Tuesday, March 19, 2024

After 34 years: Missing man mystery finally comes to light

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Part 2 of 2

At the conclusion of their Feb. 16, 2017 interview with Dawn Soles, she asked the investigators if they could help her, because she said “I need help.” The next day, Detective Josh Mathena spoke with Stephen Smith’s former roommate, Derek Weldon, currently a resident of New York state. 

According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause, Weldon said he was aware of Smith’s disappearance and believed he was dead. He called Dawn, “a lying piece of trash.”

He asked Weldon if he had met with Dawn and Crystal on the day Stephen disappeared. Weldon said he was not even in Cashmere at the time. He was up in the Okanogan area working harvest. He did return several days after Smith’s disappearance. 

Weldon said he helped Smith raise Crystal, and if Dawn had arrived with the girl, he would have taken her from Dawn. He remembered the Smith family began cleaning up the house. Weldon recalled a violent scene in the living room area. It looked like “someone had been murdered.”

There was a lot of blood on the floor and couch, even a tooth between the cushions. Weldon believed something very bad happened to Smith in the house. He also said it was apparent someone had tried to clean the crime scene. 

On the living room floor was a dish pan containing bloody water and a towel nearby covered in blood. To Weldon, it was clear someone had tried to clean up the blood but there was too much blood to clean up. 

On Feb. 23, 2017, Mathena and Sergeant Jeff Middleton spoke with Craig Milton, who submitted a memo back in 1982. It was revealed that Smith was Milton’s cousin. When he was in jail with Bernard Swaim in July of 1982, Swaim had told another unknown person that Dawn and Swaim wanted Stephen killed. 

Swaim wanted to put a contract out on Stephen, and if they could not find someone to kill Stephen, Swaim and Dawn would do it themselves, Milton told the investigators. Milton said he did inform Weldon, but not Smith. 

Back in 1982, Milton felt the Sheriff’s Office did not do anything with his information. No one contacted him after his initial report. In fact, Middleton and Mathena were the first officers to talk with him regarding Stephen. 

On Feb. 23, 2017, Middleton and Mathena interviewed Debra Wetzel regarding her statements to law enforcement in 1988. Wetzel gave a very similar version of what she reported in 1988. 

She had a relationship with Swaim. After overhearing in court he was the suspect in a homicide in Chelan County, Wetzel asked him about it. Swaim admitted to killing his ex-wife’s husband, claiming Smith confronted him with a gun. Swaim allegedly said he threw a rock at him and killed him. 

Wetzel said there was no doubt in her mind Swaim was telling the truth about killing Smith. On Feb. 24, 2017, the investigators interviewed Pam Marken via telephone. Marken had been friends with Dawn since age 14. She lived with Dawn and Stephen for a short time in 1981, but had a falling out with Dawn, who believed Pam was getting too close with Stephen. 

Marken described the relationship between Stephen and Dawn as very volatile. She described Dawn as being very controlling and manipulative. In 2010, Dawn and Pam began talking again on Facebook. She was surprised to hear Stephen was still missing. 

In August of 2016, Dawn moved in with Pam at Woodstock, Georgia. Marken said Dawn spoke of Stephen and his murder almost daily, giving multiple versions of what happened. Near the end of her stay, Dawn told Marken that one day she would be arrested for killing Stephen. 

Marken was she was “absolutely sure” Dawn had been involved in Stephen’s death. On Feb. 28, 2017, Mathena spoke with Steve Noyes. Noyes said he had dated Dawn a few times in 1982. He recalled Dawn mentioning to him she needed help “getting rid of” her ex-husband. She asked if Noyes would help her. 

Noyes said he refused and to help Dawn and it was never brought up again. On Feb. 28, Middleton and Mathena interviewed Charb Rinker, who lived across the street from Stephen. Charb said he was at Stephen’s house the day before he went missing. 

Charb said Stephen was worried Dawn was coming to take Crystal. Stephen said it would be over his dead body before he lost custody of his daughter. Charb said Stephen told him if Dawn ended up with Crystal, it would mean he was dead. 

On March 3, 2017, Middleton and other officers arrested Dawn Soles at her apartment in Leavenworth. She was transported to the Cashmere office where she agreed to be interviewed. While Middleton was interviewing Soles, Mathena and another officer went to Sultan to arrest Swaim. 

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office located Swaim at a local grocery store. Swaim invoked his right to remain silent. Mathena told Swaim his first court appearance would be on Monday. Swaim told Mathena he wasn’t worried about it, because judges normally release him after his first court appearance on Monday or Tuesday. 

