Judge sets bail of $1 million on suspect
Even if a parole board decides to release convicted rapist and kidnapper Arbie Dean Williams, he must remain in the Spokane County Jail unless he can post a $1 million bond.
Williams, 61, appeared before Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor on Wednesday in his first court appearance since he was charged last week with the 1982 killing of 15-year-old Linda Strait.
Williams has been in a state prison since he pleaded guilty in 1983 to first-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping of two 8-year-old girls from Spokane Valley.
Just days before a parole hearing last spring, Spokane County authorities announced that Williams had been linked, through advances in DNA testing, to the 1982 killing of Strait.
Strait’s body was found on Sept. 27, 1982, floating in the Spokane River not far from Plantes Ferry Park. She had been raped and strangled, court documents show.
Inside her Gonzaga Prep sweat shirt, investigators found a pillowcase with semen stains. They also found one pubic hair on the sweat shirt, according to court documents.
Testing for DNA was not available in 1982. The semen sample was tested in 1989 and again in 1998 without result. However, advances in technology finally were able to make a partial match to Williams last year.
Spokane County sheriff’s Detective Tim Hines interviewed Williams at McNeil Island Correction Center on June 4, 2003. He denied ever knowing, raping or killing Strait, Hines wrote in court documents.
A month earlier, Hines examined the evidence collected by his predecessors, Mike Massong and Donald McCabe. In the property room, Hines found the pubic hair that had been located on Strait’s sweat shirt.
On Feb. 9, Hines sent the hair to a private lab. DNA tests on the hair found that “Williams cannot be excluded as the source of the pubic hair,” Hines wrote.
“Obviously, it will be a challenge to present to a jury evidence that is old,” Deputy Prosecutor Kelly Fitzgerald said. “We can do that not only by witness testimony but through technology. That was key not only in identifying him, but it will also be key in our seeking his conviction.”
Strait’s stepfather and mother, George and Donna Ragland, were out of town on vacation and could not be reached. Last June, as Sheriff Mark Sterk announced Williams as the suspect, they placed flowers on their daughter’s grave.
Even though detectives interviewed about 1,000 people in the Strait investigation, Williams was not identified as a suspect. He was arrested in 1983 after two 8-year-old girls were abducted from Trent Elementary School in Spokane Valley.
One girl escaped, but the other girl was raped several times. Williams admitted that he strangled the girl until she was unconscious before dumping her in a wooded area. The girl later regained consciousness and ran to a nearby home for help.