Detective says park slaying suspect frantic after 'birth'

KENNEWICK — A woman accused of killing a pregnant Pasco mother was frantic and in the midst of an apparent crisis when police found her in the back seat of a car holding a newborn, a Kennewick detective said Thursday.

Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong called 911 that night in June 2008 saying she had just given birth in her Acura and the baby was having difficulty breathing. So while paramedics and police tended to the boy in the parking lot of Kennewick's WorkSource, she was heard by officers repeatedly asking if her baby was OK.

What police didn't know at the time was that the baby had been cut from the womb of another woman, allegedly by Sisouvanh Synhavong, who had told family and friends she was expecting when she wasn't really pregnant.

"She was very frantic, excited, seemed like she was in a crisis of some kind," Kennewick police Detective Ryan Kelly said of his first interaction with Sisouvanh Synhavong that night.

His testimony was given in a hearing for a Benton County Superior Court judge to determine if statements Sisouvanh Synhavong made before her arrest were voluntary and can be used in her upcoming trial for aggravated first-degree murder.

Prosecutor Andy Miller called nine witnesses Thursday. The hearing before Judge Robert Swisher continues today with potential witnesses for the defense.

Kelly said that after noticing blood inside and outside the car, and an extreme amount of condensation on the interior windshield that appeared to have been wiped away, he asked Sisouvanh Synhavong if anyone else was with her. Her voice was high and panicky when she replied that her husband wasn't there, he said.

Upon hearing Sisouvanh Synhavong question if her baby was alive, Officer Trevor Davis said he asked her what had happened to figure out how she had ended up in that parking lot going into labor. Police got the initial call at 11:08 p.m. June 27, 2008, about a woman giving birth in a car.

"She replied to me that she had went out for a walk and all of a sudden given birth," he testified.

The baby boy left in an ambulance for Kennewick General Hospital, followed by a second ambulance carrying Sisouvanh Synhavong.

Unaware that they were then dealing with a crime scene, officers made sure the car was locked and drove off, either for the hospital or other late-night emergency calls.

"At the time she left in the ambulance, did you have any reason to believe she had not given birth?" Miller asked.

"No, I did not," Kelly responded.

It was only after Dr. Victor Brooks ran a series of tests on Sisouvanh Synhavong in the hospital's emergency room that it was confirmed she was not pregnant, nor had she just given birth.

Brooks said he then realized that there was a new mother out there, possibly in danger, and began asking his patient about the woman's whereabouts out of concern for her safety. As a mandatory reporter of suspected harm to a child, Brooks told Sisouvanh Synhavong he also was going to notify police.

"Initially I was thinking there might have been a friend of hers that she was trying to protect, maybe the friend was using drugs," testified Brooks, who previously worked with Sisouvanh Synhavong when she was a nurse's aide at Avalon Healthcare in Pasco. "I didn't know. I was thinking hundreds of scenarios in my mind ... because it didn't make sense to me."

Brooks then told Kelly about the test results, saying he "believed something bad had happened and he thought that she had killed someone because while he was talking to her she was talking crazy," the detective said of his conversation with the doctor.

So Kelly, who thought maybe the doctor was "jumping to conclusions and exaggerating what was really going on," joined Brooks inside the exam room.

"I knew at that point that we had a newborn baby that someone had given birth to and I also knew that (Sisouvanh Synhavong) had not given birth to a baby, so I was trying to find out what was going on and where the mother of the baby was," Kelly said. "I was trying to find out the connection between Ms. Sisouvanh and this baby."

"I had asked her about the mother of the child and asked if the person was OK," he added. "She said she didn't think so, and she said that she was in Columbia Park."

Sisouvanh Synhavong also reportedly told the detective that she "just went crazy."

That's when Kelly learned a crime may have been committed and read Sisouvanh Synhavong her constitutional rights before further questioning her. He said she "did not seem confused at the hospital," just had "a very expressionless look" as if she was thinking about something.

Sisouvanh Synhavong later said she wanted to leave the hospital. Brooks said he found that odd because "a mother that had had a baby that was ill would never say that." He told her that going home probably was not an option.

Araceli Camacho Gomez's body was discovered early June 28, 2008, in Columbia Park in Kennewick with multiple stab wounds to her chest. The 27-year-old woman already was the mother of two children.

The baby who had been cut from her womb was nearly dead at the hospital but survived, according to police and medical staff. Salvador Gomez went through a lengthy hospitalization and now is being raised by his father and two older siblings.

Sisouvanh Synhavong, 25, is scheduled for trial Sept. 27. If convicted, she could go to prison for the rest of her life.

After her release from the hospital around 1:45 a.m., Sisouvanh Synhavong was taken to the nearby Kennewick Police Department, where she was interviewed by Detective Wes Gardner for about 5 1/2 hours with a few breaks in between.

Defense attorney Dan Arnold suggested that Gardner improperly advised Sisouvanh Synhavong about her right to legal representation, leading her to continue the interview when she really wanted a lawyer. Arnold believes his client did ask to talk to an attorney.

The court heard Thursday a few minutes of the interview, in which a soft-spoken Sisouvanh Synhavong tells Gardner she is tired. After going through the Miranda rights with her line by line, Gardner said he handed her a pen to sign the bottom of the waiver.

That's when Sisouvanh Synhavong said, "A lawyer present today for what happened or for every day?" She continued to say she "can't afford a lawyer. Can I get one?"

"The court will appoint you one," Gardner said, to which Sisouvanh Synhavong responded, "Oh, they will."

"You want a lawyer now, is that what you're saying?" Gardner asked.

"No. I'm OK," the suspect said, adding that she was agreeing then to talk to police.

Gardner acknowledged to Arnold that he was hoping she would agree to proceed, but said he asked if she "wanted a lawyer" as is regular procedure and would immediately have stopped if she had invoked her right to counsel.

"You never said you could stop the proceeding and said she could have a lawyer right now?" Arnold asked.

"I didn't know that I needed to do that," Gardner replied.

Sisouvanh Synhavong was taken back to Kennewick General Hospital later that morning to collect evidence per a search warrant. Registered nurse Debra Logan completed the exam, which included getting a blood sample and taking fingernail clippings.

While waiting for the exam to be done, Detective Rick Runge said Sisouvanh Synhavong "made the comment that she believed Detective (Greg) Castro tricked her into a confession."

"I said, 'You did kill her, right?' " Runge testified.

Miller asked about Sisouvanh Synhavong's response, which Runge said was, "Yes."