In brief: Final suspect in kidnapping case in custody
The final suspect in a Spokane kidnapping and murder case is now in custody.
Jenny K. Rogers was arrested in Seattle and will be transported back to Spokane, said police spokeswoman Monique Cotton.
Six other people are also facing kidnapping charges in connection with the case. One, Domingo Valdovinos Navarro, is facing an additional charge of aggravated murder.
Police say that David Whitman and his girlfriend went to a home at Knox Avenue and Maple Street on Feb. 28, where Whitman was beaten with a baseball bat after being accused of stealing drugs and money. His girlfriend was tied up and left at the home with some of the suspects while others took Whitman to a site north of Tum Tum, where he was shot, doused with gasoline and set on fire, according to court documents.
Whitman’s body was recovered March 7.
Stabbing staged, man tells police
A Spokane Valley man who told police an unknown man stabbed him while he worked in his garage on Feb. 26 reportedly confessed to police Thursday that he made the story up.
Investigators were skeptical of the man’s story based on the pattern of the seven minor stab wounds to his torso and evidence collected at the scene, according to a news release from the Spokane Valley Police Department.
The man told police that he used the Internet to research how to stage a crime scene because he was upset over a recent breakup with his girlfriend and wanted attention, police said.
Officers save four from house fire
Spokane Valley police officers helped lead four residents of a burning home to safety early Thursday morning.
Firefighters were called to the 14500 block of East Valleyway Avenue just before 4 a.m. Thursday and flames were showing when they arrived, according to Spokane Valley Assistant Fire Marshal Bill Clifford. Police officers arrived at the scene first and helped the residents escape, he said. No one was injured.
The home had working smoke detectors, but they did not sound because the fire was in the walls and the attic, Clifford said. An overloaded electrical cord is believed to have started the fire, Clifford said.
In-state tuition for veterans passes
OLYMPIA – A bill that would allow military veterans to pay in-state college tuition without waiting a year to establish Washington residency has made it through the Legislature and will head to the governor’s desk.
The House passed Senate Bill 5318 unanimously Thursday. The Senate also passed it unanimously, in January.
Both chambers introduced similar bills, and although support for the measure was bipartisan, bills stalled because initially lawmakers couldn’t agree who should get credit for the law.
The bill removes the one-year wait to establish residency for those who have left the military, as well as their spouses and dependents, under certain conditions. A student who is honorably discharged from the military after at least two years of service who enrolls in an institution of higher learning in Washington state within one year would be eligible for in-state tuition.
Goods, cash taken during teens’ party
MERCER ISLAND, Wash. – Police in the Seattle suburb of Mercer Island say six local teens accused of taking $21,000 worth of goods and cash from a home after an alcohol-fueled house party have been arrested.
Police say the homeowner’s nephew was house-sitting while his aunt was in Hawaii. The teen invited friends over last month and a number of pricey items walked out the door.
Among the items listed as stolen were an iPad, an Xbox, $3,000 in cash and 20 to 30 bottles of alcohol valued at about $6,000.
Police spokeswoman Leslie Burns said the nephew told his aunt what happened and tried to make things right by paying the alleged thieves $900 to get the property back. Not all items were returned.
The students involved are 17 and 18 years old.
The cases will be sent to King County prosecutors, who will decide whether charges will be filed.
Boy pleads guilty in school gun incident
VANCOUVER, Wash. – A 12-year-old boy accused of bringing a handgun and 400 rounds of ammunition to his Vancouver, Wash., middle school last fall in a plan to shoot another student has pleaded guilty to reduced charges. He’s been sentenced to two years in a juvenile facility.
The boy pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of attempted assault and one count each of firearm theft, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a dangerous weapon on school facilities. He had been charged with attempted murder.
Court records say the boy planned to shoot a student who may have bullied his friend by calling him “gay.” The boy was 11 years old and in sixth grade when he was arrested Oct. 23 at Frontier Middle School. School officials found the gun, ammunition and his parents’ kitchen knives in his pockets and backpack.
No one was hurt.
An evaluation by child psychiatric experts determined the child knew right from wrong at the time.