FBI agents in
Spokane to help find serial killer
by Scott Fralick
SPOKANE,
January 15 - The hunt for a serial killer in Spokane is
getting extra help.
The FBI is now helping the task
force formed by law officers from the Spokane Police
department and the county Sheriff’s department.
Federal agents from the
FBI’s child abduction and serial killer unit are in
Spokane to analyze evidence following a number of murders
of city women.
Those agents investigated whether
there was a link between local serial killings and other
homicides cases around the country.
They reported that no linkage was
found. But the FBI agents did report that it was highly
like the same person or persons who killed four women in
the last three months in Spokane.
Those four connected cases
involve the murders of Shawn Johnson, Darla Sue Scott,
Laurie Wason and Shawn McClenahan.
All four women were shot - and
all were found dumped along roadsides in rural areas of
the county. Police say the women frequented areas with
high rates of prostitution and drug use. McClenahan and
the three others are not the only unsolved mysteries in
Spokane. There are at least twelve unsolved killings
involving women in the area since 1990.
So far, police have not announced
whether they have a suspect. And as they search for links
to additional victims, police are also now looking for an
additional three missing women.
They include Jessica Fitzgerald,
23, Linda Maybin, 34 and 41 year old Sunny Oster.
The brother of one of the
victim’s says his sister turned to hooking to
support her drug habit.
Pat McClenahan says his sister
Shawn was a caring, loving women who tried, but failed,
to put her life back together.
“She won’t be
remembered the way she died,” he claims. She’ll
be remembered the way she lived and she was a good person
and we will love her and miss her.”
The younger sister of another
victim found out about her sister’s death when she
was paged while driving down I-90.
Darcy Acevedo is Laurie
Wason’s youngest sister. Despite Laurie’s drug
problem, Darcy remembers her sister as a caring and
helpful person. It was heroin, she claims, that sent her
sister into the street.
“Laurie was the type who
said she could take care of herself. She wanted to be
strong.”
Instead, she ended up being the
latest in a series of murders in the past year in
Spokane.
Laurie’s other sister, Shari
Page, is also dealing with the loss. She says it’s
worse “not knowing if Laurie suffered or how long
she’s been out there.”
Wason was married at the time of
her death. She left behind a twelve-year-old son and her
treasured show dogs. Her sister’s say that Laurie
had been clean of drugs for about six years, until eleven
months ago when she restarted her addiction.
“The drugs had the best of
her,” admits Shari.