Women charged with kidnapping related to Cascade Valley shooting
EPHRATA — A 24-year-old Moses Lake woman is charged with first-degree kidnapping in connection with a Jan. 2 double shooting at a Cascade Valley duplex where one man was killed and another suffered a serious head wound.
Christina Lee Warren was taken into custody without incident by police Thursday at Lakeshore Motel in Moses Lake. Authorities believe she's a friend of Christian Alberto Gonzalez-Ramirez, 25, of Warden, who was arrested Thursday for first-degree murder in connection with the shootings, Grant County Superior Court documents show.
An Othello man, 25-year-old Frankie Corral Jr. was allegedly killed by Gonzalez-Ramirez in the incident, according to court documents. Corral, found dead in the dirt driveway of the duplex, suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the torso, the Grant County coroner reported.
Investigators believe Gonzalez-Ramirez also shot and critically wounded 20-year-old acquaintance Scotty R. Slenker in the earlier hours of Jan. 2, court records show. The Grant County Sheriff's Office reported Slenker was found bleeding outside the duplex, 8060 Road 4.2 Northeast, a bullet lodged in his brain. He is recovering in a Spokane hospital after surgery to remove the bullet.
Warren, for her part, is accused of allegedly abducting Corral's 16-year-old girlfriend in an attempt to lure Corral to a park where Gonzalez-Ramirez reportedly planned to kill him.
Methamphetamine use is believed by authorities to link the group of people associated with the shooting, documents show.
Slenker, in interviews with sheriff's office detectives, reportedly said Gonzalez-Ramirez planned the attack as payback. Corral allegedly stole some personal property from Gonzalez-Ramirez months earlier.
Residents of the duplex, including a man held temporarily in Grant County Jail as a material witness to the shooting, told detectives Gonzalez-Ramirez and Slenker both confronted Corral at the duplex around 5 a.m, court documents state. Witness Maxwell Paterson told investigators Corral stole a bag of drugs from a residence on Potato Hill Road as the men cruised around Moses Lake on Jan. 1, documents show. Paterson reportedly told authorities Corral may have stolen a car earlier in the day.
Warren rode along with Gonzalez-Ramirez and Slenker to confront Corral at the duplex. She reportedly did not know the shooting was going to happen and fled when shots were fired.
A search of the duplex found a pistol-grip, short-barrelled shotgun and two loaded handguns, documents show.
Corral's girlfriend, who says Warren was one of her three abductors, explained how she was blindfolded, stuffed in a duffle bag and taken to an unknown residence.
Gonzalez-Ramirez, also an abductor, allegedly told the girl several times he wanted to kill Corral. She told detectives how her abductors held a cocked gun to her head at one point and used her mobile phone to send text messages to Corral, attempting to lure him to a park. Warren allegedly cut the 16-year-old girl's hair to learn Corral's whereabouts. The girl was kept in a closet. She was released after 8 a.m. on Jan. 2, learning Corral and Slenker had been shot. She was then told to keep quiet and dropped off near her home.
Warren was also arrested on a warrant for failure to appear at a court hearing on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, driving with a suspended license and possession of a dangerous weapon, a butterfly knife.