Barbara Ann (Jones) Thomas
March 5, 1949 - The Dalles
March 26, 2001 - Bend
Married September 1974 in The Dalles
to Clair 'Tom' Thomas
'Loving Parents'
on gravestone with Clair Thomas
March 5, 1949 - The Dalles
March 26, 2001 - Bend
Married September 1974 in The Dalles
to Clair 'Tom' Thomas
'Loving Parents'
on gravestone with Clair Thomas
Barbara Ann (Jones) Thomas of Bend died March 26, 2001. She was 52.
The rosary will be said at 7 p.m. Sunday at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Redmond. The funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Thomas Catholic Church.
Mrs. Thomas was born March 5, 1949, in The Dalles, to Oscar and Betty Lee (Lampshire) Jones.
She married Clair "Tom" Thomas in September 1974, in The Dalles. He died in 1997.
They moved to Bend in 1982.
Mrs. Thomas was an administrative assistant at Bend Prime Outlets Mall.
She enjoyed the outdoors and life. She also enjoyed fishing, dancing, reading, participating in stamping crafts, needlework and cooking, especially during the holidays.
Her survivors include:
two sons, one stepson, one stepdaughter
Brothers, Rodney Jones of Redmond and Tim Jones of The Dalles
and three grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband and her parents.
A memorial fund is being established. For information, call Autumn Funerals at (541) 504-9485.
Autumn Funerals is in charge of arrangements.
********************
Pending a medical examiner's investigation, the woman has been identified as 56-year-old Barbara Thomas, 65600 Old Bend-Redmond Highway, Bend.
The suspects, all current or former Redmond School District students, have been charged with, among other felonies, aggravated murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and burglary, Deschutes County Undersheriff Larry Blanton said this morning.
The five are: Adam Squires Thomas, 18, 65600 Old Bend-Redmond Highway; Justin Alan Link, 17, of Terrebonne; Lucretia Anne Karle, 16, 1314 S.W. Obsidian, Redmond; Ashley Marie Summers, 15, 2105 S.W. Xero, Redmond; and Seth Edwin Koch, 15, 3855 N.W. 49th, Redmond.
Blanton said Adam Thomas is the son of Barbara Thomas, who was found with a gunshot wound to the head.
The suspects remain in jail in Whatcom County, Wash., awaiting extradition to Bend, Blanton said, where they likely will be charged as adults.
"It's very concerning regarding the ages of the people involved," Blanton said.
The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday flew three detectives to Washington to question the suspects. Four more detectives drove to Whatcom County, Blanton said.
On Tuesday, the homicide caused schools in Redmond to take extra precautions with a modified lockdown. Edwin Brown High School Principal Tim Gleeson said he was told of the homicide and "there was allegedly some juveniles involved, and that we might want to take extra precautions."
Gleeson said he informed the campus they were going to keep the doors closed and locked "because we had some concerns."
Blanton couldn't confirm which school the teens currently or formerly attended, but did say that they were students in Redmond.
About 30 officers and deputies have been working the case since it began on Monday, Undersheriff Larry Blanton said.
Deputies were posted outside the driveway of the Bend-Redmond Highway home on Tuesday afternoon.
They barred anyone from the crime scene. Detectives and the Oregon State Police crime lab were still gleaning the house for evidence.
The modest aqua green one-story home sits at the end of a gravel driveway on the back of a one-acre lot filled with junipers and cheat grass. Detectives could be seen moving in and out of a shed near the home with small brown bags on Tuesday afternoon.
Blanton said he expected the body to be taken to the state Medical Examiner's Office in Portland today for a complete autopsy.
Sheriff's deputies found the body after receiving a report on Monday at about 7:30 p.m. of possible runaways at a house in the area.
Neighbors to the home, said the house has been occupied by a woman in her 50s and a teen-age boy for the past four years.
Thirteen-year-old Troy Cardwell described the teen-ager as friendly, who told a lot of jokes on the bus to school.
"He was always nice to us," he said. "He would do this trick where he would take his hat off and pretend to pull his hair out and swallow it."
Others in the neighborhood were still in shock that someone was murdered.
"It's scary to think this happened just six doors away," said Lisa Payne. "I thought it was such a safe neighborhood. It's pretty quiet most of the time."
********************
Documents state the victim's son and other teens conspired to kill Barbara Ann Thomas at her home on Monday in the course of stealing her Honda coupe. During the robbery, the teens also allegedly hit Thomas with a glass bottle.
Deschutes County Undersheriff Larry Blanton said she had been shot in the head and described the crime scene at 65600 Old Bend Redmond Highway as "gruesome."
