GUILTY WA - Sandra Harris, 69, Kennewick, 18 Nov 2016

[Curious Me]

This woman obviously has serious mental health issues. She is 49 but looks to be 60-plus, so possibly substance issues also? I wonder If she has worked at all since being laid off from DOC.
She was making $3,334 a month or about $40k annually. Did her downward spiral start there?

http://lbloom.net/dc09.html

Thanks for finding that list, and saying what I was thinking.

Theresa Wiltse pleaded not guilty even though she was caught while picking up the ransom money with the weapon and visible blood in the backseat of the car.

She was making a decent salary back then in 2009. There's three people with that last name on the payroll.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Kennewick murder, kidnapping trial moved to May

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article124506614.html

The woman accused of kidnapping and murdering Sandra Harris of Kennewick waived her right to a speedy trial Wednesday in Benton County Superior Court.

The trial of Theresa Wiltse, 49, of Connell, was rescheduled from late January to May 22. Wiltse previously pleaded innocent to aggravated first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.

 

[watergirl62]

From January 2017:
Death penalty repeal Bill introduced in WA state

No Tri-City inmates are currently on death row but one active case is being considered for the death penalty following the November abduction and murder of the wife of a Kennewick pawn shop owner.

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article126891534.html#storylink=cpy

~bump~

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Judge to review statements in murder of Kennewick grandmother

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article148872549.html

The trial for a Connell woman charged with killing a Kennewick grandmother will not happen this month as scheduled.

Theresa L. Wiltse had been set to face a jury May 22.

But attorneys said Friday they’re still awaiting lab results on some evidence and need more time to review police reports and conduct follow-up interviews. Prosecutors announced they were ready.

They picked a tentative date of June 2, with plans to have a more viable trial date by then.

In the meantime, the court has reserved the first two days of the trial week to review testimony on whether jurors can hear statements that Wiltse made to police after her arrest.

 

[Niner]

Hey!

Just found out this trial has been rescheduled, which was supposed to start yesterday, June 2nd:

Wiltse murder trial reschedule, set to start October 2
http://www.nbcrightnow.com/story/33757237/wiltse-murder-trial-rescheduled-set-to-start-october-2

6-2-17 UPDATE:

BENTON COUNTY, WA - New court dates in the Theresa Wiltse murder case will push the trial into October at the earliest.
[.....]
The hearing today didn't last more than about five minutes. Attorneys said the dates needed to be pushed back because of the large amount of evidence that needs to be processed as well as finding a trial date that would work for all the witnesses.

And the prosecuting attorney told the judge today that if, for whatever reason down the line, October doesn't work for a trial, it will probably have to be delayed until 2018 because of attorney and judge scheduling conflicts in November and December.

So.... see you all October 2nd....

 

[Niner]

Google Alert - sharing

Article from 8-18-17:

Kennewick kidnap murder suspect gets new lawyer 6 weeks before trial
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article168015502.html

An accused killer got a new attorney Friday because her original lawyer was just appointed to the Benton-Franklin Superior Court bench.
Theresa L. Wiltse, 50, said she had no problem with the change, or the fact it may delay her Oct. 2 trial.
[.....]
Defense attorney Sam Swanberg was appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee last week to replace Judge Vic VanderSchoor, who is retiring in September. VanderSchoor also originally was assigned to preside over Wiltse’s case until it became official that he was leaving the bench.
[.....]
Wiltse is charged with aggravated first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.

:waiting:

Will keep an eye out for the next court date!

 

[Niner]

Google Alert - sharing

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article170604987.html

The trial for a Connell woman charged with taking a 69-year-old grandmother from her home and killing Theresa L. Wiltse, 50, told a judge on Thursday that she agreed with the request for a nearly four-month delay.
She now is set to face a Benton County Superior Court jury on Jan. 22.
[.....]
Prosecutor Andy Miller reiterated that there is some frustration with the delay, but said he knows the state would lose on appeal if the defense was forced to stick with the Oct. 2 trial date.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article193550359.html

A former corrections officer will spend the rest of her life behind bars after admitting Monday she kidnapped a Kennewick grandmother from her home, then killed the woman and left her body along a rural road.

