The Thurston County Sheriff's Office has arrested two people suspected of killing an alleged drug distributor in April near Grand Mound.
The arrests resulted from a three-month investigation that began when Lewis County Sheriff's deputies found a body in the trunk of a burned vehicle near Randle on April 12, according to a July 20 news release from the Thurston County Sheriff's Office.
Lewis County deputies later determined the man was killed in the Grand Mound area and the Thurston County Sheriff's Office took over the case. In the months that followed, the news release says detectives with the Sheriff's Office and the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force executed search warrants, gathered evidence and interviewed many people.
Deputies arrested Jason Allen Butterton, 38, last Wednesday after Centralia police took him into custody for allegedly attempting to elude a police vehicle.
Butterton attended his preliminary appearance in Thurston County Superior Court on Friday. Judge Indu Thomas set no bail for Butterton, finding that he might commit a violent crime if released.
On July 14, deputies arrested Melville Darche Tangen, 44, on suspicion of second-degree murder. At the time, Tangen was already in the county jail on other unrelated charges.
The Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged Tangen with the alleged crime on Wednesday. Judge Sharonda Amamilo also set no bail for Tangen.
The Sheriff's Office says the homicide investigation is still ongoing and deputies may make additional arrests.
In response to some online speculation, Sheriff Derek Sanders took to Facebook on Thursday to clarify that the victim is not Shane Barton, a Rochester man who has been missing since March. The investigation into his disappearance is still ongoing, Sanders said.
A probable cause statement describes the investigation into the homicide from the perspective of law enforcement.
A citizen found a burned vehicle on a dirt road south of Randle on April 12 and notified the Lewis County Sheriff's Office, according to the statement.
Deputies responded to the scene and recognized it as a vehicle that was being tracked under warrant by the Tahoma Narcotics Enforcement Team and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
A tow truck driver discovered a body in the trunk as he attempted to hook what remained of the vehicle to his truck on April 13, according to the statement.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner reportedly conducted an autopsy on the body and found it had at least two gunshot wounds.
The statement says Lewis County deputies also found a .38-caliber bullet casing in the front of the vehicle and a bullet hole in the lower portion of the driver's side door.
Investigators used information from the tracking device to identify the vehicle's prior stops. This allowed them to collect local surveillance footage at multiple places.
On April 8, the vehicle stopped at a residence on Ivan Way Southwest in Rochester for about 40 minutes, which investigators thought was unusual. The vehicle then traveled to property on Old Highway 99 where it stayed for about 26 hours, according to the statement.
Prior to the Rochester stop, the statement says surveillance footage at a gas station showed a man in the vehicle with a black hoodie, gray pants and a red shirt.
On April 9, the statement says the vehicle traveled to Roy in Pierce County where surveillance footage showed it on top of a flatbed tow truck.
The footage also showed what appeared to be a defect to the lower portion of the driver's side door and a yellow gas can in the tow truck, according to the statement. Footage from a later stop reportedly showed two different men driving the tow truck.
The tow truck eventually arrived in Randle. Surveillance footage showed the truck driving toward the location where the burned vehicle was found, according to the statement.
Detectives later searched the Old Highway 99 property and a travel trailer in the driveway. They reportedly recovered several cameras, cell phones and a yellow gas can.
On July 22, a person reported a homicide at the Thurston County Courthouse. This person told a detective that the person who resided at the Old Highway 99 address had towed the vehicle tor Randle and lit it on fire, according to the statement.
Furthermore, the statement says this person believed Tangen had killed a narcotics distributor in a robbery.
On July 27, the detective interviewed the Old Highway 99 resident who was accused of burning the vehicle. He reportedly told the detective Tangen arrived with Butterton one night and paid him in narcotics to tow the vehicle to Randle.
The detective contacted additional witnesses who claimed Tangen carried a gun and paid people in narcotics to get rid of evidence.
In a July 14 interview, the statement says Tangen admitted to buying narcotics from "the cartel" and being armed at times, but he denied being involved in a homicide.
On Wednesday, the detective interviewed Butterton, who allegedly admitted to witnessing Tangen rob a narcotics distributor and hearing gunfire. However, he denied being armed at the time of the robbery.
Butterton reportedly said Tangen had given him a "significant number" of narcotics to sell and told him not to look in the trunk of the vehicle.
