Kent Fugitive Displayed Many Faces -- Police Seek Suspect Described As Con Man, Slick, Cold-Blooded

KENT - He is a man of many faces.

Some call him charming. Others say he comes off as the consummate ladies' man - the slickest con man you'd ever want to meet.

And police who have launched a manhunt for Charles Corliss simply call him a cold-blooded killer.

The 50-year-old Kent man is wanted for the execution-style slaying of one woman and wounding of two others in Fall City on Monday night.

King County police have alerted law-enforcement agencies throughout the western United States and have assigned four detectives to the case. All on-duty patrol officers in Southeast King County are working the case when not assigned to other calls.

``We're working feverishly on all the information we're getting, but none of the leads have produced anything,'' said county police spokesman Tony Burtt.

Corliss, who was convicted of killing a man in Montana in the mid-1960s, had been living on and off with his wife and teen-age son in Kent since moving here from Montana in July.

He had also been living with Tamera Farrington, 30, in Fall City but moved back with his wife three weeks ago after Farrington kicked him out, according to police and court papers.

After Corliss threatened her with a handgun Oct. 9, Farrington tried to obtain a restraining order against Corliss, but it had not yet been served.

On Monday evening, Farrington and three co-workers from a hair salon in Renton went to her house to help her move. The porch light was on, leading her to believe Corliss was inside. Kim Starkenburg, 23, stood outside, and as the others went inside to look for him, Corliss stepped out of the bedroom, according to court papers. He was carrying a gun. He ordered the women to lie down on the floor, but Farrington ran away. He forced Starkenburg inside.

When police arrived a short time later, they found Starkenburg dead of two gunshot wounds to the chest. April Williams, 23, was slumped in a corner with two bullets in her chest, and Brenda Mhoni, 21, had been shot in the hand.

Williams and Mhoni are currently in satisfactory condition at area hospitals.

Yesterday afternoon, a white pickup was still parked outside the house, with Farrington's belongings - a couch, coffee table and beauty-salon kit - jammed in the back.

Farrington, who was not injured, is staying at an undisclosed location, Burtt said.

Neighbors in Kent say Corliss did not seem like a violent man. In fact, he could be quite charming. Donna Trus, Corliss' landlord, said she was impressed when she first met him in July.

He had just gotten a job driving a truck at a nearby street-cleaning business, and his references from the former mayor in Deer Lodge, Mont., had checked out, she said.

``He was very cheerful and personable. He told me he couldn't wait to move his wife and child out here (from Deer Lodge),'' Trus said. ``He definitely has charisma. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but he seemed like a good sort.''

``He was a real nice guy,'' said Sue Airington, another neighbor. ``We'd meet at the mailbox and we'd chat.''

Corliss' wife declined to be interviewed.

Corrections officials in Montana said Corliss had no arrests for violence since being paroled in 1985, although he did escape from prison in 1974 and was recaptured a short time later.

``He never violated his parole. We felt real comfortable with his progress,'' said Mike Ferriter, supervisor of adult parole and probation for the state.

Corliss was in monthly telephone contact with his Montana probation officer, but was not monitored by the Washington criminal-justice system because he had not yet established permanent residency here, Ferriter said.

Corliss and another man were convicted of kidnapping Don Hammer of Lincoln, Mont., driving him into the woods, robbing him of $36 and shooting him.

The lawyer who represented Corliss, Lloyd Skedd, recalls, ``People were ready to break into the jail and get him. Emotions were running high.''

Skedd said people in the small town conducted a letter-writing campaign urging authorities to deny Corliss parole.

Bob Didriksen, who owned the drive-in restaurant where Hammer's daughter worked, said he doesn't forgive or forget what happened. After the kidnapping, ``We walked three days in two feet of snow looking for Don and then we found him - like that,'' Didriksen recalled. Hammer had been shot in the back of the head.

Didriksen and others made several trips to the state penitentiary to plead with the state parole board not to release Corliss. ``And so they turned him loose. It was terrible,'' he said.

Despite the town's outrage, Skedd said Corliss remained popular with women. ``He was quite a ladies' man. You talk to him, and his voice is so gentle and deep. He's good-looking, and very flattering to women,'' Skedd said.

Skedd recalled that Corliss even testified to the parole board that while he was in prison, he and a female social worker who worked with him had met secretly in the chapel and conceived a child there together.

But despite his surface appeal, Skedd said many people believe Corliss was a con man. ``He was just too slick,'' Skedd said.