Cop Killer Maurice Clemmons Shot to Death

Early this morning, despite a series of SWAT activities at locations police believed that Clemmons might attempt to hide himself, it appears that he was seen and identified by an officer on regular patrol.  When the officer of Seattle Police located the man who killed in cold blood four Lakewood Police officers, he was armed with the sidearm of one of the officers he’d killed. 

Assistant Seattle Police Chief Jim Pugel, speaking to reporters this morning, indicated that a single officer noticed a stolen Acura left running along South Kenyan Street.  He approached the car, looked it over and returned to his patrol car to do the paperwork and arrange for the car to be transported.  As he sat in his patrol unit, the officer noticed in his side view mirror that a man was approaching him from behind.  The veteran patrol officer jumped from the car, ordered Clemmons to halt and put his hands up. Chief Pugel said that Clemmons began to ran. Unwilling to allow the four-time killer to escape, the patrol officer fired three or four rounds, killing Clemmons.

This photo, taken by Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com, shows several Seattle Police Officers looking at Clemmons body as it is loaded into an ambulance for transport to the medical examiner.  Trujillo and several of his colleagues probably worked almost without a break since Sunday morning, and have used Twitter to keep each other and some of us who follow them on that service up to speed on what each is seeing.

Troyer has said that Clemmons had told several relatives and friends to watch the news on Sunday because he was “going to kill a bunch of cops.”  Apparently none of them reported the threat, and the next morning Clemmons acted on it.  As suspected all day, Clemmons had been wounded in the torso, severely enough that Ed Troyer was somewhat surprised that he could get away. 

A relative treated the wound on Sunday night, before it was joined by three or four additional gunshot wounds when Clemmons approached the Seattle patrol officer from the rear, then ran when the officer spun around and saw him. 

Ed Troyer of the Peirce County Sherriff’s Department met with reporters early Tuesday morning.  According to Troyer, three arrests have been made for "rendering criminal assistance" to Clemmons in his flight. Additionally, a fourth person is being detained for assisting Clemmons in escaping from the Parkland area after Sunday's shooting.  Troyer also said he expects that an additional six or seven arrests will be made: "Some are friends, some are acquaintances, some are partners in crime, some are relatives," Troyer said. "Now they're all partners in crime."

Troyer said that family members were supplying Clemmons with cell phones, money and were working on getting him transported out of state.  Troyer has also said that Clemmons had attempted to draw his pistol when the SPD officer ordered him to stop and show his hands.

CLIFF DESPEAUX / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Cliff Despeaux of the Seattle Times, who also must have been working since Sunday morning on this story (Despeaux tweeted that he began his day covering the Seattle Marathon on Sunday before the awful call came in and he headed to Parkland.  He worked most of the next 48 hours shadowing SWAT teams as they fanned out to cut Clemmons off from additional aid from family and friends.  The above photo is of the location where Clemmons was killed.  His twitter account was ‘tweeting’ steadily for both days.

Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar came to the site of where Clemmons was killed early this morning.  Farar said "I just want to thank all my brothers and sisters in law enforcement," he said. "I just can't say enough about what they've done in the last few days."

Update 1 (December 1, 2009)

Seattle Police Officer Benjamin L. Kelly has been identified as the officer who ended the criminal activities and life of the man responsible for killing in cold blood four police officers on Sunday, as well as a long string of assaults, armed robberies and most recently, charges that he raped a child.  "It was incredible police work. He's an incredible officer. He is nothing short of a hero, although he would bristle at being called that," according to  Seattle Police Officers Guild president Rich O'Neill.  He added that Officer Kelly values his privacy and doesn’t seek the limelight.

"I told him, 'You caught the suspect responsible for the worst police massacre in Washington state history. You need to take a deep breath and soak that in.' ", O’Neill added.  “He was alone, and was confronted by this guy, and knew it was him. "He wouldn't put his hands out, and to later find that he had the dead officer's gun on his person, one can only assume what he was approaching (Kelly) for". 

Seattle police have said today that it is believed that the scene, beginning with a stolen car parked with the hood up and motor running, certainly suggested an attempt by Clemmons to ambush another officer.  Assistant Seattle Police Chief Jim Pugel has said Clemmons approached Kelly from behind, when Kelly noticed him  approaching, he jumped from the squad car to disarm and arrest Clemmons.  

Technorati Tags: Breaking News,Crime,Criminals,Seattle true crime,true crime,Lakewood Police Officers Ambushed,Maurice CLemmons

Four Police Officers Killed in Lakewood (Updated)

It is too early to say what the suspect’s motivation was for this ambush of four police officers south of Seattle in Lakewood.  This morning about 8:30 as the officers were preparing to go on duty, a man walked into the coffee shop and opened fire.  Killed were three men and one woman, from the Lakewood Police Department.  The officers identities have not been released pending notification of families.  The officers were in uniform, doing pre-shift paperwork on their laptops when the ambush began.  All were wearing their bulletproof vests.  Spokesman Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sherriff has said that it is not yet known if any of the officers were able to return fire. 

