Local News

Three people were rescued after their catamaran tipped over near Redondo Beach on Saturday morning, said the U.S. Coast Guard.

Just after 11 a.m., witnesses reported a 16-foot Hobie Cat tipped over in the waters off Des Moines, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

The Coast Guard launched a rescue crew but a good Samaritan rescued the three people first and towed their vessel to Redondo Beach, the Coast Guard said.  It said the incident happened about one nautical mile off shore.

The Associated Press

Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines was placed under modified lockdown today after police received a report that a gun had been spotted in a car in the school parking lot.

Des Moines police and security from the Highline School District  conducted a search and located the handgun off-campus, police said.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident to determine whether the firearm was brought on campus, police said.

A 52-year-old woman who was hospitalized following a hit-and-run accident Thursday night in Des Moines died this morning, police said.

The woman was struck around 9 p.m. as she was crossing Marine View Drive in the 22700 block. She was hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center in critical condition immediately after the accident.

Des Moines police are looking for a tan or yellow older model four-door Toyota or similar vehicle. The car should have fresh front-end damage, police said.

Anyone with information on the car or the accident is asked to call Des Moines police at 206-878-3301.

Harley, a K-9 dog for the Des Moines Police Department in Washington state, is doing just fine. Some had confused the  dog with another K-9 dog named Harley who died while unattended in a car during a vice investigation on a hot day in Iowa. (Des Moines Police Department photo)

Angry e-mails blindsided the Des Moines Police Department last week with accusations that officers had killed their K-9 narcotics dog, Harley, by leaving him unattended in a car for too long on a hot day.

“We called the chief about what happened to Harley when we got the emails, and he said ‘What are you talking about?’” said a front desk employee of the police department.

It turns out their Harley, who is taken care of at the home of one of the department’s K-9 handlers, is just fine, according to Sgt. Patti Harris. But several Des Moines Register readers thought they were complaining to police in Des Moines, Iowa, about the death of another  narcotics  dog, one also named Harley.

“We didn’t even know anything happened,” Harris said. “So initially there was some confusion because people using a generic email address were contacting us.”

The narcotics dog for Iowa’s Des Moines Police Department died on Aug. 29 when he was left in a car on a hot day during a vice investigation, according to the Des Moines Register.

Harris said the Des Moines, Wash., department sends its condolences to the Des Moines, Iowa, department and to the community that lost the dog last month.

Explosive disposal expert Sean Carson, a Des Moines native, with his wife and daughter (Family photo)

A soldier from Des Moines was one of seven Americans killed in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan on Thursday, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Petty Officer Technician 1st Class Sean P. Carson, 32, had been based in San Diego since March 2009. He enlisted in the Navy in 1999.

Four Afghans also died in the helicopter, which the Taliban says it shot down northeast of Kandahar province, according to the Associated Press. The crash was one of the deadliest airstrikes against American military service members in Afghanistan.

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

Yakima Herald-Republic

A SeaTac man was one of two people killed, and a Des Moines resident was one of three injured Sunday in a in a single-vehicle rollover accident in Yakima County.

Luis A. Marcia Santana, 23, of SeaTac, and Maximo Ocampo, 24, for whom no address was available, both died at the scene after being thrown from the 2005 Jeep they were riding in, according to a Washington State Patrol news release.

Injured were Adrian Mena Santana, 26, De Moines; Israel Evangelista Mena, 20, Roosevelt; and Basilio Flores Soriano, 24, Grandview.

The State Patrol said, Evangelista Mena as driving the Jeep about a mile south of Mabton, Yakima County, at 4:15 p.m. when he veered off the road to the left, overcorrected and rolled the vehicle, the release said.

Evangelista Mena was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Two other passengers, Mena Santana and Flores Soriano, and, were both taken to Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, the release said.

Jennifer Walstrand

A man who repeatedly stabbed and beat a 28-year-old woman as she begged for her life in August 2010 was sentenced this morning to 40 years in prison.

Daniel Threadgill, 24, a club promoter who also worked in a cellphone-sales kiosk in the Tacoma Mall, was convicted of first-degree murder last month.

Threadgill killed Jennifer Walstrand at the behest of Araya McMillon, a woman he was working with, prosecutors said. McMillon and Walstrand were next-door neighbors in a Des Moines triplex and both women worked as prostitutes, according to prosecutors.

McMillon, 22, was allegedly jealous of the money Walstrand was making and angry Walstrand had ratted her out to their pimp, who viciously beat McMillon as a result.

Walstrand suffered 63 stab wounds and many of her teeth were kicked out during the attack inside her Des Moines home late on the night of Aug. 30 and into the early hours of Aug. 31, 2010, according to the criminal charges. 

“In 12 years on the bench, this is the most horrific and cruel case I have ever seen,” King County Superior Court Judge Cheryl Carey said during Threadgill’s sentencing at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

McMillon was initially charged with first-degree murder, but later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder as part of a plea agreement. She testified against Threadgill and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Madaline Ann Desmet thought she’d met the man of her dreams through her church Sunday school program.

The Des Moines woman, who’s a real estate agent, allegedly confessed her “undying love” to the man a few months after meeting him and was rebuffed. But Desmet persisted, with packages, love letters and emails.

In December, Desmet, 64, even contacted Seattle  Municipal Court to set up a wedding date. Staff at Jarrod, the Galleria of Jewelry, contacted the object of her affections to find out how he would be paying for her wedding ring.

Seattle police Detective Nathan Janes noted all of this and more in his investigative report into Desmet. On March 2, King County prosecutors charged Desmet with felony stalking.

Desmet is out of jail on her own recognizance. She is slated to be arraigned on the stalking charge on March 15.

When reached at home this morning, Desmet was surprised that the case has garnered media attention. She said the only people who know about what’s really going on are she and the man she is accused of stalking.

“It’s just a bunch of bunk,” she said. “I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to have this in The Seattle Times.”

Desmet said she doesn’t want to have the incident publicized because the man has young children.

When police arrested Desmet on Feb. 29, she admitted knowing about an anti-harassment order but thought the order was not real, according to court documents. She told officers that she believed the man she is accused of stalking had invaded her computer and was the one pursuing a romantic relationship, Janes wrote.

Seattle police were contacted by the alleged victim in January, after what he described as nearly two years worth of harassment by Desmet, according to charges. When Desmet refused to give up, church staff intervened in August 2010, asking her to leave the man and his children alone. She was banned from church grounds.

On March 8, 2011, the man was granted a protection order. Again, Desmet was not deterred. The mail, email, phone calls and direct contact continued, charges said.

In December, the man was contacted by Seattle Municipal Court regarding his supposed marriage ceremony. Later that month, the man’s sister was walking home with his two daughters when she saw Desmet sitting in a parked car in front of her brother’s house, charges said.

The man gave police more than 40 emails, four letters and a package, all purportedly from Desmet.

“(The man) is scared of Desmet. He believes that she is delusional with mental health issues,” Janes wrote in his report. “Because of her behavior towards him and his beliefs about her mental stability, he is afraid that sooner or later she will snap; her “love” for him will turn to violent.”

The man told police he has changed his daily routines to evade Desmet.

He is not only fearful for his safety, but for the safety of his children, police said.