Theresa L. Wiltse’s guilty plea came two weeks before she was supposed to face a Benton County Superior Court jury on charges of aggravated first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.

Wiltse, 50, pleaded as charged and will face the same sentence as if she had been convicted of the premeditated killing of Sandra Harris at trial — life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Her sentencing is set for Feb. 23.

 

[meanmaryjean]

MOO: 'Jose' and 'Jesus' are the two boyfriends of Sheri Papini's "kidnappers". All four imaginary.

 

[watergirl62]

Okay wow... Great news!

 

[Curious Me]

You gotta read this article, but I'll tell you now this crime still makes absolutely no sense to me.

UPDATE: She wanted $250,000 for kidnapping a Kennewick grandmother. Instead, she’ll die in prison

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article193550359.html

Wiltse, of Connell, worked as a corrections officer in Walla Walla’s Washington State Penitentiary for two years. She no longer worked because of medical issues, and reportedly was addicted to methadone as a painkiller.

Her husband, Michael Wiltse, told investigators his wife was supposed to travel to Seattle on Nov. 18, 2016, to sign settlement paperwork with an attorney. She had told her family she was getting $50,000 because of another lawyer’s failure to do his job in a prior worker’s compensation case.

Theresa Wiltse got a rental car for the long trip, and in one call told her husband she would be late getting back to the Tri-Cities because she had been stuck behind a crash on the freeway and got lost.

Michael Wiltse said he last spoke with his wife about 9:15 p.m. and she sounded frazzled, saying she was in Othello and they would have to return the rental the following day. She was arrested about 10 p.m.

No motive has been given for why Theresa Wiltse kidnapped Sandra Harris and demanded money from the husband.

She knew these people and apparently pawned her stuff at the shop. She had met the wife. There's no telling what was going through Wiltse's mind.

Randy Harris told detectives that Wiltse had been a customer at his pawn shop for about four or five years, according to police reports...

There really was a Jose. What about a Jesus?

A witness called police a few days after Wiltse was arrested to say he recognized the suspect pictured in the news.

The man, Jose...

 

[Niner]

:bump: up for today's sentencing!

Friday, February 23rd:
*Sentencing - WA - Sandra Harris (69) (Nov. 18, 2016) - Theresa L. Wiltse (50) accused/charged with aggravated first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. Pled guilty on 1/8/18, could be sentenced to life in prison.

 

[Oakland CA]

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article201785524.html

February 23, 2018 10:25 AM

The former prison guard who kidnapped and murdered a Kennewick woman less than two years ago will die in prison.

Judge Cameron Mitchell on Friday sentenced Theresa L. Wiltse, 50, to life without parole for the murder of Sandra Harris in a failed attempt to collect some ransom money.

Her sentencing was Friday morning in Benton County Superior Court. Life without parole was the only sentence available, but Mitchell said the crime wouldn’t have warranted leniency even if was an option.

 

[Seattle1]

https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article116172913.html

Nov 21, 2016

The body of kidnap victim Sandra Harris, 69, of Kennewick has been discovered along a rural Benton County road south of Kennewick.

A passing motorist spotted her body just before noon, about 48 hours after her abduction, in the brush off Coffin Road about two miles east of Interstate 82.

[..]

“Investigators have much work to do yet and the details that explain ‘why’ this happened will come forth in court proceedings,” said a Kennewick police release.

“It is important to remind the public that this was not a random act,” said the release. “The suspect we have in custody, Theresa Wiltse, was known to Sandra Harris and her husband Randy Harris. The exact nature of how they are known to each other is still a part of this investigation.”

