Slaying suspect awaits return to Spokane

SPOKANE — A Spokane man sought in the shooting death of another man will be returned here after his arrest in another state, Spokane County sheriff's detectives said.

Joseph D. Shafer is charged in an arrest warrant with first-degree murder stemming from the shooting death of a mechanic two years ago in a house in the Spokane Valley. Court documents suggest the slaying may have occurred during a drug theft.

Shafer, 21, is the third person to be arrested and charged in the killing of Lonnie Earl Taylor, 37.

Shafer was arrested Tuesday. Sheriff's detectives declined to say where the arrest occurred.

Detective Dave Madsen said he received word Thursday that Shafer would waive extradition and be returned to Spokane County.

Shafer was linked to the crime by bullet fragments recovered at a hospital from Shafer and another man and later matched to a 9-mm semiautomatic handgun found under Taylor's body, court documents say.

Taylor's body was found March 21, 2001. Bullets from two handguns were recovered from his body.

An hour before police found Taylor's body, Shafer and Ricky Warren Jenks were dropped off by a woman at Valley Hospital and Medical Center.

Both were suffering from gunshot wounds and underwent surgery. They told authorities they were shot by unknown persons at a supermarket.

Shafer left Spokane shortly before ballistic tests linked him to the Spokane Valley slaying.

Jenks was arrested Sept. 4 and later released on bond. He is scheduled to stand trial on a charge of first-degree murder Feb. 18.

The woman who allegedly dropped Shafer and Jenks off at the hospital, Ann E. D'Ambrosio, 46, also is charged with first-degree murder.