Officers: Kennewick murder suspect talked willingly after arrest

Law enforcement officers testified Monday that a Connell woman accused of murdering a Kennewick grandmother agreed to talk after being arrested and read her rights.

But the officers were careful not to reveal what the former state corrections officer said in the hours after she was arrested.

At the start of the hearing, Benton County Prosecutor Andy Miller said defense attorneys are concerned about not releasing some information that could be heard by potential jurors before her trial.

Theresa L. Wiltse, 50, is accused of kidnapping Sandra Harris from her home on Nov. 18, then shooting the wife of a Kennewick pawn shop owner and leaving her body along a rural Benton County road.

Benton County sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Safford testified Monday that Wiltse was pulled out of a rental car in Eltopia at gunpoint on Nov. 18. He was working for Franklin County when she was stopped about 10 p.m.

He asked for her name and birth date, but when she told him she did not want to talk, he asked no further questions, Safford said.

At the Kennewick police station Wiltse was read her rights, but the interview stopped at 2:28 a.m. when she said, “I’m lawyering up,” said police Detective John Davis.

Davis left the interview room, but then she told another detective she wanted to continue talking and Davis returned to the room.

Davis said he read her her rights again and the interview continued, he said. Wiltse said no attorney was going to answer a phone in the middle of the night and at the end of the interview said that she had discussed more than any attorney would like, Davis said.

After Kennewick Officer Joshua Riley arrived to take her to a hospital and then the Benton County jail, she said something that Riley did not catch. Riley said he was concerned that it was something about her physical well-being, such as the handcuffs being too tight or needing a drink of water. He asked her to repeat what she said.

She said the same thing again, based on his review of a recording made in the interview room, Riley said. Riley said he asked no follow-up questions because her comments were not about her physical condition.

Miller cautioned him not to say in open court what Wiltse had told him.

Attorneys told Judge Vic VanderSchoor that the trial tentatively set for June 2 likely will be delayed.

Relatives for Harris and Wiltse were in the courtroom Monday.

Wiltse is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. She faces life in prison if convicted.

The murder includes the aggravating circumstance that it happened “in furtherance of, or in immediate flight from” the kidnapping. Both charges also include allegations that a gun was used.

Harris, 69, called her husband around noon Nov. 18 to say she’d been kidnapped and the suspects wanted $250,000.

Randy Harris owns Ace Jewelry & Loan in Kennewick, and has said there was no connection between the women.

Wiltse — who formerly worked as a corrections officer in Walla Walla’s Washington State Penitentiary for two years — was arrested later that night after trying to collect the ransom, court documents show.

Wiltse claimed she had accomplices in the kidnapping and slaying, but has not given specific identifications for anyone.

Nearly 48 hours later, a passing motorist noticed Harris’ body east of Interstate 182 south of Kennewick. She had been shot several times.

Wiltse remains in the Benton County jail.

This story was originally published May 22, 2017 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Officers: Kennewick murder suspect talked willingly after arrest."