Student, 16, Arrested In Ax Murder Of Mom

LAKEWOOD, Pierce County - A 16-year-old Pierce County honor student was arrested yesterday on charges of hacking his mother to death with an ax.

Frank Dalton has been charged in Pierce County with the first-degree murder of his mother, Helene Dalton, 37. She was found dead in her bed Tuesday in the 10100 block of 109th Avenue Southwest.

Dalton was arrested about 5 p.m. yesterday at Fort Lewis, along with a friend, also 16. Pierce County Sheriff's Department identified the second youth as a fellow student and a runaway, sought by authorities in Idaho and Oregon.

Military police, asked by Pierce County to watch for Dalton's vehicle, arrested the two without incident about 5 p.m. yesterday at the home of a friend on the base.

According to the Pierce County medical examiner, the mother had been dead seven to 10 days. A small single-bladed ax with a 3-foot-long handle was found next to her body.

Detectives are still trying to establish a motive for the killing.

Dalton has a 3.77 grade point average at Steilacoom High School, where he is a junior, according to Principal Gordy Hansen.

However, on Dalton's last report card, he got a `C' and a `D,' Hansen said, noting it was highly unusual.

"All you hear about him is that he's a model student, very cooperative and pleasant. There was never a discipline problem," Hansen said.

Both Dalton and his mother were "very meticulous, hard-driven, hard-working people," according to sheriff's spokesman Curt Benson.

Helene Dalton had been going to school and had just opened her own accounting business in October, neighbors said.

Benson said the youth had been in and out of his mother's home several times since her death.

Saturday, Dalton stopped by the house to pick up the mail, said neighbor Jack Sharp. "I waved and said, `Hi, Frankie,' and he waved back," Sharp said.

Helene Dalton was a dedicated mother who had taken good care of the boy since her divorce 10 or 11 years ago, Sharp said. The youth was conscientious about doing chores and keeping the lawn mowed.

"You'd never hear them argue," Sharp said.

Steve Dobrinski, manager of the El Torito restaurant where Dalton worked 20 to 25 hours a week, said the boy was "clean-cut, well-mannered, never late for work and never sick - a great employee."

Saturday he came to pick up his paycheck. But he never showed up for his Saturday-evening shift. Nor did he return later.

-- Times South bureau reporter Keith Ervin contributed to this report.