________________

I know that TW plead guilty shortly before her trial was set to begin but does anybody know the affiliation between the victim and her killer? Motive? Why did this case only warrant 5 pages?!!

 

[Seattle1]

Ransom paid, but FBI still looking for abducted Washington woman

Nov 19, 2016

The FBI and local law-enforcement agencies are looking for a woman after she was abducted from her Kennewick home and a ransom paid for her release.

Kennewick Police Sgt. Ken Lattin said Sandra Harris, 69, was taken Friday by someone she knew. He said her abductor used her cellphone to call her husband to demand ransom.

[..]

Law enforcement contacted a kidnapper and negotiated for hours, ultimately agreeing to pay the ransom.

Authorities made the money exchange just before 10 p.m. Friday near Eltopia, Franklin County, and shortly after arrested a 49-year-old woman from Connell, another town in Franklin County.

Abductions for ransom are rare in the United States.

“I’ve been here 28 years, our chief has been here 35 years plus, and that’s not something that has happened during our lifetime here in Kennewick,” Lattin said.

 

[Seattle1]

This statement "abductions for ransom are rare in the US" is what brought me to this thread.

I've been researching the effectiveness of conditional reward offers. By conditional, I mean offering a sum of money for the safe return of the missing person. If you want to complicate the conditions, add no questions asked, just return the victim unharmed.

I think this reward system only makes sense if it's a kidnapping such as Sandra, and the reward is actually a ransom. I can find no case where the captor, a stranger, has kept the victim alive long enough to hear the appeal from a husband and the reward offer, and act on it.

It follows that the captor is the personality that wants to control the reward/ransom and make contact with LE or family to receive the money in exchange for releasing the victim. The captor is holding all the cards. It doesn't feel right to me, the other way around.

I also don't think either reward or ransoms in exchange for the safe return of a victim work. Sandra was dead in less than 48 hours of being kidnapped. Its also well known that most kidnapped victims are dead within the first 24 hours.

MOO

 

[Seattle1]

Former prison guard admits to kidnapping, killing woman

Jan 9, 2018

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — A former corrections officer pleaded guilty to kidnapping a grandmother from her home, killing the woman and leaving her body on the side of a rural road.

The Yakima-Herald Republic reports Theresa L. Wiltse’s admission Monday came two weeks before she was scheduled to face a jury on charges of aggravated first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.


The 50-year-old Wiltse will spend the rest of her life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Sandra Harris.

Wiltse used a voice modulator to distort her voice, and through phone calls and text messages, demanded $250,000 from Sandra Harris’ husband, Randy Harris, who owns Ace Jewelry & Loan in Kennewick.

Wiltse was arrested after collecting the ransom. Cash, a gun, ammunition and blood were discovered in her rental car.

 

[Seattle1]

Former prison guard admits to kidnapping, killing woman

Jan 9, 208

YAKIMA, Wash. - A former corrections officer pleaded guilty to kidnapping a grandmother from her home, killing the woman and leaving her body on the side of a rural road.

The Yakima-Herald Republic reports Theresa L. Wiltse's admission Monday came two weeks before she was scheduled to face a jury on charges of aggravated first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.

[..]

Court documents say Wiltse kidnapped Sandra Harris from her Kennewick home in November 2016 and demanded that Randy Harris, Sandra's husband of 30 years, pay $250,000 in ransom.

Benton County Prosecutor Andy Miller tells KEPR-TV News that Sandra Harris herself made the initial ransom phone call to her husband.

"I think that the uniquely sad part of the case," said Miller, "is that Randy received the initial ransom phone call from his wife and he could tell that she was scared, he could tell that she was in trouble. He went and got the ransom for her."

 

[Seattle1]

https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news...been given,years, according to police reports.

No motive has been given for why Theresa Wiltse kidnapped Sandra Harris and demanded money from the husband. Randy Harris told detectives that Wiltse had been a customer at his pawn shop for about four or five years, according to police reports.

Jan 8, 2018