A Camas man accused of killing his neighbor pleaded not guilty Thursday in Clark County Superior Court to second-degree murder.
Randy John Schmidt, 47, entered the not-guilty plea in connection with the death of Michael Chad Holmes, 52. A trial date is set for June 17.
Holmes went missing Feb. 5 when he left his home on Northeast 94th Street and got into Schmidt’s tan GMC Yukon, according to a probable cause affidavit. He was never heard from again.
Schmidt showed up at Holmes’ doorstep three hours later, telling family there that Holmes got out of his vehicle near the intersection of Riley and Blair roads and walked away, according to the affidavit. Schmidt has changed his story several times since then, the affidavit said.
In March, Clark County sheriff’s deputies found the GMC Yukon submerged in the Lewis River, not far from the location where Schmidt said he sold it to strangers a few weeks earlier, according to the affidavit. Investigators located blood stains on the front passenger’s seat that returned a DNA match to Holmes, court records say.
Data collected through a search warrant placed Schmidt near the river where the vehicle was recovered, according to the affidavit.
Earlier this month, kayakers on the Washougal River called police after finding a body in the river. The body turned out to be Holmes, who had “an apparent traumatic injury to his head. Metal fragments in his skull likely from bullet projectiles,” the affidavit said.
SWAT officers served warrants April 9 and arrested Schmidt.
