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KENNEWICK — An elderly Kennewick woman was found dead inside her home Friday afternoon and a 28-year-old relative was arrested on suspicion of homicide.
Viola Williams, 87, was found dead just before 3 p.m. by a relative in her home at the Sun Meadows Mobile Home Park, 3324 W. 19th Ave.
"We don't know the cause of death. We don't know the time of death," Kennewick police spokesman Mike Blatman told the Herald. "But there was no forced entry into the residence."
Adam Ryan Williams, 28, was detained shortly after Viola Williams' body was found, Blatman said.
The victim and suspect are related, but police didn't know immediately what their relationship was, Blatman said.
Kennewick police were called to Viola Williams' home at 2:58 p.m. after another relative called 911 and reported finding her dead.
Within an hour, Kennewick police had asked West Richland officers to contact Adam Williams at his apartment at 531 S. 38th Ave.
West Richland officers searched his home and detained him.
Adam Williams then was picked up by Kennewick detectives and interviewed at the Kennewick police station before being booked into the Benton County jail on investigation of a homicide.
Blatman said police were looking for Williams earlier in the day on unrelated incidents before Viola Williams' death was reported.
"Some circumstances happened earlier today that didn't make sense to police but now the pieces are coming together," Blatman said Friday. No other details were released Friday.
Adam Williams has a criminal history dating back to 1997 when he was 14, including convictions for theft, residential burglary, malicious mischief, resisting arrest and violating a protection order.
As an adult, Williams has been convicted of attempting to elude police, residential burglary and violating a protection order.
Detectives went inside Viola Williams' home for the first time about 4 p.m. to begin their initial investigation and to collect evidence.
They then called the Washington State Patrol Crime Response Team to request help processing the scene.
The Crime Response Team, which responded from Spokane and Vancouver, was expected to stay there throughout the night collecting evidence.
"The fact that someone has been detained does not mean the investigation is over. It's just beginning," Blatman said.
Detectives also spent much of the evening canvassing the area talking to neighbors and searching for evidence in several locations in the Tri-Cities where Adam Williams reportedly went after leaving Viola Williams' home, Blatman said.
The Benton County coroner was expected to return today to remove Viola Williams' body, Blatman said. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.
Doug Smith, who lives across the street from Williams, told the Herald that another neighbor said Williams' daughter had been calling her mother Friday and went to the house after getting no answer from Williams.
Smith said he did not hear any disturbance or noise coming from the home.
He went outside to see what was going on after seeing several police cars and an ambulance.
Officers quickly stretched yellow crime scene tape around the mobile home and blocked off nearby intersections to keep people away.
The front door and the screen door were wide open at the home.
A silver Kia, which neighbors said belonged to Williams, was parked under the carport.
About 3:30 p.m., a school bus dropped off students near the front of the mobile home park and Blatman escorted some kids down the sidewalk across from Williams' home so they could get to their houses.
Another neighbor called Williams "a real nice lady" and said she often could be seen through the living room window sitting in the corner of the house watching TV or working with her plants in the yard.
