.

Thomson, a thrice-convicted rapist, was seen with Hamm – who is mentally and physically handicapped from a traffic accident – before she disappeared on July 16. Ehrgott was last seen July 6.

Ehrgott’s car was found July 12 in Lewis County, which neighbors Cowlitz County.

Witnesses said Thomson had been using the vehicle. They said he hid in the woods when a sheriff’s deputy came looking for stolen property and then fled on a bicycle.