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

Spokane County in brief

The Spokesman-Review

A man convicted of killing a mentally ill woman in 2001 has been sentenced to 32 years in prison, minus time he’s already spent in the Spokane County Jail.

Superior Court Judge Harold Clarke sentenced Theodore F. Stewart, 26, who was convicted last month of first-degree murder in the death of 41-year-old Diana Dee Wideman.

Her body was found in March 2001 inside her apartment at 123 N. Bernard St. She had been beaten and raped and her throat had been slashed.

Early DNA tests linked Stewart to the crime scene, but he told former detectives only that he entered Wideman’s apartment, found her dead and then smoked some of her cigarettes.

Investigators also tested DNA from the rape evidence, but it came back negative for Stewart. The case ground to a halt for most of three years until investigators compared the DNA to the state’s felony DNA database.

It came back as a hit on Raymond Nelson III. He was convicted on Dec. 30 of killing Wideman.

Thomas Clouse

Okanogan County

Missing man’s truck found in water

Okanogan County sheriff’s officers and volunteers Tuesday found the pickup of a missing man who was presumed to have drowned in Sinlahekin Creek, just north of Loomis, Wash.

Sheriff Frank Rogers said 19-year-old William L. Burton’s 1999 Ford pickup was found in 10 to 12 feet of murky water, where it apparently crashed through a gate and a barrier at the edge of Totes Coulee Road. A window had been broken out.

Authorities had been searching for Burton since he was reported missing on Monday. Burton had been working at a Loomis-area ranch and was on his way home to Tonasket when he was last seen about 2 a.m. Sunday, Rogers said.

After the pickup was found, the search shifted to the 1 1/2-mile section of Sinlahekin Creek between the crash site and Palmer Lake, into which the creek flows.

John Craig

Kootenai County

Man gets 3 years for arson offer

A Kootenai County resident was sentenced to three years in federal prison Monday for offering to pay someone to commit arson.

Gordon Mark DeHart, 42, pleaded guilty to offering a man $900 in July 2005 to burn a home and vehicles belonging to a man who had sued DeHart, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

DeHart told the man he wanted him to set the fires by throwing bottles of gas and diesel through the windows and then using road flares to ignite the fuel, according to a news release.

The man told law enforcement he was being solicited.

U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge sentenced DeHart to three years supervised release following his three-year stint in prison.

Taryn Brodwater