Boy, 17, Charged With Murder In Stanwood Case -- But Mother Says Her Son `Would Never Hurt Anybody'

EVERETT - To prosecutors, David Dodge is a 17-year-old killer, someone who clubbed a 12-year-old baby-sitter with a piece of wood and raped her.

But to the boy's mother, he is a bright, considerate youth who is being wrongly portrayed by authorities as "a monster" for a crime he didn't commit.

"We know our son isn't a violent person. He would never hurt anybody," said Sharon Dodge of Camano Island.

David Dodge was charged yesterday in Snohomish County Superior Court with first-degree murder, second-degree rape and three counts of burglary in the beating death of Ashley Jones in Stanwood over the weekend.

He was being held in the Snohomish County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail and was scheduled to be arraigned today.

Dodge was arrested at a friend's Stanwood apartment after a tip to police, who launched an intensive search. He matched the description of a suspicious person reported near the house where Ashley was killed, authorities said.

Dodge already was wanted after escaping Friday from the supervision of a halfway house in Lynnwood, where he was serving time for burglary. Officials said he had walked away from a job, and an arrest warrant was issued that night.

Dodge had been convicted of five burglaries but no violent crimes.

His mother said yesterday that she grieved for the Jones family and was sickened by the crime, but that her son was not involved.

"They've got him sentenced and condemned already. He hasn't even had a hearing or gone to trial," Sharon Dodge said, adding that her son called from jail and told her, " `Mom, I didn't do it.' "

She said he had been interrogated for eight hours without a lawyer present and that he said his answers had been twisted.

Snohomish County sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said authorities followed proper procedures and that arresting officers would have advised Dodge of his right to a lawyer when they began questioning him.

As a 17-year-old, he did not need parental permission to waive his right to an attorney, Jorgensen said, and "if he hadn't waived his rights, he would have had his attorney there."

Snohomish County Prosecutor James Krider described Ashley's attack as "the most serious of crimes," and said Dodge was charged "to the full extent allowed by law given the facts we know now."

Charged as an adult

Dodge was automatically charged as an adult under a state law requiring such action when 16- and 17-year-olds are accused of serious violent crimes.

Prosecutors allege that Dodge entered the home where Ashley was baby-sitting shortly after midnight, planning a theft. Ashley was watching five children, ages 2 through 8, for two couples,.who were celebrating a birthday, a neighbor said.

Police said Dodge entered the home through an unlocked door.

Dodge left when he heard noises, then returned armed with a piece of wood, striking Ashley on the head, according to charging papers. He then left again, watching for any sign of movement inside the house, the court papers say.

He entered a third time, carried the unconscious girl to the basement and raped her, the papers say.

She was found badly beaten and unconscious by the adults when they returned home about 2:30 a.m., authorities said. She died about 12 hours later at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

The slaying shattered a sense of security in the small city of Stanwood, where the last homicide occurred in 1983 when a 13-year-old girl was bludgeoned. That murder remains unsolved.

More than 400 people attended a town meeting Monday night at Stanwood High School, where they expressed their grief, fear and anger. Anger about group homes

The crime also angered neighbors of the Larch Way Lodge halfway house in Mill Creek, who said they had never wanted it in their neighborhood and now are determined to shut it down.

Roughly 100 people came to a meeting with representatives of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office in Mill Creek last night and discussed their concerns. They are planning another meeting with state agencies that oversee the home.

Ted Jenes, who sits on a neighborhood committee that helps to screen possible group-home residents, said the slaying may mobilize the community to try to change state laws on where such homes can be put.

The home, near Martha Lake, next to a large apartment complex and behind a subdivision, has been the target of community resistance since it opened in 1995. It has beds for six youths, who are selected after a review of their crimes and an assessment of their danger to others and their likelihood to flee.

Veronica Argueta, who lives in one of the nearby apartments, said she and other adults had felt uncomfortable, especially when children from the complex play basketball or chat with the home's teen residents.

Dodge had been staying at the halfway house since June 30, said Laura Blaske, spokeswoman for Second Chance, a private nonprofit group that contracts with the state to run Larch Way and four other group homes.

He had been sentenced to 30 to 40 weeks' confinement after being convicted of burglary in December, his fifth conviction since 1995.

Although Dodge walked away Friday from a $6-an-hour job at United Furniture Warehouse in the Lynnwood area and a manager there said the group home's staffers had not informed him of Dodge's status, Blaske defended the group home's workers.

"We've been through all the records and talked to staff. All of our employees did exactly what they're supposed to do," she said.

As part of the residents' return to the community, they, rather than the staff, are expected to tell employers about their history, she said.

Since the Larch Way group home opened, she said, only two residents besides Dodge had walked away. Both returned without incident within hours, she said.

Blaske said 16 staffers run the Larch Way group home and another in Mountlake Terrace. They perform a variety of functions, from counseling to cooking, and monitor residents at the house and escort them to and from school or work.

There is always at least one staffer who stays overnight, she said, and an alarm system is wired to sound if residents try to leave.

Because Dodge had committed no violent crimes, officials decided he was a good candidate for a group home after a review of his history and likelihood to try to escape.

"In hindsight, you always hear people saying, `We knew (an offender was violent),' " said Sid Sidorowicz, assistant secretary of the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration. "We'll hear that from law enforcement or schools. And we'll say, `But you didn't tell us.' We get as much information as we can from the local level."

Sidorowicz said group homes, although usually unpopular in the neighborhoods where they're located, serve a legitimate public-safety interest.

Juvenile offenders who do not present a major risk to public safety are more likely to commit other crimes - and are harder to rehabilitate - when sent to prison, he said.

"If you're not chronic or you're not serious, sending you to (prison) is more likely to fail than sending you to a community-based facility," Sidorowicz said.

Seattle Times Snohomish County bureau reporters Stephen Clutter and Diane Brooks contributed to this report.

Nancy Montgomery's phone message number is 425-745-7803. Her e-mail address is: nmon-new@seatimes.com

Rebekah Denn's phone message number is 425-745-7804. Her e-mail address is: rden-new@seatimes.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Funeral-expense fund

An account in Ashley Jones' name has been established at the Washington Mutual Bank branch in Stanwood to help her family defray funeral expenses and other costs associated with her death.

Donations can be made at any Washington Mutual or Seafirst Bank branch.

A public memorial service for Ashley Jones is planned for 10 a.m. tomorrow at Stanwood Middle School, 9405 271st St. N.W.