February 22, 2006

By J. JACOB EDEL
Contributing Writer

Two years after a homeless man was found dead face down near the banks of the Cedar River in Maple Valley, a couple from Tillicum is now in court, charged with second degree murder.

Shirin Navvab Lucero, 28, and David Wayne Pulcino, 46, are accused of assaulting Jeffrey Travis Thompson on Jan. 7, 2004, and leaving him to die.

According to the testimony of Dr. Richard Harruff of the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, Thompson, a 57-year-old Vietnam veteran who spent his nights for the past 30 years camping in this area of Maple Valley, died from “multiple blunt force injuries” to the head. He also noted a list of other contributing causes, including hypothermia and pre-existing, natural illnesses. Thompson’s autopsy revealed he had heart disease, emphysema, esophagus cancer, and cerebellum vermis atrophy, a degeneration of the brain due to chronic alcoholism.

Last week, Dayne Carley, a resident of Maple Valley, testified that he discovered Thompson’s body after he tracked his way down a snow-blanketed trail with his two Labrador retrievers to the Cedar River’s edge on Jan. 8, 2004. This was two days after a storm dropped around seven inches of snow in southeast King County.

Carley, who had spoken with Thompson a few times before while exercising his dogs, told the court he wasn’t immediately concerned to see Thompson lying awkwardly in the snow. He said it looked like Thompson was “passed out drunk.” According to Dr. Harruff, Thompson sustained a blood alcohol level of .19 at the time of the autopsy.

After several minutes of playing with his dogs, Carley said, he became concerned because Thompson hadn’t budged. He decided to approach Thompson before he departed, calling out his name. When he didn’t respond, Carley called the police.

Photographs displayed to the jury showed Thompson lying in the dirt next to traces of snow, in a denim jacket and jeans. He was between a fire pit and a concrete pillar that supports an aged train trestle crossing the river.

According to court documents, the detectives from the King County Sheriff’s Office determined the defendants were in the area the night of the crime and obtained both defendants’ DNA from the crime scene. Detectives found a liqueur bottle, numerous empty malt liquor “twenty-twos,” beer cans, and several articles of Thompson’s winter clothing throughout the area. Thompson’s green Army jacket — burned on the back and right elbow — and a piece of firewood containing traces of blood were found nearby as well.

At the nearby Maple Valley Market, a store clerk testified she saw the defendants in the store’s parking lot the day of the crime. She also testified she saw blood on Pulcino when he approached the checkout stand that evening and asked for a lighter.

Detectives Do and Pavlovich asked Qwest for the records from the store’s public pay phone for Jan. 7 and 8. On the night of the seventh, they told the court, three calls were made to Lucero’s sister.

The prosecution is expected to wrap up its case this week with testimony from Jennifer Gauthier, a DNA expert from the Washington State Crime Lab.

The defense counsel, so far, has questioned the clarity of some of the witnesses’ memories and suggested during Dr. Harruff’s cross-examination that out of all the possible causes of death, Thompson likely died from hypothermia after passing out inebriated in freezing weather. They also pointed out that Thompson may not have been assaulted at all — possibly falling into the cement buttress of the railroad trestle. Detective Pavlovich testified that he found no evidence suggesting that happened.