The Spokesman-Review from Spokane, Washington • 20

-g- nj my irpri Tjiy-'irritf ruij t)ntf''i8tiini'iTailr(i''''ynclTiiirUui' nurrMp ni-www riwritriiir 'WT'IHW rr mrot itf 'piyiiryiniy ry ytyitf 'unf-iii 0 Spokane, Wash. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Sunday, April 7, 1996 Page B3 Northwest From staff and wire reports Briefly Fashionable corpse puzzles police have been in her 20s or 40s, McClure said. The only jewelry she wore yvas a gold ring with a fluted, dome-type design on the right hand. Its a suspicious death. Thats all we know at this point, he said.

You have a healthy female, very well-dressed, found floating in the water. We cant rule out any possibilities. Wilson Marine Employees have seen the bodies of many suicide victims who have jumped fronr the bridge. Nine leaped to their deaths from the span last year. This woman was too well-dressed to have jumped off that bridge, Elzey said.

medical examiners office. We dont know if she was alive or dead when she went into the water, he said. There were no visible injuries. The coat, which retails for $400 to $800 depending on style, was still buttoned, so it was unlikely she fell or jumped nearly 175 feet from the bridge deck to the water, McClure said. Missing person reports filed with area law enforcement agencies have been a dead end.

The woman was 5-foot-7, weighed about 140 pounds, had dark eyes and was probably in her 30s but could Washington 99 over the entrance to the Lake Washington Ship Canal. You could just see her hand sticking out of the water a little, said Carl Elzey, a worker at Wilson Marine who saw the body being pulled from the water and taken to a dock where sailboats are moored. It was so strange, said Elzey. Her tan coat was still buttoned. I just keep wondering.

Who was she? How did she get there? What happened to her? The woman had died and been in the water for about a week, but an autopsy failed to establish a cause of death or identity, said Bill McClure, an investigator in the King County Body of unidentified woman found near Seattle bridge Associated Press SEATTLE She wore a Gold Gucci watch, English-made Burberry overcoat, Dana Buchman burgundy silk blouse and Ruff Hewn skirt with a Ginnie Johnansen silver belt. All that was missing from the body of the woman with short, dark hair and well-manicured, painted fingernails was shoes and an identity. The corpse was starting to decompose when it was found Tuesday by a boater in Lake Union in the shadow of the Aurora Bridge, which carries said Terry Garcia, a lawyer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The project to clean up St. Paul Waterway and Middle Waterway was completed last year.

It took another year for all the participants in the project to complete the paperwork for federal court approval. Jury convicts man of murder, sort of Kennewick A man who helped burglarize a Riverview duplex was convicted of second-degree murder after jurors failed to agree on whether he killed the victim. Phil Flieger was convicted Friday of second-degree murder based on residential burglary, meaning he was involved in a burglary that led to murder. Unconvinced that Flieger actually stabbed Juan Flores Martinez in the Oct. 28 burglary, jurors acquitted him of first- and second-degree murder charges that would have ruled him the killer.

Jurors later said prosecutors lacked physical evidence to connect Flieger to the stabbing. They didnt believe Fliegers companion, Scott Gant, who tried to pin the killing on Flieger. Some jurors said they were convinced Gant stabbed Martinez, as Fliegers defense attorney claimed in the trial. Jurors also were unhappy about a plea agreement in which murder charges against Gant were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea to burglary charges and his testimony against Flieger. Prosecutor Darin Campbell defended the plea bargain, saying Gants testimony was needed to convict Flieger.

Rail line closed after trains sideswipe West Glacier, Mont. An eastbound freight train sideswiped another freight on a siding near West Glacier early Saturday, and wreckage of several derailed cars blocked the main line. No one was injured and no hazardous materials were involved, said Gus Mclonas, spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, from Seattle. He said the three locomotives of the train on the siding were damaged, and five container cars on the eastbound train were derailed. Melonas said railroad crews expect to have the line cleared and trains running again late this morning.

