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| July 30, 2009 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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MISSING IN MASON COU0000TY
PART TWO OF A TWOPAtRT SERIES
Burnett case solved, but two other have gone cold
By KEVAN MOORE
It's easy enough to find
if you know where to look,
but otherwise can be hard to
find. It's a place surrounded
by incredible beauty that, at
the same time, is filled with
immeasurable sadness.
Just minutes from
downtown Shelton, in a small
clearing near Dayton Peak at
the dead end of a seemingly
endless network of similar
logging roads is where
10-year-old Monique Burnett
took her last breaths, gasping
for air while suffocating at
the hands of a monster of
man who, along with his
brother, had molested her
just moments before.
Of the three high-profile
missing children cases in
recent memory here in Mason
County, though, Burnett's is
the only one with any sort of
conclusion -- grim as it is.
Burnett went missing,
Shelton High School senior
Tracy West, 17, disappeared
on October 20, 1988 while
on her way to work in Taylor
Towne shortly after 4 p.m.
Police were called at 11:40
p.m. that night when one of
West's co-workers reported
her missing. The motorcycle
she was riding was found
upside down with the key
still in it a short time later
at 12:55 a.m. the following
morning. West has never
been seen since and her bank
account with nearly $1,000 in
it was never touched. Based
on that fact and a wide range
of other factors, authorities
quickly decided that West
was the victim of foul play
and probably taken.
Massive searches ensued,
including one near Dayton
Peak where the remains
of Monique Burnett had
Less than a year after been found only one month
AB)UT THIS SERIES
This two-part "Missing in Mason County" series, which
takes a closer look at the circumstances surrounding the
disappearances of three Shelton youngsters that were nev-
er seen alive again, was inspired by last month's disappear-
ance of Lindsey Baum.
The 10-year-old McCleary girl's June 26 disappearance
has grabbed hold of that nearby city and this county's
consciousness, in strikingly similar ways that our community
has been impacted by the disappearances of Kelly Coots in
1971, Monique Burnett in 1987 and Tracy West in 1988.
earlier. West's remains, and murdering Burnett
however, would eventually and entered guilty pleas
be found near Taylor Towne to murder in the first and
on October 17, 1994 and second degrees, respectively.
positively identified as hers David Johnson died in 2001
just four days later. The and Gerald Johnsonremains
case is open and active, in custody to this day.
but detectives have little, Former Shelton Police
if anything, to go on at this Department Detective
point. Gary Martzall, who has
The Burnett case, though, since died, spent 14 months
is closed, investigating Burnett's 1987
David and Gerald disappearance and single-
Johnson eventually admitted handedly broke the case
to kidnapping, molesting open, at one point sending
Gerald Johnson to the prison
in Walla Walla to try and
get his brother, serving time
on a separate sex offense
conviction, to implicate
himself.
"I had this theory
essentially that this was
not something committed
by a first-time perpetrator,"
Martzall said of his efforts
on the case in 1993 as the
Johnson brothers' cases
were working their way
through the courts. "This
was someone who had been
involved with kids before. I
thought it probably fit into
progressive behavior; there
was very little chance that
this was someone other than
a sex offender."
Despite his hard work and
successful efforts, Detective
Martzall clearly had mixed
emotions about it all.
"It always feels good to
wrap up any case, but I don't
feel any joy, knowing what
happened to that little girl,"
Martzall said in 1993:
A look at a transcript of
Gerald Johnson's detailed
confession makes it clear
why Martzall was far from
joyful. He said he was the
one that snatched Burnett
off the street and "kept her
quiet" despite her protests.
He along with his brother
proceeded to molest Burnett
just west of Highway 101
before taking her to the small
clearing near Dayton Peak
where they molested her
again before David Johnson
strangled her to death. The
brothers, who had been
drinking all day, then went
home to have dinner with
their wives.
Gerald Johnson said he
was confessing in order "to
get the hurt out of me for not
helping Monique when she
needed my help."
No sign of Lindsey
and not many clues
By KEVAN MOORE
There's still no sign of
Lindsey Baum, who went
missing from McCleary
in nearby Grays Harbor
County on June 26, and
investigators don't have
any theories on what
might have happened to
her.
McCleary Police Chief
Dave Pimentel said the
girl was last seen at
around 9:30 p.m. that
night on Maple Street
while walking from a
Lindsey's disappearance,
but nothing has panned
out."
Baum's disappearance
has rocked the tiny town
and posters featuring
photos of the missing girl
seem to be visible just
about anywhere one could
look there.
Baum finished her fifth-
grade year only 10 days
before her disappearance,
at a school district that
currently enrolls about
245 students in grades
friend's
home,
"We're still in the
process of obtaining
leads and following up on
them," he said. Nothing
significant has broke and
we haven't found the key
to the puzzle."
ChiefPimentel said that
no one has come forward
with any information
about whether Baum
may have been picked
up in any kind of vehicle
by someone she did or
did not know or whether
she went somewhere on
her own. He did say that
there have been persons
of interest in the case,
though.
"There have been
people we've targeted,"
he said. "We've done an
extensive and exhaustive
search of what they were
doing at the time of
house to her K-8 with an average class
size of just 18 students
per class. Jody Whipple
has worked at the district
for 12 years and is one of
only a few staffers there
in the summertime.
"We were all just so
shocked," she said. "Of
course you think nothing
like this will ever happen
in a small town."
Whipple said
administrators are
currently focusing on
ways to handle the
return of students and
staff this fall, including
the possibility of having
counselors on hand. In
the meantime, she said,
she has already had
conversations with her
own third-grade daughter
about the importance
of being aware of one's
surroundings and staying
in groups.
Tips for child safety .
CRUSHED ROCK
The Center for Missing and Exploited Children offers
a number of resources for parents and guardians,
including the following tips for keeping your child safer:
What are the most important things parents
should tell children about safety?