On the way back to Wenatchee, Mathena stopped in Cashmere to check on the Soles interview. During his discussion with Dawn, she told them she would finally tell the truth about Smith’s murder. 

Up to that point, Dawn had been reluctant to speak about her involvement in the murder. Dawn said she was very afraid of Swaim and thought he would harm her if she spoke with law enforcement. On the night Stephen went missing, Dawn said she and Swaim had been at Smith’s house in Cashmere drinking. 

Stephen became very drunk and eventually passed out on the couch. At 11 p.m., Dawn said she, Swaim and Crystal drove to the Village Inn Motel. She said Swaim told her he had to leave and drove off. 

Swaim retuned to the motel at 4 a.m. with his shirt covered in blood, Dawn said. She said Swaim claimed it was barbecue sauce. Dawn did remember Swaim saying, he took care of the obstacle for her. Dawn, Swaim and Crystal left the area for Seattle. 

Dawn said she confronted Swaim and he admitted to killing Stephen. According to Soles, Swaim went back to the house that night and struck Smith with rock as he laid on the couch. Dawn believed the body was located above the Dryden Dump. 

Mathena found it interesting in Dawn’s statements how she distanced herself from the murder. She also could not explain how Swaim was able to transport Smith’s body to the Deadman Hill area, drop of Stephen’s car yet still drive their car. 

In March 5, 2017, Mathena and Middleton met Dawn at the Leavenworth office. She continued to deny her involvement and blame it on Swaim. Mathena told her he did not believe the story. Finally, she broke down and said she would tell the truth. 

In July 1982, she and Swaim travelled back to Cashmere to visit Crystal. On the drive over, Dawn spoke about how better it would be if Stephen was out of the picture, in order to get custody of Crystal. 

When Swaim and Dawn arrived at the Cashmere motel, they began smoking hash, talking about how to make Stephen go away. Swaim told Dawn he would take care of it. Dawn admitted to wanting Stephen dead over the custody dispute. 

Dawn said they walked over to Stephen’s house, mainly so Swaim’s car was not seen in the area. The plan was to get Smith drunk to the point he passed out, then Swaim would take him out. 

Stephen became very drunk and passed out on the couch. Swaim told Dawn to take Crystal to the back bedroom and not come out. While in the bedroom, Dawn said she heard three loud smacks, which she believed was Swaim beating Smith. 

After about an hour-and-a-half, Swaim came to the back bedroom and said it was time to go. Walking out of the house, Dawn she saw a large amount of blood on the couch where Stephen had passed out. Dawn knew Swaim had killed Stephen while he was passed out on the couch. 

Swaim walked Dawn and Crystal to his car, which was now at the residence. He drove them back to the motel and dropped them off. He left a short time later, then returned around 4 a.m. 

Mathena felt Dawn had been very honest and emotional during the interview. In later discussions with Swaim, Dawn said he admitted to killing Stephen with a rock from the front yard. Swaim admitted to placing Smith’s body in a sleeping bag, then using Smith’s own car to transport the body. 

Swaim told her the body was later buried in an unknown area. 

Chelan County Sheriff Brian Burnett said the investigation was reopened because someone had called and made a request. At that point, Detective Mathena started looking into it. 

“You have to review the case, see what the case is, what kind of evidence there is,” Burnett said. “Because it is so old, you have to look and see where to start, who to start with, the people I need to talk to...are they still living? He started plucking away on it and things started to come together.”

In terms of the difference between the investigation in 1982 and now, Burnett said he did not believe the case was worked hard enough before. 

“I don’t know that we had any brand new information other than what he pursued, interviewed and talked to people,” Burnett said. “There’s not that much in the case file. The difference was Pam, that she lived here at one time and Dawn Soles had conversations with.”

Burnett said it is an ongoing investigation. They are still interviewing and following up. He said they are putting together a team to identify and locate the remains. 

“We’re hoping one of them will give up the information on where we can go to get close to find the remains,” Burnett said. 

Certainly, it is pretty rare when a cold case turns around after so many years. Burnett said he is very proud of the officers involved, Mathena, Middleton, Sergeant Jeff Files and Detective Jeff Dilkes. 

“I can remember early on, Josh came to me and said, I have a good case here. I think I have something I can really work. I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I’m going to make this happen,” Burnett said. “Not in cocky way, but the right people were still around to interview. They would keep us briefed as it progressed. We knew it would be a big deal after they made the arrests.”

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.

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