Murder of missionary student leads to new jail policy

Policy change at the Yakima County jail comes a week after a man was sentenced for a fatal shooting.

  • By Wire Service
  • Monday, September 24, 2018 4:04pm
  • Northwest

Associated Press

YAKIMA — The murder of a Washington missionary student has led to a new policy requiring a jail to report warrant information on released suspects.

The Yakima Herald-Republic reported that the policy change at the Yakima County jail comes a week after Saul Llamas Rios was sentenced to 27 years in prison for fatally shooting Tieton student Trae Oyler.

Previously, the jail lacked such a policy and would disregard warrant information it received on suspects who had been released after posting bail. That created the possibility of suspects wanted elsewhere being allowed back onto the streets.

Authorities arrested Rios on Aug. 4, 2016, while warrants seeking him in California went undetected.

Then, on Oct. 26, 2016, Rios pulled alongside Oyler’s car and fired three shots.

If the warrants for Rios had been discovered, he possibly wouldn’t have been free that night.

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