Investigators have tagged and towed a light-colored pickup truck they believe to be the getaway vehicle, and are pursuing multiple search warrants.  Troyer has said that police do not suspect gang involvement at this time, saying that it would be very unusual for gang members to call attention to themselves in this way.  Police were involved in a standoff in a residence a few blocks from the location at which the pickup was discovered about two hours after the shootings.   The suspect is described as a black male between 5’8 and 5’9, in his late twenties or thirties.  His facial hair is ‘scruffy’ and he was wearing a black coat and blue jeans.  Another man may have been with him and fled with the suspect in the white pickup later recovered. 

A $10,000 reward has been offered for information in the case.

Update 1 (November 29,2009)

Police have indicated that the suspect walked into the cafe, past the officers, who were all working on their laptops preparing for their upcoming shift.  The suspect walked to the counter and pretended to order.  He then opened his coat.  The barista saw his handgun and ran out the back door.  The man then turned and shot two officers at close range in the head.  As a third officer stood to bring a weapon to bear the suspect shot again, fatally wounding that officer.  Finally, the fourth officer was shot as that officer brought a weapon to bear.  Though officer was fatally wounded, the officer grasped the suspect and struggled with him to the doorway of the cafe.  It is uncertain if the officer died there of wounds inflicted as he or she rose from their chair, or if he or she was shot again in the doorway.  Investigators believe that the officer got off at least one, and perhaps several shots.  It is unknown if the suspect was hit.

Pierce County Sherriff spokesman Ed Troyer indicated that police are looking at an Arkansas man as a person of interest.  He is

Maurice Clemmons, and he has a long criminal record for armed robberies, assaults, child rape, assault on a police office.  He apparently has been seen in the area and fits the description.  Clemmons had been pardoned in 2000 after serving a fraction of his sentence of 95 years.  I am looking into the history of the pardon to see what convinced Governor Mike Huckabee to grant the pardon.  Clemmons was arrested and charged in Pierce County for third-degree assault on a police officer, and second-degree rape of a child.  He has not, to my knowledge, been identified as the shooter, but fits the description and his recent arrest for assaulting an officer makes him a person of interest.

The officers, an entire patrol squad of three officers and their sergeant, have been identified as Tina Griswold, Greg Richards, Ronald Owens, and Sergeant Mark Renninger.  More than a hundred officers responded to the radio call from dispatch, and many of them from surrounding jurisdictions were on their own time.  A motorcade of dozens of police cars and motorcycles with lights flashing escorted the officers remains to the medical examiner’s office.  They passed beneath a large American flag suspended from two ladder trucks – something I had hoped not to see again in the Seattle Area in my lifetime.  It has become necessary far too soon after the loss of Timothy Brenton. 

The founder of Cafe Forza, a man named Brad Carpenter, is himself a retired policeman.  He indicates that several of his staff that witnessed the attack are still meeting with police trying to recreate a timeline and diagram the events as they happened.  Needless to say, they are pretty upset and it has been painful for them to go through it in detail.  

Police are identifying video surveillance locations and analyzing surveillance videos for any leads they may hold.

Cafe Forza Lakewood, WA

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Police-officers-shot-78089882.html 

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/archives/186610.asp

Local News | Four police officers shot to death in Lakewood in apparent ambush | Seattle Times Newspaper

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/78088192.html

Technorati Tags: Police officers shot,police ambushed,crime,criminals,murder,true crime,Seattle crime,Tacoma

Cold Case Gets a Boost from Local Television News Station

KIRO 7 reporter Chris Halsne has done a brilliant job of developing a story that could very well put a serial killer in prison.  Over thirty-five years ago, three seemingly unrelated disappearances went from baffling to cold cases, leaving families and investigators frustrated.  Now, with the unlikely help of a news reporter, cold case detectives may have another chance to close these long cold cases after all.

In 1973, a woman and her young son disappeared from the small town of Port Townsend, across Puget Sound from Seattle. A roommate told people the woman and son had left, and no missing persons report was ever filed.  Three years later, in 1976, a mother of five living in Kent, a suburb just south and east of Seattle.  As with the disappearance of the woman and her son from Port Townsend, the woman left home for a routine activity (studying for a college exam) and never returned.  Both families have wondered for more than thirty years just what might have been the fate of their loved ones.

