Saturday,

July 1, 2000

Teen's charges now first-degree murder

Elder Cramm also may face murder charges

By SCOTT NORTH Herald Writer

An Everett teen who is suspected of killing two young men outside his home May 30 is now facing first-degree murder charges.

The upgraded charges were filed Friday against Dennis J. Cramm, 17, after evidence was developed showing he displayed an "extreme indifference to human life" when he allegedly shot Jason Thompson and Jesse Stoner, 18, said Jim Townsend, Snohomish County's chief criminal deputy prosecutor.

Cramm originally had been charged with two counts of second-degree murder. If convicted of the new charges, Cramm could face close to 60 years in prison.

Meanwhile, the likelihood of murder charges for the defendant's father, Dale B. Cramm, 44, has "increased very greatly" as the result of investigation late this week, Townsend told Superior Court Judge Larry McKeeman during a brief hearing.

The elder Cramm was arraigned Friday on charges of allegedly tampering with a witness and tampering with evidence connected to the shooting. He also is charged with three drug-related felonies. Dale Cramm has pleaded innocent to all the charges.

Court papers filed Friday show that detectives are continuing to build their case at least in part on statements they attribute to John Jauregui, 24, a former housemate of the Cramms who has admitted firing one of two SKS rifles believed to be used the night Stoner and Thompson were killed.

Stoner and Thompson died when seven bullets hit the car they were riding in after a planned fistfight at the Cramms' home just south of Everett between Dennis Cramm and a 16-year-old south Snohomish County youth erupted in gunfire. The fight reportedly was watched by a few dozen young people and as many as 10 adults, including Dale Cramm.

The documents filed Friday allege that Dennis Cramm bragged to Jauregui after the killings that he "wasted the car," firing metal-jacketed hollow-point ammunition into the vehicle and watching bullets strike the victims.

The younger Cramm "felt no remorse for the killings, even asking Jauregui if he, the defendant, 'should feel bad' about the murders," Townsend alleged in court papers.

Dennis Cramm's attorney, Royce Ferguson of Everett, said Jauregui's statements have to be viewed with skepticism because of the man's own admissions that he fired one of the rifles that night and later tried to hide them from police.

Ferguson said he wants to see how Jauregui's story holds up when ballistics evidence becomes available and the agreement he's reached with prosecutors becomes public. Jauregui has been jailed after being arrested on investigation of felony riot.

Dale Cramm's attorney, public defender Caroline Mann, also questioned Jauregui's veracity when she tried to convince Judge McKeeman to release her client on his own recognizance or at least lower his $200,000 bail.

Jauregui "has motives to be lying about what he is saying now," Mann said.

Townsend said detectives believe Dale Cramm represents a serious risk to the community. He alleged the elder Cramm "instead of being horrified about what happened at his residence" bought more firearms and body armor and made threats to shoot deputies after his son was jailed.

The prosecutor also said the elder Cramm has repeatedly claimed membership in the Aryan Nations, a white supremacy group, although Townsend added he doesn't know whether that is true.

Reached Friday at the Hayden Lake, Idaho, compound of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian/

Aryan Nations, the group's leader, Pastor Richard Butler, said he'd never heard of Dale Cramm.

"A lot of people claim that (affiliation with the Aryan Nations)," Butler said.