PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles musician Joe Jester and 30 other local musicians and bands have teamed up to help the mother of a woman charged in connection with the death of Jennifer Pimentel at the suggestion of the murdered woman’s father.
The family-friendly concert and potluck will begin at noon Saturday at the Port Angeles Moose Lodge and Odd Fellows at 809 S. Pine St.
It will benefit 41-year Port Angeles resident Penny Huether and her three grandchildren, who have been staying with her since their mother, Kendell Huether, who is Penny’s daughter, was taken into custody.
Penny’s home at 815 W. Ninth St. burned only three days after Kendell, 25, was arrested in connection with the Oct. 9 death of her childhood friend, Jennifer Pimentel, who was 27.
Jester said he got the idea for the concert from Henry Pimentel, Jennifer’s father.
Initially, Jester intended to organize a benefit concert to purchase a headstone for Jennifer’s grave but learned that an anonymous benefactor had already taken care of it.
‘Penny needs help’
“Henry told me, ‘You know who really needs the help? Penny,’” Jester said.
The Henry and Tammy Pimentel family, longtime friends with Penny Huether, are joining local musicians in efforts to support the rebuilding of Penny Huether’s home.
Kendell Huether and Jennifer Pimentel first met as classmates in a special-needs class at Port Angeles High School and remained friends for a decade before her death, Jester said.
Penny Huether and the Pimentel family have been close friends for years, and the tragedy that happened between their daughters has not changed that, Jester said.
“This woman had nothing to do with nothing,” Jester said.
Local musicians have volunteered to take the stage to perform old and new rock ’n’ roll, old and new country, fiddle, banjo, folk and “just everything,” Jester said.
“This is community helping community.”
Entry is by donation, whatever people can afford, he said.
“One hundred percent of what we raise will go to Penny and the children,” he said.
Kendell Huether, who is being held in Clallam County jail on $100,000 bail, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree rendering assistance and two counts of witness tampering for allegedly helping her boyfriend, Kevin Bradfield, dispose of Pimentel’s body near the Hood Canal Bridge in October and then trying to cover up the death.
Her trial originally was set for Monday, but it has been delayed, and instead, a hearing is to be held Monday to consider a new date.
Bradford, 22, is accused of strangling Pimentel to death in Kendell’s home at 808 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder with an exceptional sentence that would give the court the option of imposing a life sentence.
He is being held on $1 million bail in the Clallam County jail.
Trial rescheduling
His trial, originally set for Dec. 5, is to be rescheduled today.
Penny Huether and the children have been devastated by October’s series of events, from the announcement of Pimentel’s disappearance Oct. 9 to the house fire Oct. 23, Jester said.
Damage to the home from the fire, water from the firefighting efforts and subsequent weather damage have made the home unsalvageable, Jester said.
“I stopped by the house. There’s a 10-by-15-foot hole in the roof,” he said.
Since the fire, the family has been living in a hotel room paid for by the Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the American Red Cross.
“Whatever we can raise is better than what she [Penny] has today,” Jester said.
“Maybe we can put a smile on those kids’ faces,” he said.
“Maybe we can put a smile on Penny’s face.”
For more information, phone Jester at 360-461-6881 or email cindylou79@q.com.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.