SEATTLE – Improved DNA testing has resulted in a murder charge stemming from a strangling death in 1999 in Bothell against a man serving time in prison for robbery.
Maurice Philip Meadows, 41, was charged Tuesday in King County Superior Court with second-degree murder in the death of Elizabeth Ann Nelson, 36. Arraignment was set for Feb. 12.
Her body was found in her rented home on Dec. 18, 1999. She had been gagged with a sock amid signs of a struggle.
Prosecutors wrote in court papers that improved techniques in DNA processing indicated a spot of blood found on Nelson’s wrist came from Meadows, who is serving time for an unrelated robbery in Snohomish County last January.
Fire at Seattle marina: A fire that started on a 54-foot pleasure boat roared through a covered dock and destroyed more than a dozen vessels, some of them wooden classics, at one of Seattle’s oldest boat clubs. No one was injured in the blaze Tuesday night at the Seattle Yacht Club, but a firefighter was fished out of Portage Bay when he fell as crews retreated from the collapsing dock roof, Fire Department spokeswoman Sue Stangl said.
Vancouver
Sentence in toddler’s beating death: A Battle Ground man who pleaded guilty to beating his fiance’s toddler son to death has been sentenced to 28 years in prison. Clark County Superior Court Judge Edwin Poyfair on Tuesday sentenced David E. Derosia II to 10 years longer than the recommended maximum for second-degree murder. Derosia, 23, pleaded guilty in December to that charge in the May 17 death of 2-year-old Lewis Strickland. The boy died of head injuries he received while Derosia was babysitting him the previous day.
Spokane
Fatal shooting has drug ties: One man was shot to death and two were wounded in an attack on a family in a neighborhood plagued by illegal drugs, gangs and violence, police said. Three people believed to have ties to drug gangs were being sought after the shootings Tuesday evening in Cannon’s Addition, a lower-income area near I-90 at the foot of the South Hill. Police said the assailants approached an apartment from the rear and apparently were involved in a marijuana deal when gunfire erupted, leaving one man dead in a backyard. Several people, including adolescents, were in the home at the time of the shooting. Two were in stable condition following surgery at Deaconess Medical Center.
Oregon
Backhoe used in bank robbery: The person who drove a backhoe through a wall at the Food Industry Credit Union in Salem wasn’t doing construction work, they were robbing the bank. When Salem police arrived after the alarm went off early Tuesday, officers found the backhoe parked outside and a 3-foot by 4-foot gray metal safe missing. Compton said the backhoe was stolen from a construction firm a few doors away.
British Columbia
K-9 revived after shock: A Vancouver, B.C., police dog named Bear was revived by mouth-to-muzzle resuscitation after his heart stopped when he stepped on an exposed electrical plate, officer said. “He’s resting comfortably at home,” police spokeswoman Sarah Bloor said Tuesday. She said Bear whined and yelped, then fell unconscious after stepping on an exposed electrical plate on a sidewalk Sunday while walking with his handler, Ray Wong. Another officer assisted with chest compressions as Wong blew into Bear’s nose.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