1. Always check first with a parent, guardian
or trusted adult before going anywhere, accepting
anything or getting into a car with anyone.
2. Do not go out alone. Always take a friend with
when going places or playing outside.
3. Say "no" if someone tries to touch you, or treats
you in a way that makes you feel scared, uncomfortable
or confused. Get out of the situation as quickly as
possible.
4. Tell a parent, guardian, or trusted adult if you feel
scared, uncomfortable or confused.
5. There will always be someone to help you, and
you have the right to be safe.
What should a parent know when talking to a
child about safety?
1. Don't forget your older children. Children ages 11
to17 are equally at risk to victimization. At the same
time you are giving your older children more freedom,
make sure they understand important safety rules as
well.
2. Speak to your children in a manner that is calm and
non-threatening. Children do not need to be frightened
to get the point across. In fact, fear can thwart the safety
message, because fear can be paralyzing to a child.
3. Speak openly. Children will be less likely to come
to you about issues enshrouded in secrecy. If they feel
that you are comfortable discussing the subject at hand,
they may be more forthcoming.
4. Do not teach "stranger danger." Children do not
have the same understanding of "strangers" as adults;
the concept is difficult for them to grasp. And, based on
what we know about those who harm children, people
known to children and/or their families actually present
greater danger to children than do "strangers."
Continued from page A-1
memory" to speculate about
why the file is so thin.
A confession is alluded
to only twice in the case
file -- once in a memo that
indicates a search was
conducted in the fall of
1987 in the same area the
skull had been found seven
years earlier and a second
time on a large green
and white spreadsheet
containing "a summary
of known incidents" for a
man named Leroy James
Hudack.
Byrd said he believes
that the spreadsheet,
which says Hudack
confessed on August 13,
1987 to killing Coots, was
compiled by now deceased
Detective Ed Hanson of
the Washington State
Patrol's Organized Crime
Intelligence Section. Byrd
said that while he couldn't
recall any specifics from
the time, he does recall
hearing about a confession
that wasn't thought to be
credible.
"He (Hanson) was
probably tantalized and
very interested at first and
things went downhill with
his (Hudack's) credibility,"
Byrd said. "When it came
time to document it, they
probably haphazardly
documented it because it
wasn't going anywhere
because his credibility
had been so diminished.
Of course, that's all very
speculative on my part."
What is clear is that
Hanson, or whoever
compiled the document,
which mentions that
Hudack was sexually
abused by his father at a
young age and includes
a history of Hudack's
working life, various crimes
he committed, visits to
psychiatric hospitals and
even a throat surgery at the
age of 15, did a tremendous
amount of work. Some of
the details contained in
the document are truly
stomach turning. For
example; after breaking
into a tavern in 1954
Hudack was committed to
Oregon State Hospital only
to secure a weekend pass
wherein he went on to pick
up a small girl and perform
sexual acts on her. In 1960
he picked up two teenage
boys and threatened them
with a wrench to perform
abnormal sexual acts with
him before masturbating
and later that same day
was observed enticing a
7-year-old girl and her
3-year-old brother. He
slapped the girl, cut her
finger with a razor blade,
threatened to kill her and
proceeded to masturbate
on her body. On another
occasion, in 1965, Hudack
picked up two minor girls,
ages 9 and 11, and took
them to a logging road
near Matlock where he
"committed oral sodomy"
on the older girl.
FBI Agent Marty
Prewett from the Seattle
field office said the
document did' not come
from his agency.
"I've never seen anything
like this or anything
produced by the Bureau
like this," he said. "I have
lO-Yard Truck
most sizes
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Year-round delivery
shared it with some folks
here and we all kind of
came to the conclusion that
this looks like a detective
or analyst within a police
department that has taken
information from all these
different agencies and put
it together in a timeline.
I can't picture this being
anything that the Bureau
produced."
Beyond that, Agent
Prewett said that he was
not willing to comment on
someone else's work.
"We (the FBI) are
unaware of what transpired
in this case and are not
in a position to make any
comments," Prewett said.
Byrd said that while
techniques for obtaining a
confession may or may not
change, standard operating
procedure in the late '80s
for handling confessions
are very similar to what
they are today. Then and
now, a subject needs to be
advised of his or her rights
and a written record along
with an audio or video tape
of the confession is made,
When it comes to the Coots
case file, no such record
exists.
Also missing from the
file, or the sheriffs office
evidence locker, is a skull
found along Carman Road
on September 17, 1980.
The skull was discovered
by mushroom pickers and
Oregon State Medical
Director Dr. William
Brady, who happened to
be in Shelton at the time,
determined that the skull
was human and probably
that of a 9-to 10-year-old
boy or 13-to-14-year-old
girl. A policeman was
sent to this same area
only 10 days after Coots
disappeared to investigate
a "bad smell," but was
unable to locate anything.
For all of these reasons,
investigators believe that
the found skull did, indeed,
belong to Coots. Major
advances in modern DNA
science, of course, could
likely be used at this point
in an attempt to identify
the skull as Coots'.
Byrd said that the skull
likely would have at some
point been turned over to
the coroner's office, which,
at the time, was run out of
the prosecutor's office. The
creation of an independent
coroner's office didn't occur
until the early '90s, but
current Mason County
Coroner Wes Stockwell
did a records check this
week and said there is no
mention of a skull. As is
the case with confessions,
Byrd said, procedures for
evidence back then are
similar to what they are
now. An item that is part
of an investigation is put
in a vault and a receipt
is produced. Byrd said
that the only difference
in maintaining a chain of
custody now versus then is
that the process has been
computerized.
"I don't know where the
skull is," Byrd added.
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Thursday, July 30, 2009 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page A-7