Local News

Investigators await ID of body found in burned car

Investigators are waiting for the King County Medical Examiner’s Office to identify a body that was found yesterday in the trunk of a burned-out car east of Auburn

“We’re working and processing evidence, but we don’t know who the victim is,” Katie Larson, a spokeswoman for the King County Sheriff’s Office, said today. She said it was unclear when the identification, or a ruling on the cause of death, would be completed.

The case his being investigated by the department’s major crimes division.

Mountain View Fire firefighters found the burned remains in a car trunk early Sunday, after they responded to a car fire. The Sheriff’s Office said the car was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived about 4 a.m. in the area of Southeast 328th Street and Southeast Auburn Black Diamond Road.

0 comments | More in The Blotter | Topics: Auburn, death investigation, homicide

Auburn man gets 20 years for strangling wife

A 54-year-old Auburn man was sentenced to 20 years in prison this morning for strangling his wife in 2009.

Paramjit Singh Basra was convicted in King County Superior Court in February of first-degree homicide in the slaying of his wife, Harjinder.

Paramjit Basra was arrested after the couple’s daughter called 911 to report the attack in the family home in the 29500 block of 125th Avenue Southeast , according to charging papers. Officers found Harjinder, 39, in an upstairs bedroom; she had bruising on her neck and did not have a pulse, the police report said.

Medics were able to restore the woman’s pulse, and she was taken to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center with critical injuries. Harjinder died a few days after the July 27, 2009, attack.

The couple’s daughter was found hiding in a bathroom near her mother, police said.

0 comments | More in The Blotter | Topics: Auburn, homicide, King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office

State Supreme Court dismisses Auburn pot conviction

The Associated Press:

OLYMPIA — Washington’s Supreme Court has thrown out marijuana charges brought against a man in Auburn, saying the city didn’t have the authority to prosecute him under state law.

At the time Dustin Gauntt was arrested in late 2008, the City of Auburn had not adopted any ordinances criminalizing misdemeanor possession of marijuana. He was charged in municipal court with violations of state law and convicted.

Both a King County judge and the state Court of Appeals sided with him, and the Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously agreed Auburn did not have the authority to prosecute him. Justice Tom Chambers wrote that cities are tasked with prosecuting misdemeanors committed within their jurisdictions, but they must have their own laws to enforce.

Since the appeals court ruling, Auburn and some other cities have adopted laws stating that any misdemeanors under state law shall also be crimes under their laws.

To read the Supreme Court decision, click here.

0 comments | More in The Blotter | Topics: Auburn, Washington State Supreme Court

Teen gets 20-year sentence for Auburn murder

James Anthony Mills

A 17-year-old boy who gunned down another teen at a birthday barbecue last May in Auburn was sentenced today to 20 years in prison.

James Anthony Mills pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder. He was prosecuted as an adult.

Mills killed Adrian Wilson, 16, during a birthday barbecue in the courtyard at the Aspen Meadows Apartments around 5 p.m. May 20. Mills told police that he fired two shots at Wilson after he called him names, according to court charges.

Mills, who was 16 at the time, said he was carrying a gun that day to protect himself from Wilson’s father, Gabriel Wilson. Mills said that the elder Wilson had been bothering the mother of Mills’ girlfriend, charging documents said.

Two other men were wounded by gunfire.

Mills was arrested a day after killing Wilson when he tried to slip into his mother’s Kent home disguised as a girl, according to Auburn police. He had cut his dreadlocks and donned a wig, dress, purse, sunglasses and ladies shoes, police said.

0 comments | More in The Blotter | Topics: Auburn, homicide, King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office

Free eye exams for low-income and unemployed people

About 100 appointments are still available for free eye exams for low-income and unemployed people.

Coordinated by the Renton Lions Club, the exams are to be performed April 20 at the Valley Eye and Laser Center in Renton.

Lions Clubs and their members have worked on projects to prevent blindness, restore eyesight and improve eye care for almost 100 years, said Cornelia Clark, coordinator of the vision program for the Renton club.

To schedule a free eye exam, contact the closest local Lions Club:

Auburn, Heidi Harris, 253-735-5340

Burien, Maurice Godfrey, 206-242-6456

Covington – Tom Russell, 206-271-0246

Des Moines, Megan Chamberlin 206-552-1613

Fairwood, Sandy Knutowski 425-271-3822

Federal Way, Elisa McKinny, summerelsie47@yahoo.com

Fife, Mike Hall, Charlie_mike@mac.com

Kennydale, John Brooks, 425-228-5465

Kent, Cheryl Croft, 253-852-5466

Kirkland, Efren Pascua, 425-820-9209

Normandy Park, Kelly Fox 206 242 1010

Renton – Cornelia Clark, 425-282-0487

Seattle/Rainer, Maria McDaniel, 206-856-7642

Seattle/Seatac Juanito “John” Araucto 206-419-8302

West Seattle, Harvey Rowe, 206-762-1221

0 comments | More in General news | Topics: Auburn, Burien, Covington

Person crossing BNSF tracks killed by train in Auburn

The Associated Press

 AUBURN — A BNSF Railway spokesman says a person attempting to cross BNSF’s rail yard in Auburn was hit and killed Tuesday evening by a northbound Amtrak train.

