One year after a deadly Tri-Cities rampage, investigators say 1 question has no answer

The investigation into the rampage through the Tri-Cities that left four people dead and several homes burned may be nearing its end.

It’s been a year since Ryan Kaufman killed his parents and a neighbor, wounded another neighbor and set a series of fires before he died in a confrontation with police in a West Richland parking lot.

Several questions remain unanswered even a year after Kaufman’s storm of violence: Did he die after being shot by officers or in the fire in his truck? When did he kill his parents? And what sparked the violence against his family, neighbors and others?

While several agencies have jurisdiction over the murders and arson fires, they have all referred questions about the case to the Regional Special Investigations Unit.

The unit was called in after four officers shot at Kaufman in his burning truck on Van Giesen Street on Aug. 25, 2021.

Kennewick Commander Randy Maynard, who has led the investigation for the past year, told the Tri-City Herald that a slowdown at the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab has caused most of the delays in wrapping up the case and issuing a final report.

It’s been further complicated by an increase in the amount of violent crime in Kennewick that has pulled investigators away. Maynard is in charge of the Kennewick department’s criminal investigations division.

“I’m hopeful that it gets done sooner rather than later,” he said.

And Maynard said many of the public’s questions about what happened that day should be answered in the final report.

Much like other SIU reports, it will likely span thousands of pages.

But Maynard said one question will remain unanswered.

“I guarantee we don’t have the motive,” he said. “There was only one participant, and he’s deceased. ... This investigation did not discover anything that led to understanding Mr. Kaufman’s frame of mind.”

It’s human nature to want an explanation in cases where something horrific happened, but in this case Kaufman didn’t leave any clues behind to explain his thinking on the days leading up to the shooting, Maynard said.

When police can answer why a crime occurred, they will but it’s often the hardest to explain, he said.

In the wake of the destruction, the families affected also have been waiting for the report to be finished.

Members of the Kaufman family couldn’t be reached. Bo Zlatich told the Herald he and his father recovered from their injuries and loss of his grandfather, but they haven’t been able to rebuild their destroyed home.

Ryan Kaufman’s history

Kaufman’s father, Daniel, was a longtime engineer for the city of Kennewick, and his mother was a respected Tri-Cities educator.

“Dan and Vickie loved their kids and dedicated their time to assuring they had strong roots, a good education, lots of hobbies and love of family,” an obituary about Daniel Kaufman said.

He would take the family fishing and hunting.

Ryan Kaufman went on to train as an electrician and become a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 112.

Travis Swayze, the business representative with the local, was in the same apprenticeship class as Ryan Kaufman and described him as good guy and a good electrician. He was smart, quiet, a good worker and a good union member.

Shortly after joining the union, Kaufman bought a home on Finley Road in 2002, according to public records.

The last time Swayze and Kaufman talked it was a good conversation, and they joked, laughed and told stories.

For two years, Kaufman and another man operated a company called Windy Acres Construction, according to Washington Secretary of State records. But it apparently went out of business in 2006.

He was still in good standing with the union after 20 years, but then in recent months he had stopped responding to calls, Swayze said.

The morning of Aug. 25

The urgent dispatches to firefighters started flowing in during the early hours of Aug. 25, 2021.

Just before 4 a.m., Emil “Bo” Zlatich called police to report his father had been shot and both his and his neighbor’s house on the 21000 block of East Finley Road were on fire.

Benton County sheriff’s deputies arrived to find Bo Zlatich and his 57-year-old father, Emil “Bobby” Zlatich III, in the backyard with a gunshot wound.

Their house was burning and so was Kaufman’s home next door and his orange Dodge pickup truck was missing.

Firefighters soon discovered the body of Emil “Bob” Zlatich Jr., 77, the longtime owner of Zip’s by the Cable Bridge, shot to death inside his house.

And about the same time, reports were coming in about a series of nine fires sprouting up near Olympia Street and Highway 397.

It remains unclear if the fires were connected to Kaufman’s rampage, though officials initially thought they were along the path Kaufman took through town on his way toward West Richland.

A fiery trail

Police know that by 4:45 a.m. Kaufman was at an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers building on North Edison Street in Kennewick.

He used a shotgun to bust through the door and used gas cans to start a fire.

It’s unclear if he went to the union training hall at 8340 Gage Blvd. before or after the Edison Street location. But he started a similar fire there that wasn’t discovered until 7:20 a.m.

Police would later tie the two fires together by comparing the shotgun shells found at both sites.

Shortly before 6:30 a.m., Kaufman’s pickup was spotted by Washington State Patrol troopers heading toward West Richland.

Officers were told to back off and “give him some space,” and eventually he slowed down on Van Giesen Street.

He was swerving when flames erupted from the engine and the truck stopped near a car wash on the 4300 block.

Police surrounded the truck, and heard several gun shots fired.

Four officers returned fire, shooting into the pickup. The officers involved included one from West Richland, one from Pasco and two Benton County sheriff’s deputies.

Benton County Fire District 4 firefighters put out the fire and found Kaufman’s body inside.

It unclear whether any of those bullets hit him or whether he shot himself or died from the fire.

About noon the same day, Kennewick police found Kaufman’s parents dead inside their home on the 4300 block of South Gum Street.

Kaufman had tried to start a fire there, as well, but it didn’t spread, officials said.

This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 12:57 PM.