Not-Guilty Plea Entered In Slaying

EVERETT - A janitor refused to enter a plea yesterday in the slaying of a woman at a Lynnwood church, so a judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Larry McKeeman also set a June 19 trial date for James Homer Elledge, 55, of Everett, and ordered him held without bail. Elledge, a convicted murderer who was paroled from a life prison term, was charged last week with aggravated first-degree murder in the killing of Eloise Jane Fitzner, 47.

Elledge tried to commit suicide twice before turning himself in to Tacoma police April 21, according to an affidavit filed by deputy prosecutor Mark Roe. Details of the suicide attempts were not contained in the affidavit.

In addition to killing Fitzner April 18 at a Lynnwood church, police allege Elledge kidnapped a Seattle woman who accompanied Fitzner to the church, took her to his Everett trailer, sexually assaulted her and later released her.