Cache found on shooter, including slain forest officer's service weapon
Tight-lipped Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict speaks Sunday at a news conference describing U.S. Forest Service Officer Kristine Fairbanks, who was killed in the line of duty Saturday. Behind him are State Trooper Krista Hedstrom and Fish and Game enforcement chief Bruce Bjork. -- Photo by Chris Tucker/Peninsula Daily News
By Paige Dickerson, Peninsula Daily News
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Prior to his confrontation with Clallam County sheriff's deputies at about 9:30 p.m. at the convenience store just east of 7 Ceders Casino in Blyn, Roe, 36, had fatally shot Fairbanks, 51, and Richard Ziegler, 59, Sheriff Bill Benedict said at a news conference in Sequim on Sunday.
A warrant was pending — but not yet approved by the courts — for Roe before he killed two people, the sheriff said.
Fairbanks was shot in the Dungeness Forks Campground on U.S. Forest Service Road 2880 above Palo Alto and Louella roads, the sheriff said.
Ziegler was found shot to death on his lawn Jonrey Lane, just off Louella Road in the woods above Sequim Bay.
Benedict said Roe, whose last known residence was in Everett, was wanted in Mason County for failing to comply with probation requirements.
Roe's probation officer had filed for a warrant, but the warrant had not been cleared before Saturday's shootings.
Of the guns found on Roe's body, Fairbanks' weapon is the only one detectives had traced.
"We haven't confirmed where the other guns came from," State Patrol Capt. Steve Sutton said Sunday.
A rifle was spotted on the seat of the white pickup truck, registered to Ziegler, in which Roe drove to the gas station, Sutton said, but officers on Sunday, had not yet searched the truck for other weapons.
Both Clallam County deputies who shot Roe, Matt Murphy and Andrew Wagner, are on administrative leave, which is the procedure after any deputy's weapon is discharged in the line of duty, Benedict said.
Clallam County sheriff's deputies, State Patrol troopers and agents with the FBI — which is involved because the shooting was on federal land — continued to investigate on Sunday the three crime scenes.
The three agencies are among about 20 who helped in the search for Fairbanks' killer on Saturday.
Dog and a woman?
Investigators are looking for a possible associate of Roe's, Benedict said.
"We have an eyewitness who said that he saw Roe on Louella Road with a woman in the passenger's seat of the white pickup and that they were looking for a dog," Benedict said.
"If he had an accomplice, we think it is an unwitting accomplice."
Although Benedict declined to give more details of the witness' description, he said investigators would be interested in finding both the dog and the woman who was allegedly with Roe in the pickup.
He said that Roe had reportedly taken his brother's dog when he left Everett about a week ago.
No license plates
FBI agents, who are investigating the scene at Dungeness Forks Campground where Fairbanks was killed, were unsure how the events unfolded, said Ron Twersky, assistant special agent in charge.
He said he wasn't sure whether Roe shot her from the van, or whether he was outside the vehicle.
"There was a disturbance at the scene, but anything further would be speculation," Twersky said.
Fairbanks' first contact with Roe was about 2:20 p.m. after spotting a 1979 red Chevrolet van with no license plates.
She called his name in to State Patrol dispatchers, asking for background information, at 2:22 p.m.
At 2:30 p.m., dispatchers replied to her request — but Fairbanks didn't answer.
State Patrol and Clallam County sheriff's deputies looked for her at the remote campground and found her shot to death at about 3:10 p.m., Benedict said.
Her police dog, Radar, was in her vehicle unharmed.
Law enforcement agencies set up a command center at Palo Alto and Louella roads.
Officers found the van abandoned on Youngquist Road at about 6 p.m.
"He drove it about 20 yards into the brush to where it could not be driven out," Benedict said.
Investigating agencies distributed a photograph of Roe to area businesses, and a reverse 9-1-1 system was enacted to warn area residents that he was in the area.
At about 9:30 p.m., Roe went into the Longhouse where he joked and talked with cashiers before spotting his photograph.
"Fortunately he stayed calm while he was in here, and one of my employees was able to go call 9-1-1," said Mike Swisher, shift supervisor at the market.
"One of the employees went into the office and called the police, who had just been in just a couple minutes before."
Roe fired first
Roe was killed just after he went outside the store.
Deputies Murphy and Wagner told Roe to put his hands up, Benedict said.
He instead fired at least once at the two deputies before they shot at him about nine times, Benedict said.
Neither deputy was injured.
Wagner, who has about a year's experience in law enforcement, fired his weapon four times, while Murphy, who has about 14 years of experience, fired five shots from a rifle, Sutton said.
The State Patrol believes that the rifle shots are what killed Roe, he said.
After finding that the pickup truck Roe had driven to the Longhouse Market was registered to Ziegler, investigators went to the property and found the California retiree's body in the lawn outside the fifth-wheel trailer in which he lived.
He had been building a home at the site.
Benedict estimated that Ziegler was killed sometime before 5 p.m.
The sheriff said investigators do not believe that Roe had any accomplices or other victims, but emphasized that the investigation isn't completed.
"We have ruled out any other victims in that vicinity," he said.
"We have accounted for all of the other residents who live in that area.
"The forensic evidence all appears that these were solitary actions."
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: September 21. 2008 9:00PM