Halsne has spoken with investigators in both Kent and Port Townsend about the cases, and about the man police are calling a suspect: Glenn Bagley.  Bagley is a retired civil engineer who worked for the Jefferson County managing roads projects at the time of the two cases.  He left “suddenly” shortly after the disappearance of the second woman, moving to the Philippines and earning a living as a freelance engineer. 

How did the original detectives link Bagley to the cases?  In the case of Althea Blankenship and her son Jeffrey, Bagley was sharing a home with Blankenship as his roommate.  They developed a romantic relationship.  Bagley was separated from his soon-to-be ex wife – the woman who would go missing three years later – at the time.  She was last heard from at the home and Bagley is believed to have been the last person known to have seen the woman and son.  Bagley has claimed that he drove the two to Seattle Tacoma International Airport, where they planned to take a flight to Greece.  No records document the pair leaving Sea Tac on any flight, and customs doesn’t have a record of them leaving the country.  The Kent woman who disappeared three years after Blankenship and her son was called Esther Mae Gesler.  She had left home saying she was going to study for a college exam over the weekend.  Her ex-husband was Glenn Bagley.  Shortly after Gesler’s disappearance, Bagley left the country “abruptly”, according to the Jefferson County Sherriff’s investigator.  When contacted about the disappearance, Bagley said he didn’t see Gesler and that he had an alibi for that weekend.  His girlfriend was willing to give a statement saying that Bagley had been with her in Port Townsend building a cat house in his garage.  It was enough at the time.

Years later, though, the woman came forward and told investigators that she had lied.  She claimed in 2004 that Bagley had threatened to kill her if she ever revealed the false alibi, and that she’d “end up in the same culvert in Quilcene as Esther”, according to Halsne.  The accusation rang true to investigators, who knew that Bagley’s job as a roads project engineer would have given him local information and cover for disposing of remains in hard-to-find places throughout the county. 

At some point after Bagley’s former girlfriend had recanted her alibi, cold case investigators discovered that Bagley’s name came up in both cases.  Bagley claimed that he’d not had any contact with his ex-wife in the months prior to her disappearance, but after determining through phone records that Bagley had called her, police connected the two cases and Bagley became the prime suspect.  As Kent Homicide Detective Wayne Himple told Halsne,  “What are the chances? What are the odds of one person being associated with the disappearance of three people? And not just three people, but of people he was closely related to or in proximity of. They lived with him. The odds have to be astronomical, in my view…”

The Port Townsend paper interviewed a number of people who knew Bagley, including another ex-wife.   He was described as a good engineer, organized and neat professionally, but with a more exotic personal life.  One person said he was ‘weird’ and that no one who knew him would be too surprised if he is guilty of three murders.

When interviewed in Port Townsend regarding his ex-wife’s murder, Bagley appeared nervous to detectives.  His girlfriend provided an alibi, and not long thereafter Bagley was on his way to the Philippines.  Detectives have not been able to speak with Bagley in person since 1976.  When they began looking for Bagley in 2004 following the recanted alibi, he was nowhere to be found. and Kent did not have the cold case budget to send detectives to Manila to interview Bagley now.  Fortunately, as KIRO News investigative reporter Chris Halsne contacted investigators about the cases, as well as surviving family members and the ex-girlfriend who recanted the alibi she’d given Bagley, Halsne was able to track down Bagley in the Philippines.  Moreover, Halsne was able to arrange a trip to do what police couldn’t afford.  Interview Bagley.  It is worth a look at the video of the report to watch the suspect’s demeanor and answers to questions.

After several days of street surveillance and some encounters Halsne describes as ‘unpleasant’ with armed men guarding Bagley’s residence, he was able to speak with Bagley in person.  Some excerpts are available in the link below, as well as photos, a timeline and transcript of the interview.  His answers, at least to me, are consistent with a man who could kidnap and murder two women and a small child.  He chuckles when discussing the disappearances, and is rather blase about them, but shows discomfort and perhaps a stronger emotion when told what his ex-girlfriend had said in recanting her alibi of him.  Word is that investigators are surveying culverts in Jefferson County to see if they can locate any remains.  At 69, Bagley may have thought he’d gotten away clean (if he is guilty of these crimes), but for the first time in thirty plus years he must look over his shoulder to find close pursuit.   Halsne has put together a top-notch report, and KIRO has not only pursued a fascinating story, but may end up helping to solve three very old, but no longer cold cases.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/21442051/detail.html

http://www.ptleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=25531&TM=23660.71

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2009/10/is_port_townsends_glenn_allan.php

http://www.kirotv.com/video/21474222/index.html

PHOTOS- COLD CASE TIMELINE

http://www.kirotv.com/station/21457924/detail.html

Technorati Tags: cold case,Glenn Allan Bagley,KIRO,Murder,Port Townsend,crime,true crime,criminals,murder,missing persons