Oregon woman arrested in Bellingham slaying

ALBANY, Ore. — An Albany woman has been arrested and charged with conspiracy in a homicide her daughter committed in Bellingham last year.

Judith Kinney, 64, was charged with conspiracy to commit felony murder, solicitation to commit felony murder, tampering with physical evidence and hindering prosecution, Albany police said Friday.

She was being held in the Linn County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, the Albany Democrat Herald reported.

The case centers on the killing of Timothy Bowman, 43, who was found dead in his home near Bellingham on March 4, 2002. Bowman was a doctoral student at Oregon State University and a former instructor at OSU and Linn-Benton Community College. He had lived with Naomi Kinney, the mother of their two young sons.

Naomi Kinney pleaded guilty to the killing and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Two days after the body was found, Albany police, at the request of the Whatcom County sheriff, served a search warrant at the home of Judith Kinney, Naom I Kinney’s mother.

Another two days later, Judith Kinney was arrested. The charges, however, were dropped when Linn County District Attorney Jason Carlile said he was not ready to proceed.

A Linn County grand jury did not consider the case until this month, the Albany police said.

When the case first developed, prosecutors wrote in an affidavit that Naomi Kinney admitted trying to kill Bowman six times before finally shooting him in the back of the head.

The Bellingham Herald reported that Naomi Kinney told investigators that her mother had suggested various ways to kill Bowman, had gone to Whatcom County to provide support for the slaying, was listening on the phone when Bowman was shot and helped her daughter encase the murder weapon in cement.

At the time of his death, Bowman was a professor at the Northwest Indian College of the Lummi Nation.