New charges filed over inmate’s alleged murder-for-hire plot

Published 1:30 am Monday, March 26, 2018

EVERETT — Prosecutors have filed new charges against a man accused of raping a woman and then trying to pay someone to kill her.

Jerry G. Wood, 41, now is awaiting a July trial. He is charged with second-degree rape and criminal solicitation of first-degree murder and kidnapping. His bail was increased last month to $2 million.

Wood, of Seattle, has a previous rape conviction in New York. He has been at the Snohomish County Jail since January 2017.

In the local case, Wood reportedly met the woman at a bar in Shoreline and offered her a ride to her home in south Snohomish County. Instead, she said, she was driven to a rural area outside of Arlington and attacked. Wood has said what happened was consensual.

In January 2018, another detainee at the jail approached staff. The man said Wood had offered him money to kill the woman and potentially her family and friends. The man shared handwritten instructions promising $5,000 and a car. The notes allegedly were from Wood.

“The notes also included specific information about where these people lived, who they lived with, and how to accomplish the murder or kidnappings,” deputy prosecutor Matt Baldock wrote in court papers.

Some of the details in the instructions, such as a description of the woman’s house, had not been published in court papers, Baldock said.

“This would suggest that Wood was communicating with someone outside the jail who scouted the location,” the prosecutor wrote.

The notes said the woman could not be allowed to testify, and to “make her disappear by any means.”

Wood allegedly arranged for his mother to make a $450 payment toward the other detainee’s bail.

Detectives listened to recordings of Wood’s jailhouse calls with his mother, according to the charges. Prosecutors say he was using other inmates’ access codes for the telephones in an attempt to avoid detection. That’s against jail rules.

Before the murder-for-hire allegations, Wood’s case was temporarily stayed awaiting the results of a mental health evaluation.

A state psychologist filed the 20-page report in November.

It noted that Wood tested positive for methamphetamine when he was booked. Since then, the psychologist noted, Wood has sent jail staff more than 18 “kites” complaining about his circumstances. Several of the kites were requesting snacks, including Sour Patch Kids candies.

In October, he smeared feces on his cell window.

The mental health evaluation found signs that Wood “was feigning or exaggerating his reported psychiatric symptoms.”

Wood described severe and “unusual” symptoms that were “inconsistent with the course of most psychiatric disorders recognized in clinical practice,” which was “highly suggestive of malingering,” the report says.

As the case continues, Wood repeatedly has written judges asking that the charges be dismissed, to sequester his future jury and to issue a gag order on the news media.

He also has other pending criminal cases in King County.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @rikkiking.