Man faces new murder count

WENATCHEE – One of the three people arrested in an Arizona home invasion that left a little girl and her father dead has been charged with the 1997 slaying of a Hispanic man in Washington state.

A second-degree murder charge was filed Friday in Chelan County Superior Court against 34-year-old Jason Eugene Bush in the stabbing death of Hector Lopez Partida, a homeless man.

An informant told Wenatchee police that Bush bragged about killing “a Mexican” behind a store and that Bush had ties to white supremacist groups, according to court documents. Prosecutors say he was linked to the death through DNA evidence.

Bush and two others, including Shawna Forde, 41, from Everett, are charged with murder in Arizona in a May 30 home invasion that wounded a woman and killed her husband and their 9-year-old daughter. Authorities allege Bush and Forde had connections to a Washington state anti-illegal immigration group that conducts border watches in Arizona.

It was not immediately known if Bush was represented by a lawyer. Forde has denied involvement in the Arizona home invasion.

A sheriff in Arizona has said the trio wanted to steal money to fund operations of Forde’s Minutemen American Defense.

Bush, Forde and Albert Robert Gaxiola, 42 – have been charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and other charges in Pima County, Ariz.

The trio are alleged to have dressed as law enforcement officers and forced their way into a home about 10 miles north of the Mexican border in rural Arivaca. Their motive was financial, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County said last week.

“The husband who was murdered has a history of being involved in narcotics and there was an anticipation that there would be a considerable amount of cash at this location as well as the possibility of drugs,” Dupnik said.

The Minutemen American Defense Web site, now taken down, had said Forde, who has been living recently in Arizona, is the group’s leader and Bush goes by the nickname “Gunny” and is its operations director. She was once associated with the better known and larger Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.

Bush was arrested at a Kingman, Ariz., hospital where he was being treated for a leg wound he reportedly received when the woman who survived the attack managed to get a gun and fire back.

In the Wenatchee case, police describe Partida as a homeless man sleeping under a blanket behind a store in the early morning hours of July 24, 1997. After being stabbed seven times, he managed to walk to a nearby parking lot, then collapsed, court documents said.

When arriving officers asked Partida who had hurt him, he muttered: “Gavachos (white guys).” He died minutes later.

A bloodstained shirt was found nearby. In 2005, DNA extracted from the shirt matched Bush’s, who had a lengthy criminal record in Washington and had served time in prison here.

The Minutemen American Defense Web site has been replaced by a statement attributed to officers of Forde’s group. The message disassociates the group from Forde and Bush.