Slaying victim's wife, her son, friend plead not guilty to murder

A woman and the two teenagers who allegedly carried out her plan to kill her husband pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder Monday at the King County Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell ordered defendants Velma Ogden-Whitehead, her son, Jon Ogden, 18, and his 17-year-old friend Wilson Sayachack to each continue to be held in lieu of $5 million bail.

King County prosecutors allege Ogden-Whitehead, 48, arranged to have her husband, Ronald Whitehead, killed on March 18, 2005, and to make it look like a random carjacking.

Whitehead, 61, a career Boeing employee, was driving to work when he was shot twice at the busy intersection of South 188th Street and Eighth Avenue South, near his Des Moines home, then pushed from the car.

The car was found later a few miles away, and detectives at first presumed Whitehead had died in a random carjacking.

But police soon became suspicious because Whitehead's body was found with his wallet in his pocket, casting doubt on the motive for a carjacking.

During a 15-month investigation police examined Ogden-Whitehead's finances and personal relationships.

Investigators say Ogden-Whitehead and her husband had a rocky marriage, and that she had an affair with a fellow employee at the auto-parts store where she worked.

After her husband's death, they say, Ogden-Whitehead received life insurance, retirement accounts and benefits valued in excess of $650,000. She also inherited four rental properties, two of which she sold for $460,000, according to King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng.

Ogden-Whitehead, who was married to her husband for 10 years, took trips to Las Vegas, bought new cars and was planning to move to Arkansas in the months after his death, Maleng said.

She also made multiple public appearances begging for information on her husband's killer and accepted donations from the public for a reward fund.

Monday, Ogden-Whitehead appeared in court wearing a red jail uniform, white socks and sandals, her wrists handcuffed.

Investigators say Sayachack, who was charged as an adult, was paid $1,000 by Ogden to shoot Whitehead.

The Seattle Times generally does not name minors unless they have been charged as adults.

According to charging papers, Sayachack hid in the trunk of the Mustang that morning as Whitehead headed to work, and Ogden, who was Whitehead's stepson, was seated in the passenger seat.

Sayachack allegedly climbed through the folding back seat and shot Whitehead in the back of the head.

Authorities have not explained why it took more than a year to file charges in the case. Police said a large part of the investigation was a painstaking examination of phone and computer records of the three defendants.

According to the charging papers, the three were in close contact around the time of the killing, and Ogden and Sayachack allegedly exchanged 53 text messages on their cellphones in the hours just before the slaying.

Deputy Rodney Chinnick, a King County sheriff's spokesman, said the investigation is ongoing and "will probably go on at least through the time of trial."

Attorneys for the defendants did not return calls for comment Monday.

Information from Seattle Times staff reporter Joe Mullin is included in this report. Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com