Second suspect named in Mattawa murder

MATTAWA — Authorities are continuing a homicide investigation involving two suspects and their connection to the fatal shooting death of a transient man near Mattawa over the summer.

One suspect, Marcus Dean Quesnell, 29, of Kennewick, is being held in Grant County Jail for first-degree pre-meditated murder after being interviewed by two Grant County Sheriff's Office detectives at the Kennewick Police Department on Oct. 19 in connection with the unsolved homicide.

Quesnell named former co-worker and roommate James Isom Collins, 24, of Desert Aire, as the trigger man who shot an acquaintance of theirs in the head in early July of 2005 during a dispute over money for drugs and a couple of malfunctioning car stereo amplifiers, documents filed in Grant County Superior Court show.

Five days before Quesnell was arrested, an orchard owner near Mattawa discovered the decomposed remains of an adult man inside an old-fashioned root cellar, the body stuffed into a corner and covered over with a sleeping bag.

Grant County Coroner Jerry Jasman later identified the man as 22-year-old Jonathan M. Carrico and said that he died as a result of a gunshot wound to the forehead.

A .22-caliber bullet remained lodged in Carrico's skull, Chief Deputy John Turley said.

Carrico was a known drug user who worked under-the-table jobs and lived out of his car or stayed with friends, Turley said.

According to court documents, he would at times stay in the root cellar where his remains were eventually found because he had nowhere else to go.

Quesnell became a person of interest in the Carrico homicide investigation after detectives learned during interviews of several individuals that he was one of the last people seen with Carrico before the victim went missing, according to court documents.

In the early morning hours of either July 4 or 5, Carrico approached Collins about buying some methamphetamine, court records show.

Carrico had apparently driven his car to a friend's house in Desert Aire where both Collins and Quesnell were staying, but left it parked there to ride in Collins' vehicle when the three men left to buy the drugs. Quesnell said that he knew Collins already had methamphetamine in his possession and didn't see why they would need to travel elsewhere to pick it up. He assumed Collins had planned to kill Carrico instead, court records state.

The three men eventually arrived at the root cellar about two miles southwest of Mattawa on Road U SW where Carrico's remains were later found by the orchard property owner. It was there, Quesnell told detectives, that Collins allegedly shot Carrico in the face after an argument over Carrico's apparent debts owed to Collins, court documents say.

The two suspects returned to their friend's house without the victim and made up a story during the drive in which they claimed Carrico was dropped off at another location on the way back to get some gas money. Carrico, they said, would return later to pick up his vehicle, court papers say.

"Collins turned to Quesnell and told him if he said anything to anyone, the cops or anyone, the same would happen to him. If he couldn't find him, he'd find him through his family," wrote sheriff's office detective Kim W. Cook in a report.

Court documents also included a letter from Quesnell to Carrico's family expressing his disappointment in not telling someone about Carrico's death.

"I was there when your son was killed but I'm not the one that did it," Quesnell wrote. "The person that killed your son is my old roommate he told me that he was going to do it but at the time I did not think he could do something like that."

"I wish I wold [sic] have told someone but I did not because my life and my family were on the line," Quesnell continued.

Collins is currently being held by the Yakima County Department of Corrections on a U.S. marshal hold and various unrelated charges, including first- and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, driving under the influence, no valid operator's license, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The Washington State Patrol arrested Collins on July 17, 2005 on the firearms charges when he was found in possession of a .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol, court records show.

Charges against Collins are pending in relation to the Carrico homicide investigation, Turley said.