Northwest Briefly: Yakima County files charges in 2 old rape cases

Published 10:29 pm Friday, December 26, 2008

YAKIMA — Yakima County officials are filing charges in two attacks that happened more than seven years ago.

Deputy prosecutor Patti Powers says the charges filed last week are based entirely on DNA evidence. They could help bring a rapist to court if he is arrested in another case with DNA evidence.

The move stops the clock on the statute of limitations, which would expire 10 years from the incidents.

As DNA technology has improved, police around the country have reviewed older cases in hopes of making matches.

Yakima police Capt. Greg Copeland says detectives have examined most or all the pending cases in which they believe DNA could be useful.

Port Orchard: Woman faces charges for dumping man’s body

A woman has pleaded innocent to charges that she dumped the body of an apparent heroin overdose victim near Bremerton.

In a court appearance Friday, bail was raised from $30,000 to $100,000 on 45-year-old Dana Marie Franks of Pacific. She’s charged with concealing a human body, failing to notify the Kitsap County coroner of a death and driving with a suspended license.

Franks was jailed on Tuesday, two days after Nathen L. Merritt, 34, was found dead near a snowy intersection outside Bremerton. His body was partially wrapped in a blue plastic tarp.

According to documents filed in court, Franks and Merritt were seen injecting each other with heroin at a party in Tacoma and then falling asleep two days before Merritt’s body was discovered.

Olympia: Former Sen. Barney Goltz, 84, dies

Former state Sen. Barney Goltz has died.

Goltz, 84, died Thursday of cardiac arrest. Elected in 1972, the Bellingham Democrat served one term in the House. He was elected to the state Senate in 1974, where he served until January 1987.

Gov. Chris Gregoire issued a statement Friday calling Goltz a “committed public servant with a great passion and reverence for his work.”

Goltz is survived by a son, Jeff Goltz, who is a deputy attorney general; his daughter-in-law, Mary Welsh; and three granddaughters.

Oregon: Family gets their ‘Chocolate’ back

For the Zendejas family, “Chocolate” was their favorite Christmas gift.

The Redmond family lost all their possessions in a fire last week. To add to the misery, their dog, named Chocolate, went missing after running from the flames.

Juan Zendejas and his family searched without finding a trace. But after three days, they spotted some footprints at the edge of his charred home.

Zendejas carefully made his way into the ruins. Like a child finding his wish under a Christmas tree, Zendejas discovered Chocolate on the corner of the bed — alive and healthy.

Zendejas calls Chocolate’s return “a miracle.”

Firefighters rescue gifts in Christmas fire

Fire crews in Clackamas County battled a Christmas morning fire at an Oak Grove home — and rescued the gifts from beneath the tree.

Homeowner Ben Milburn says he and his family were beginning to celebrate the holiday when the fire broke out.

He says the firefighters even put the gifts in the family’s car.

Fire crews say the house was heavily damaged.

That was one of at least three residential fires in the region on Christmas morning. A fire blamed on combustible items next to a baseboard heater spread through a Tualatin apartment complex early in the day, damaging four units and displacing at least one resident.

A fire at a home in Milwaukie displaced three adults and two children.

All three fires were put out. No injuries were reported.

Associated Press