Spokesman Gus Melonas said investigators could not immediately determine the victim’s sex.

Witnesses say the person apparently climbed through an idle freight train, then stepped in front of the approaching Amtrak train shortly after 6 p.m.

Melonas says passenger- and freight-train traffic through the area was temporarily delayed.

0 comments | More in General news, The Blotter | Topics: Auburn, BNSF Railway

Trial delay for man accused of killing Kent video producer

William L. Phillip Jr.

Tomorrow’s trial for a Portland man charged with killing an Auburn man nearly two years ago in a dispute over a woman has been continued to June 20, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

William L. Phillip Jr. is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the May 21, 2010, stabbing death of Seth Frankel, 41, who produced videos for the city of Kent.

Frankel was found dead in his Auburn duplex after his girlfriend, who lives in Portland, called his landlord when she couldn’t reach him by phone, according to charging documents filed in King County Superior Court.

Investigators were led to Phillip by Frankel’s girlfriend, who told investigators that she had recently broken up with Phillip after reconnecting with Frankel, who she had previously dated, according to charging papers.

Detectives used cellphone records to track Phillip’s movements from Portland to Auburn on May 21, 2010, charging papers say. He allegedly placed a call around the time of Frankel’s death, charging papers say. Investigators say that Phillip’s DNA matched blood found on a hand towel left in Frankel’s living room.

Phillip was extradited from Portland.

0 comments | More in The Blotter | Topics: Auburn, homicide, Kent

Boy who allegedly brought gun to school pleads not guilty

A 14-year-old boy who allegedly brought a handgun to his Renton-area middle school on Monday pleaded not guilty today to a charge of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in King County Juvenile Court.

The youth, who is not being named because he has been charged as a juvenile, is accused of pulling out a gun while at Northwood Middle School, which is in the Kent School District. He allegedly showed the gun to another student and was overheard talking about the firearm, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.

When deputies showed up, they escorted the boy from his classroom and found the unloaded gun in his jacket, sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Cindi West said. West said that the boy had no ammunition on him.

She also said that the serial number on the gun had been removed.

The boy was also wanted on an arrest warrant on charges of residential burglary and fourth-degree assault. The boy is alleged to have broken into an Auburn home on Oct. 25, 2009 and  then struck a female neighbor who interrupted the burglary.

0 comments | More in The Blotter | Topics: Auburn, guns in school, Kent School District

Auburn man convicted of wife's 2009 murder

A King County jury has convicted an Auburn man of killing his wife in July 2009.

Paramjit Basra was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Harjinder, 39. The sentence range is 20 to 26 years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

Basra, 53, was arrested on July 27, 2009, after his daughter called 911 to report he was strangling her mother, according to papers filed in King County Superior Court. Harjinder was taken to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, where she later died.

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office said the cause of death was “homicide due to asphyxiation caused by ligature strangulation.”

0 comments | More in The Blotter | Topics: Auburn, homicide, King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office

King County residents deliver split vote on school measures

Voters appeared to be sending a clear message to King County school districts Tuesday night in early returns of a special election: They’re OK with continuing to support basic school services, but they still don’t think it’s time to splurge on major construction.

With thousands of votes tallied, residents in Auburn, Federal Way and Renton were approving the renewal of property taxes to fund operations levies. But they were rejecting measures aimed at building maintenance, renovation and construction projects in each district.

In early returns, a two-year, $106 million operations-levy renewal in Federal Way was earning 56.2 percent of the vote — more than the majority required for approval. But only 44.9 percent of voters had supported a six-year, $60 million capital levy to mostly fund a major renovation of the aging Federal Way High School.

Similarly, 56.9 percent of Auburn votes counted were in support of a four-year, $146.4 million operations-levy renewal, but just 53.8 percent of voters had given the OK for a $110 million bond measure to mostly pay for modernizing Auburn High School. Bond measures require 60 percent for approval.

In Renton, a four-year, $163 million operations-levy renewal was receiving 60.1 percent of the vote and a four-year, $21 million renewal levy for technology was earning 59 percent. But just 56.6 percent of early voters had approved a $97.million bond measure to mostly fund the construction of a new middle school in the northern part of the district.

Two smaller measures — a four-year, $41.4 million operations-levy renewal in Tukwila and a four-year, $3.6 million capital-levy renewal in Vashon Island — were each passing with more than 65 percent approval.

Final results won’t be certified until Feb. 28.

0 comments | More in Education | Topics: Auburn, Federal Way, Renton