In the meantime, Amtrak has indicated its trains will turn around at Havre and Whitefish and passengers will be bused between the towns. Lumber from the eastbound train speared into the cab of one locomotive on the parked train, but that trains crew members were out of the locomotive as a safety procedure, Melonas said. The crash occurred about five miles east of West Glacier, just west of Glacier National Park and in the canyon of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. Robert Bedford seeks Montana film site Livingston, Mont. The Livingston area is on Robert Redfords short list for the background of his next movie, the manager of the Montana Film Office says.

They want to film in an area of the state where there is a small town and mountains, Loni Stimac said. They are looking at a number of different places in the state and other Western states. Livingston fits that description, but its far too early to really get too excited about anything. Redford filmed part of A River Runs Through It in Park and Livingston counties in 1991. Police help man after pickup crash A Spokane man was critically injured early Saturday morning when the pickup truck he was driving hit two trees and rolled, police said.

Jeremiah Jens, 19, was traveling north on Cedar Street and failed to negotiate a turn at Walnut Place. Jens was partially ejected from the truck, police said. Two nearby Spokane police officers heard the crash and ran to the truck, said police spokesperson Dick Cottam. Jens was choking on his own blood, and the officers performed emergency medical treatment until medics arrived, Cottam said in a news release. Jens sustained serious pelvic injuries and was taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center, where was in critical condition.

A passenger in the truck left the scene but later contacted police. Alcohol was involved, police said. Help sought to solve robbery Secret Witness is asking for the publics help in solving an armed robbery at a Spokane Valley tavern last month. Three men robbed the Valley Ho Tavern, 6412 E. Trent, at gunpoint on March 8 about 11:15 p.m.

All three were wearing ski masks and at least two were carrying shotguns. The robbers ordered tavern employees and 10 customers to lie on the floor while they robbed them, police said. Witnesses told police all three robbers were white. One was about 6 feet tall and slender, another was about 5-foot-ll and slender. Anyone with information about the robbery or any of the three men is asked to call Secret Witness at 327-5111.

Callers do not have to give their names to be eligible for a cash reward. Secret Witness is a citizen organization not affiliated with law enforcement. Callers may use a code name or number for future contact about the reward, usually through the personal columns of The Spokesman-Review. Paper mill completes Tacoma cleanup Tacoma A $4 million landmark cleanup effort by a Tacoma paper mill is officially complete, a federal judge said in a ruling issued this week. The project headed by the U.S.

government, Simpson Tacoma Kraft Co. and Champion International Corp. was aimed at eradicating 60 years worth of environmental damage to the Tacoma Tideflats and was signed off by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour. The two companies allegedly contributed to Commencement Bays pollution problem and worked with the federal biologists for eight years restoring fish and bird habitat destroyed by decades of contamination.

Champion, based in Stamford, is the paper mills former owner. Simpson bought the mill from Champion in 1986. The settlement is landmark because it runs contrary to the normal court fights by which many companies have responded to cleanup requirements under the Superfund law. This agreement is significant because the companies, government and citizens put environmental restoration first, Court reduces molesters sentence Lily They say justice is supposed to be for everyone and the judge isn't doing his job." trust during two years of friendship, then betrayed them by molesting their son. My son wanted him to get treatment, but I was hoping that would happen in prison and not out here where he can reoffend, the mother said.

Taber said prosecutors agreed to recommend a lighter sentence if Amy underwent sex offender treatment, but deputy prosecutor Paige Sully said she never withdrew a recommendation for the longer sentence. According to court documents, prosecutors agreed to recommend a Jenny Anne Bulla, 15, smiles at workshop Saturday at the Spokane lover six-month sentence if a psychologist licensed in sex offender therapy agreed Amy could be rehabilitated. Psychologist Michael Henry originally told prosecutors Amy was a marginal candidate because he minimized his behavior and shifted the blame onto the victim. In January, Amy was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison. Henry later reconsidered and agreed to take Amy into his treatment program, according to court documents.

Amys employer agreed to help him pay for the treatment. About a dozen supporters also wrote letters asking the judge to reconsider the sentence. Some of the letters were from children who said Amy had never touched them and parents who said they trusted him with their kids. The law allows shorter sentences for sex offenders if they are judged treatable. The one-year sentence Taber imposed Friday was longer than sex offenders are usually given under state guidelines.

