Local briefly: Drug overdose killed man found in sleeping bag

Published 10:44 pm Monday, January 14, 2008

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — A man whose body was found alongside I-5 in November died of a drug overdose.

Donald Howard Parker, 48, was found Nov. 21 in a sleeping bag with the foot wrapped in duct tape.

Detectives believe Parker may have been a customer of two Lynnwood men who were at the center of a federal drug and gun investigation. Federal prosecutors charged William Lee Ballinger, 63, with three counts of illegal possession of a firearm. David Lee Fresonke, 57, is charged with possession of heroin with the intent to distribute.

Ballinger allegedly told an informant he and Fresonke knew Parker from prison. He reportedly said Parker was at their apartment and overdosed after he binged on heroin, cocaine and alcohol, according to court records. Ballinger allegedly paid two people $800 to help him dump Parker’s body sometime after dark on Nov. 18.

Three days later, a state transportation worker found the deceased man near I-5.

Parker died of acute intoxication from opiates and cocaine, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office said on Monday.

Police don’t expect to pursue any charges in connection with Parker’s death, Mountlake Terrace police Sgt. Doug Hansen said.

Suspect arrested twice in the same day

A Mountlake Terrace man was jailed the second time he was arrested Saturday.

Police cited the man for suspicion of drunken driving and hit-and-run after he allegedly damaged some street signs and told officers he was “hammered,” Mountlake Terrace police Sgt. Doug Hansen said.

Officers took the man in to process the citations and later sent him back home. A short time later police received calls about a disturbance involving the same man. Witnesses told officers the man was out of control and upset that someone turned him into police. They reported that he punctured two tires and threatened another man with a knife, Hansen said.

No one was hurt.

The suspect was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of first-degree assault.

Monroe: Suspect caught in church theft

The folks at Cascade Community Church couldn’t figure out who was dipping into the collection plate, so they set a trap.

Two men, one an off-duty Washington State Patrol trooper, spent the night in the church Dec. 3 and encountered a 36-year-old Monroe man in a hallway about 4:30 a.m. The trooper had to use an electric shock device to subdue him, according to charging papers filed Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court.

The man later told Monroe police that he had keys to the church because he is a volunteer for the sound equipment there. He got the safe’s combination by rummaging through church files, he said.

He told officers he used the money to buy marijuana and to pay his bills.

The church figures about $21,000 was taken in 2007.

The man, who was charged with first-degree theft and burglary, was being held on $10,000 bail.

Mukilteo: 3-car crash puts man in hospital

Three cars were involved in a collision Monday afternoon that sent one man to a Seattle hospital with serious injuries, officials said.

The crash occurred around 2:15 p.m. in the 4300 block of Harbour Pointe Boulevard SW, Mukilteo police Cmdr. Chuck Macklin said.

The injured man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with “severe trauma,” Macklin said. The man’s condition was not immediately known.

The crash backed up traffic in south Mukilteo for several hours, Macklin said.

Police are still investigating what caused the collisions. Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to call the Mukilteo Police Department at 425-353-8222.