Family, friends and other law enforcement agencies have questions about Tenino murder suspect
About 60 men and women gather for prayers late Monday afternoon at the trail in Tenino where Vanda S. Boone, 60, was slain Aug. 8.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
TENINO Fifty-seven-year-old Bernard K. Howell Jr. finally got to see his grown son on Sunday.
The father who lives in a single-level duplex in Tenino didnt mind on Monday sharing about his visit to the Thurston County Jail, or sharing his numerous ponderings since his 26-year-old son was arrested a week ago for murder.
I think he needs mental health help more than life in prison, Howell Jr. said. Hes not a killer.
Bernard K. Howell III, 26, was charged Wednesday in Thurston County Superior Court with first-degree murder. He has no criminal background, according to authorities.
Bernard K. Howell III
The victim is a 60-year-old massage therapist who worked in Olympia and lived in Yelm. Detectives think she was attacked and her throat cut by someone she didnt know as she took a walk on the Yelm to Tenino trail a week ago Sunday. Vanda Skau Boones body was found in the younger Howells pickup truck wrapped in a sleeping bag when he was pulled over that night in Tenino.
The self-employed door-to-door meat salesman told deputies he had no part in her death. He said he found her body on the bicycle trail and was going to bury her in a swamp. He also said he engaged in sex with her after he found her dead, according to a declaration supporting probable cause filed in court.
Vanda Skau Boone, from her MySpace
Thurston County Sheriffs Office Lt. Chris Mealy says deputies also have a lot of pondering to do about Howell, but much of it will wait until later.
The thing were working on now, our primary concern, is this homicide, Mealy said last Friday. All of our attention is making sure this is as air tight and iron-clad as can be.
Obviously later, detectives will look at other things, Mealy said.
Already, the sheriffs office has been contacted by other law enforcement agencies in the state, Mealy said, noting phone calls from Pierce, Snohomish and
Grays Harbor counties.
Theyre just asking if hes given us any information about anything else hes been involved in, Mealy said.
Of real interest to the sheriffs office is the case of Nancy Moyer, a 36-year-old woman who vanished from her Tenino home last year, Mealy said.
He lived close to her, Mealy said. Ichiro could hit a baseball from his house to her house, its less than a mile.
The sheriffs office found Boones red Toyota RAVE4 in Tenino on state Route 507. Its keys and Boones wallet were found in Howells silver Nissan pickup truck, according to the declaration filed in Thurston County Superior Court.
They learned Boone had an appointment in the Tenino area at 12 oclock noon that Sunday, according to Mealy.