COUPEVILLE — A former Washington beauty queen who was arrested in New Mexico over the weekend now faces a murder charge for a 2003 killing on Whidbey Island.
Prosecutors allege that Peggy Sue Thomas, 45, helped lure Russel Douglas to a remote location on South Whidbey Island. Her lover, Jame
s Huden, allegedly shot Douglas in the head with a .38-caliber pistol.
Thomas allegedly once worked for the slain man’s wife at her Langley hair salon. She also owned a home that Douglas and his wife shared before they separated, court papers said.
Island County prosecutors allege that Thomas contacted Douglas in 2003 and told him that she had a present for him to deliver to his estranged wife, according to court papers.
Douglas, 32, was found dead two days after Christmas 2003. He was wearing his seat belt in the front seat of a car in some woods near a Freeland driveway.
A Island County judge July 6 issued a $5 million warrant for Thomas’ arrest. A fugitive task force caught up with her Saturday in New Mexico. Thomas is expected to be returned to Washington state in about a week.
Meanwhile Monday, Huden pleaded not guilty to murder. A judge ordered Huden to provide a genetic sample to investigators.
He recently was extradited to Washington after six years on the lam. The Florida businessman and musician was charged with murder in 2005 but fled the country. He was arrested last month in Veracruz, Mexico, after investigators received a tip about his whereabouts.
Huden and Thomas have long been under investigation for the 2003 killing. Detectives learned that the couple was in the area at the time of the shooting. They told investigators they came to Washington to visit family and friends.
Detectives interviewed them in 2004 and also searched Thomas’ Nevada home.
A witness later told investigators that Huden didn’t know Douglas, but told her that he believed Douglas was abusive toward his wife, according to court documents.
Since Huden’s arrest in June, Island County sheriff’s detective Mark Plumberg has interviewed Huden’s wife in Florida. She allegedly told the detective that her husband and Thomas both admitted to her that they were involved in the killing.
Thomas allegedly said her job was to lure Douglas to the area. She reportedly went to the store to buy cigarettes so she would have a receipt as an alibi.
Investigators say they found a single fingerprint from Thomas on the operating manual for the gun that was used to kill Douglas, according to court papers.
Huden allegedly told a friend in Florida that he had used a .38-caliber handgun to kill Douglas. In 2004, detectives in Las Cruces, N.M., recovered a semiautomatic .38-caliber pistol they believed was used to kill Douglas. Huden allegedly had given the pistol to another friend in the Las Vegas area for safekeeping and the friend later moved, according to court papers.
In August 2004, a team of investigators went to Punta Gorda, Fla., and talked with Huden. They returned to Washington days before Hurricane Charley hit southwest Florida.
Huden disappeared.
The television show “America’s Most Wanted” ran a story about Huden on July 19, 2008. Huden moved to Punta Gorda in the 1980s. In Florida, he was best known for his band called “Buck Naked and the X-hibitionists,” which played at the former Holiday Inn in Punta Gorda for many years.
Thomas was living in Navajo Dam, N.M., at the time of her arrest. She was Ms. Washington in 2000.
The Herald’s news partner, KIRO TV contributed to this report.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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