One doesn’t expect to hear a convicted killer described as the nicest person you’d ever want to meet. But then Terry Jess Dennis’ supporter lost track of her friend several decades ago, after he disappeared in a downward spiral of drugs.
Sally Niver of Marysville went to school with Dennis, now 57, at Mountlake Terrace High School. Her classmate was set to die by lethal injection Thursday at Nevada State Prison, having been sentenced to death for strangling a woman in 1999 in Reno, Nev. Friday, his execution was stayed until the week of Aug. 9.
“His brother, Bubbi, and I were the same age. Terry, a year older,” Niver said. “He was a really nice person, but he got hooked up with drugs.”
Dennis called his brother Gary, “Bubbi” because as a toddler, the word brother sounded like “Bubbi” to him, Niver said.
Niver remembered that Dennis lived with his aunt and uncle, who adopted him and his brother. She didn’t remember what happened to the biological parents, and it’s thought the adopted parents may have died while Dennis was a teenager. He may have graduated from Shoreline High School.
Perhaps we’ll never know about the convict’s early life. Dennis will not speak with the press in Nevada. The Edmonds School District was unable to find Dennis’ school records from 40 years ago. We know he had friends, a fiance and sang in the school choir.
“He was a peach of a fellow,” Niver said. “A nicer guy you would never hope to meet.”
Niver knew after high school that Dennis had been in and out of prison, but had no idea he was on death row. According to an Associated Press report, Dennis was convicted in Snohomish County Superior Court of assault in 1979 and of assault and arson in 1984.
Brendan Riley, an Associated Press reporter in Nevada, has followed the Dennis story. Dennis pleaded guilty to the March 1999 murder of Ilona Strumanis, 51. Dennis told police he killed the woman with a belt during a beer and vodka binge after she made fun of him when he was unable to perform sexually and questioned his claim that he killed enemy soldiers when he served as an Air Force clerk in Saigon.
Riley contacted The Herald to see if we could locate members of the Dennis family. He forwarded stories he wrote about the pending execution and how Dennis does not want to stop the lethal injection. At a district court hearing, Dennis said, “I took a life, and I’m ready to pay for that with mine. I would rather not live than continue to live and be a doddering old man in prison.”
If Dennis gets his wish and is put to death in August, it would be the second execution this year in Nevada. His high school fiance, Rexana Magruder of Bothell, said the prison news was almost unbelievable.
“He is such a genuine person,” Magruder said. “He is really nice.”
Magruder was a student at Meadowdale High School when Niver introduced her to Dennis. They drifted apart after high school when Dennis went into the Air Force.
Her former fiance had one hard knock after another in life, Magruder said. She recalled that his nephew was killed in a hiking accident on Mount Pilchuck. Magruder said she planned to try to contact Dennis before he is executed.
“If he thought he did something wrong, he would think he needed to die,” Magruder said. “Maybe he did it in a fit of rage. He would be very hard on himself.”
Then Magruder said one more thing.
“Bless his heart.”
On death row, it might be a small comfort to know an old friend cared.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com
Associated Press
Terry Jess Dennis (left) pleads guilty to murder in Washoe District Court in Reno, Nev., in 1999.
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