Police search yields evidence of suspects in killing

Police seized a laptop computer and other items Tuesday in a search of evidence that two Spokane men in military-style clothing documented what one of them called their “mission” to kill a man last month.

Court documents filed Tuesday to obtain a search warrant for items in homicide suspect Robert A. Entel’s car revealed that a witness claims to have heard Entel and two co-defendants plotting the killing of 45-year-old Bud Robert Johnson.

The witness, Nina Pereira, told police she was present when Entel, 18, planned the killing with his Spokane Valley roommate, 20-year-old Kathryn B. Kelly, and friend 17-year-old Donald Smiley-Lyle, according to an affidavit filed by Spokane police Detective Kip Hollenbeck.

Pereira said Kelly was “furious” because she believed Johnson had burglarized her home at 14008 E. Springfield Ave. to steal back an autographed Beatles poster he had given her during a brief romantic relationship in February, Hollenbeck stated. He said Pereira described watching Kelly give Entel a set of keys and point out one that would open Johnson’s apartment in the 1700 block of West Maxwell Avenue.

Then, on March 9 or 10, Entel and Smiley-Lyle dropped Pereira off at another location and told her they were on their way to “take care of business,” according to Hollenbeck’s account of Pereira’s statements. He said she told detectives the two men were dressed in black combat pants, boots and shirts and that they told her they had guns in the trunk of Entel’s 2002 Hyundai.

A couple of days later, Pereira reportedly told detectives, Entel and Smiley-Lyle met her at a friend’s house and bragged about killing Johnson. She said they described strangling Johnson with a section of cord cut from Johnson’s computer and dumping his body into the Spokane River at Boulder Beach.

Hollenbeck said Pereira described going to the crime scene with Entel and Smiley-Lyle so they could point out where they disposed of Johnson’s body. They joked and spoke to Johnson as though he were still alive, making comments such as, “Bye, bye, Bud,” and “I hope you can swim, Bud,” according to Hollenbeck’s account of Pereira’s statement.

After the killing, according to Hollenbeck’s affidavit, Smiley-Lyle and Entel broke into a rural Whitman County home to steal guns – shooting up and burning a vehicle before continuing on to San Jose, Calif. Along the way, citing what Hollenbeck said were the subsequent confessions of both men, the suspects sold guns and homemade bombs to truckers and construction workers.

Entel and Smiley-Lyle wrote the phone number of a trucker who wanted more guns on a paper sack that police found in Entel’s car.

The suspects were arrested near Albany, Ore., on their way back to Spokane, Hollenbeck said.

He noted that, pending further tests, an autopsy was inconclusive about whether Johnson died of strangulation or drowning.