Teens suspected of killing mother, daughter
WEST RICHLAND, Wash. -- Two teenagers being held in the stabbing death of the mother and sister of one of the young men have extensive criminal histories and drug abuse problems, court records show.
Bail was set Thursday at $500,000 for Joshua A. Tucker, 16, who was being held for investigation of murder or manslaughter, and at $100,000 for 15-year-old Donald Lee Schalchlin, held for investigation of rendering criminal assistance in the killing of Ellen "Lori" Schalchlin, 41, and Elizabeth Schalchlin, 13.
Benton County Deputy Prosecutor Nanette K. Dockum said there was a "good likelihood" that Tucker will be charged as an adult, and that Schalchlin also could be charged as an adult.
"These are tragic and horrific events," said Laurie L. Magan, Schalchlin's lawyer. "It's possible Donald is a victim in this matter as well."
Sheriff's deputies responding to a 911 hang-up call Wednesday night caught the two teens covered in blood and trying to drive away from the mobile home in the family's pickup truck, Undersheriff Paul Hart said.
The girl was found dead just inside the front door. Her mother, a Tri-City Herald contract newspaper carrier, was alive and conscious in a back bedroom but died on the way to Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, Hart said. Autopsies were pending.
Tucker, who had been staying with the Schalchlins, reportedly told Schalchlin on Wednesday he was "going to kill his family," according to court documents filed Thursday. "Donald didn't take Joshua serious and they continued to hang around together."
Suddenly, at 8:30 p.m., Tucker grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the girl in the neck, investigators wrote.
After the teens tried to hide her body behind a wall partition and clean up the blood, Tucker attacked the mother when she started looking for her daughter, according to the court filings.
Investigators wrote that Schalchlin called 911, then put the phone down at the demand of Tucker. Dispatchers called the home and Schalchlin answered momentarily, then hung up again, according to the court filings.
Tucker has not attended public school since fall 2006 and is a state dependent and frequent runaway from a foster home in Richland, but his last probation expired Nov. 19, court records showed.
In October 2006, a day after a chase that ended when he crashed a truck into a grade school fence and tried to flee on foot, he told authorities he had taken LSD, "claims he has auditory and visual hallucinations and claims he has no control over his thoughts," investigators wrote.
He was in a drug and alcohol treatment program and receiving mental health counseling at the time.
Schalchlin had been expelled from Kiona-Benton City High School this fall for making threats to kill people at the homecoming dance.
Seventeen days into the school year, according to court documents, he posted a note on his MySpace Web page that read in part, "I hope none of you (expletive) are drunk because this is the last time you're going to be around," and "not you (a girl's first name), but all of you other (expletive) are dead."
Schalchlin, who claimed the message was a joke, had been suspended from school Aug. 31 for "snorting white powder on the bus." He was allowed to return Sept. 11 until school administrators learned of the MySpace message.
He was placed on community supervision through Sept. 26, 2008, for harassment involving the MySpace message, second-degree reckless burning, third-degree malicious mischief, second-degree vehicle prowl and third-degree possession of stolen property.
Bail was set Thursday at $500,000 for Joshua A. Tucker, 16, who was being held for investigation of murder or manslaughter, and at $100,000 for 15-year-old Donald Lee Schalchlin, held for investigation of rendering criminal assistance in the killing of Ellen "Lori" Schalchlin, 41, and Elizabeth Schalchlin, 13.
Benton County Deputy Prosecutor Nanette K. Dockum said there was a "good likelihood" that Tucker will be charged as an adult, and that Schalchlin also could be charged as an adult.
"These are tragic and horrific events," said Laurie L. Magan, Schalchlin's lawyer. "It's possible Donald is a victim in this matter as well."
Sheriff's deputies responding to a 911 hang-up call Wednesday night caught the two teens covered in blood and trying to drive away from the mobile home in the family's pickup truck, Undersheriff Paul Hart said.
The girl was found dead just inside the front door. Her mother, a Tri-City Herald contract newspaper carrier, was alive and conscious in a back bedroom but died on the way to Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, Hart said. Autopsies were pending.
Tucker, who had been staying with the Schalchlins, reportedly told Schalchlin on Wednesday he was "going to kill his family," according to court documents filed Thursday. "Donald didn't take Joshua serious and they continued to hang around together."
Suddenly, at 8:30 p.m., Tucker grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the girl in the neck, investigators wrote.
After the teens tried to hide her body behind a wall partition and clean up the blood, Tucker attacked the mother when she started looking for her daughter, according to the court filings.
Investigators wrote that Schalchlin called 911, then put the phone down at the demand of Tucker. Dispatchers called the home and Schalchlin answered momentarily, then hung up again, according to the court filings.
Tucker has not attended public school since fall 2006 and is a state dependent and frequent runaway from a foster home in Richland, but his last probation expired Nov. 19, court records showed.
In October 2006, a day after a chase that ended when he crashed a truck into a grade school fence and tried to flee on foot, he told authorities he had taken LSD, "claims he has auditory and visual hallucinations and claims he has no control over his thoughts," investigators wrote.
He was in a drug and alcohol treatment program and receiving mental health counseling at the time.
Schalchlin had been expelled from Kiona-Benton City High School this fall for making threats to kill people at the homecoming dance.
Seventeen days into the school year, according to court documents, he posted a note on his MySpace Web page that read in part, "I hope none of you (expletive) are drunk because this is the last time you're going to be around," and "not you (a girl's first name), but all of you other (expletive) are dead."
Schalchlin, who claimed the message was a joke, had been suspended from school Aug. 31 for "snorting white powder on the bus." He was allowed to return Sept. 11 until school administrators learned of the MySpace message.
He was placed on community supervision through Sept. 26, 2008, for harassment involving the MySpace message, second-degree reckless burning, third-degree malicious mischief, second-degree vehicle prowl and third-degree possession of stolen property.