Charges have been refiled against a Vancouver man accused of assisting convicted murderer Matthew Starr in covering up the February 2012 shooting death of Starr’s roommate near Vancouver Lake.
Zachary J. Mattson, 21, of Vancouver appeared today in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree rendering criminal assistance, tampering with physical evidence, making false or misleading statements to a public servant and obstructing a law enforcement officer. Judge David Gregerson held Mattson in lieu of $30,000 bail and appointed Vancouver attorney Shon Bogar to defend him. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges June 5.
Starr, 21, admitted in November to shooting his roommate, Joshua R. Schenk, 25, to death after they went target shooting near Vancouver Lake with Starr’s two friends, Mattson and Zackery Searcy.
Starr initially told investigators that one of the shooting party’s guns accidentally discharged, striking Schenk, and Starr then shot Schenk in the back of the head to put him out of his misery. In November, however, he pleaded guilty to the first-degree premeditated murder. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