Sandra Bancroft-BillingsThe Spokesman-Review her father, Brad, during a flatpicking Womans Club. Police arrest man in string of shootings Associated Press BELLINGHAM A Birch Bay man was arrested at work on Saturday in a series of apparently random shootings, including one on Interstate 5 that paralyzed a Kent man, the Whatcom County sheriffs office said. Carl Gene Roush, 25, was booked into the county jail for investigation of first-degree assault. A court appearance is scheduled for Monday. Chief Sheriffs Deputy Dustin Hurlburt said Roush was taken into custody at his place of employment in Bellingham without incident, but a handgun was found in his lunch box.

Roush is under investigation in at least five shootings, including one in February on 1-5 near Blaine that paralyzed Gordon Bostock, 44, of Kent. Bostock was a passenger in the cab of a moving van. In another case, a California woman was wounded in the leg when shots were fired at a house on Jan. 1. Three other incidents in December and February shots fired at two occupied vehicles and at a building did not involve injuries, the sheriffs office said.

Deputies also are investigating an April 1 shooting at a vehicle on 1-5 near Bellingham. Hurlburt said the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab was able to determine what type of gun was used in several of the shootings based on shell casings and slug fragments. Roush became a person of interest for the Random Shootings Joint Task Force after a list was compiled of people owning a particular type of 9mm gun, Hurlburt said. Two guns believed used in the shootings have been the sheriffs office, said. Associated Press PASCO A child molesters sentence has been reduced because a psychologist who initially described him as a marginal treatment candidate relented and agreed to treat him after all.

The case involves Craig Amy, 35, who had pleaded guilty in November to molesting an 8-year-old boy. Franklin County Superior Court Judge Duane Taber signed an order Friday reducing Amys sentence from nearly five years in prison to a year in the Franklin County Jail and three years in sex offender treatment. A dozen pickets, friends of the victim, demonstrated outside the courthouse. They say justice is supposed to be for eveiyone and thejudge isnt doing his job, said Karine Nelson, whose sign reading Honk if youre not a molester elicited much horn-honking. The boys parents, who dont want their names printed to protect their sons privacy, said Amy gained their boys death gang members who killed Russell Evans with clubs and a car.

The parents have offered a $5,000 reward for information. Simona White wants police to discover the truth. I want to find out what really happened, said White, 21, a classmate of Evans. The family needs closure on this, said Nora Laughlin. Dan McGee said hes heard that police pursuit of the new information is being hung up by lack of money.

If its money problems, whats the price of justice? Spokane Police spokesman Dick Cottam said thats ridiculous. It certainly has nothing to do with money, Cottam said Saturday, adding that any new evidence would be pursued. Theres not ever been a reason for pursuing a case. Protesters want action in Evans death. The eighth-grader at Libby Junior High School died shortly after he was found on the Thor-Ray hill near 13th Avenue on June 4, 1989.

His family and a private investigator believe he was murdered by gang members. Police maintain the teenager was the victim of a hit-and-run, but havent ruled out other possibilities. No one has been arrested in the death. The 12 protesters carried signs with Evans picture and pointed messages: Buried in the ground. Buried in the file.

Murderer free to kill again. Spokane mothers camp out for justice. Sandy Brewer, a private investigator hired by the boys parents, John and Sue Evans, recently said she has information that will identify the Russell Evans died in 1989 but case remains unsolved i By Kristina Johnson Staff writer Joey McGee didnt know 13-year-old Russell Evans. Just the same, the mother of three understands the pain the teenagers unsolved death causes his family. Most of us didnt know him, but we love and care about this community, said McGee.

We want (law enforcement) to know that when one of our children is murdered, we expect it to be taken seriously. McGee, 37, organized a small, Saturday afternoon protest outside the Spokane County Courthouse aimed at drawing attention to II 4 I I 1 i id infriTnft rPn fit niTfi hi tP nf iHiift ifr ii 1 0 juiufa bm AwiA.