Girlfriend of Woodland murder suspect appears in court

Luyster is being held in the Clark County Jail without possibility of bail.

On Friday, Judge Derek Vanderwood set Sibley’s bail at $400,000. She will be arraigned Aug. 1, on the same court docket as Luyster. Vancouver attorney, Jeff Sowder, appeared on Sibley’s behalf.

State law says that first-degree rendering criminal assistance is a Class B felony that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Shooting reported

Clark County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched about 10:30 p.m. July 15 after a woman with a gunshot wound to the left side of her face came to a convenience store in Woodland and asked employees to call for help. The woman, identified in court records as Breanne L.A. Leigh, 31, told authorities that she and three others had been shot at a residence at 4006 N.W. 417th St.

A SWAT unit responded to the house and found the bodies of Joseph Mark Lamar, 38, and Zachary David Thompson, 36, lying in the gravel driveway. Both men had been shot at close range in the head. A woman, identified as Janell Renee Knight, 43, was found on the living room couch. She also died from an apparent gunshot wound to the head, according to a probable cause affidavit. Officers said they found shell casings, likely from a .45 caliber, next to the bodies.

Leigh was taken to a hospital where a bullet was recovered from her head, court records show. She was unable to initially speak with deputies but communicated by writing on paper, the affidavit states.

Leigh told deputies that she and her boyfriend, Thompson, picked up Luyster from a house in Vancouver and drove him to the Woodland house, where Lamar and Knight lived. Sibley was also at the Vancouver house but stayed behind, court records said.

Two to three hours later, Sibley arrived at the Woodland house, Leigh said, but she stayed outside in a gold-colored Ford SUV, according to court documents. Luyster, Thompson and Lamar were all outside on the porch. Leigh said she went inside with Knight.

She said she heard two gunshots and walked toward the front door to investigate. Luyster came into the house, held up a handgun and shot her in the face, without warning. Leigh passed out, and when she came to, she found Knight dead on the living room couch. Luyster and Sibley were gone, according to the affidavit.

Leigh army-crawled away from the house, she said, and flagged down a motorist who gave her a ride to Woodland, the affidavit states.

She told deputies that Thompson had posted Luyster’s bail in a pending Cowlitz County case from May. She added that Luyster is also in trouble with the “feds,” court records said.

An FBI agent confirmed Luyster is facing charges in federal court for unlawful possession of a firearm based on the Cowlitz County case, according to court documents. Luyster is accused of pistol-whipping his former girlfriend and faces charges of assault, harassment and illegal firearm possession. His trial in that case is set for October.

According to the affidavit, Luyster’s former girlfriend told Washougal police June 22 that Luyster had directed relatives and other people to find her and their 5-year-old son. The woman said she believes Luyster is going to hurt or kill her and take their son.

Manhunt

On Saturday afternoon, Cowlitz County sheriff’s deputies located Sibley’s 1998 Ford Explorer at a gated pull-off on Abernathy Creek Road, off the Ocean Beach Highway, supplemental court records show.

Deputies yelled out to any occupants, and Luyster responded from outside the vehicle that he was unarmed and surrendering. He emerged from a brushy area with his hands up. Sibley was also there, according to a second probable cause affidavit. The two appeared to be camping in the area.

Luyster requested a lawyer and was taken to the Clark County Jail.

In an interview, Sibley told detectives that she and Luyster have been dating on and off for eight years. During that time, Luyster fathered a child with another woman, who is now his former girlfriend. Sibley said Luyster is involved in a criminal case with that woman, the affidavit states.

She told detectives that she didn’t know what happened the night of the shooting. Luyster decided he wanted to go camping, Sibley said, and told her, “let’s go” and to get in the car. They had gone fishing earlier in the day, she said, and Luyster had been drinking all day, according to court records.

Sibley said she didn’t know where she went the night of the shooting, court documents said, but she was pretty certain bad things happened.

Detectives seized Sibley’s clothing and purse. They reportedly found red stains that appeared to be blood on both of her shoes. Detectives also found a red stain, thought to be blood, on the inside driver’s door handle of Sibley’s vehicle. The driver’s door window was broken out, and that glass appeared to match fragments found in the gravel driveway at the Woodland house, the affidavit states.

Officers later searched Sibley’s storage unit in Woodland and found firearms paraphernalia to manufacture an AR-15, items without serial numbers, receipts and packing materials for two firearms that Sibley purchased earlier this year in Oregon — a .380 caliber semi-automatic handgun and .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun. One of the handguns was transferred to Clark County in March, court records show.