Awaiting extradition to Deschutes County from Bellingham, Wash., are: Adam Squires Thomas, 18, of Redmond, the victim's son; Justin Alan Link, 17, of Terrebonne; Lucretia Anne Karle, 16, of Redmond; Ashley Marie Summers, 15, of Redmond; and Seth Edwin Koch, 15, of Redmond. The five refused to voluntarily be extradited to Oregon, but could be returned to Deschutes County as early as today. Their next court appearance was scheduled for April 26. The teens have lawyers representing them in Washington, said Deschutes County Deputy District Attorney Darryl Nakahira.
All five have been charged as adults in Deschutes County and face several Measure 11 charges, which carry mandatory prison terms. A juvenile must be 15 years old to be charged as an adult in Oregon.
The teens are charged with aggravated murder, second-degree assault, first-degree robbery, conspiracy and first-degree burglary. If convicted on the murder, assault and robbery charges alone, the minimum sentence is more than 38 years.
Sheriff's deputies discovered Barbara Thomas' body Monday evening when they went to the residence to investigate a report of a stolen car and two runaway girls at the location. Thomas had been shot in the head.
Meanwhile, in Bend Wednesday, store managers and employees at Prime Outlets mall on south Highway 97 where Barbara Thomas was an assistant administrator, were shocked by her death.
One of the workers at the mall described the 5-foot-11-inch woman with curly brown hair and glasses as a "people person who lit up the store when she walked in."
"Whenever she came in, I was always stoked because I knew she was so nice," 21-year-old Homore Richards said, standing behind a counter at Malone Outfitters. "She always wanted to know how we were doing."
Ron Audette, manager of Prime Outlets, hired Thomas and had worked with her for the past three years.
"She had an uncanny spirit about her, and she was unique in that she could see the good in things," he said. "Barb made it fun to come to work on Mondays." Audette said there was no forewarning of her slaying.
"If Barb had problems at home, she certainly did not bring them to the office. This comes as a shock and a tragedy to everybody.
"This always seems to happen to the good people," he said. "I'm having to let managers at stores here know about this, and every time I have to relive it.
"We have to deal with the sorrow the anger and why?," he said, his eyes red around the edges. "How does this happen?"
Redmond High School Principal Dan Purple confirmed that Thomas' son, Adam, was a senior; Summers a freshman; and Koch a sophomore at the school. Link attended the school last year. Karle was a former Redmond High student who attended Edwin Brown High School, an alternative school, Purple said.
"It's a shock at a magnitude of the first degree," he said Wednesday, adding that some friends of the suspects were counseled after hearing the news. Purple and Edwin Brown Principal Tim Gleeson could not talk about the students and what activities they were involved with, citing student confidentiality laws.
Redmond High students were still in the dark as to exactly what happened and who was involved because "the teachers won't talk about it," sophomore Drew Boone said.
But the students certainly were talking about it.
"It's scary to think something like this could happen in Redmond, Oregon," sophomore Ashley Alexander said, sipping a soda at a Redmond McDonald's during her lunch period. "When you hear about stuff like this, you think more of Portland and bigger cities."
Jenna Whitehouse, also a sophomore, agreed, adding that she knew Koch in middle school and remembered him as a "quiet" teenager who had "normal friends."
"You would never expect kids (our age) would do something like that," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
********************
According to newspaper reports, all five of the murderers, including her son, are in prison for life. The story that unfolded during the trials was brutal. To read the ongoing stories, just search any of the murderers names in the Bend Bulletin or on Google.
The rosary will be said at 7 p.m. Sunday at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Redmond. The funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Thomas Catholic Church.
Mrs. Thomas was born March 5, 1949, in The Dalles, to Oscar and Betty Lee (Lampshire) Jones.
She married Clair "Tom" Thomas in September 1974, in The Dalles. He died in 1997.
They moved to Bend in 1982.
Mrs. Thomas was an administrative assistant at Bend Prime Outlets Mall.
She enjoyed the outdoors and life. She also enjoyed fishing, dancing, reading, participating in stamping crafts, needlework and cooking, especially during the holidays.
Her survivors include:
two sons, one stepson, one stepdaughter
Brothers, Rodney Jones of Redmond and Tim Jones of The Dalles
and three grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband and her parents.
A memorial fund is being established. For information, call Autumn Funerals at (541) 504-9485.
Autumn Funerals is in charge of arrangements.
********************
Five teens charged in slaying
By Tom Peterson and Ted Taylor
Published: March 28. 2001Deschutes County detectives on Tuesday arrested five Central Oregon teenagers near the Canadian Border in Washington for their alleged role in the shooting death of a woman Monday.
Pending a medical examiner's investigation, the woman has been identified as 56-year-old Barbara Thomas, 65600 Old Bend-Redmond Highway, Bend.
The suspects, all current or former Redmond School District students, have been charged with, among other felonies, aggravated murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and burglary, Deschutes County Undersheriff Larry Blanton said this morning.
The five are: Adam Squires Thomas, 18, 65600 Old Bend-Redmond Highway; Justin Alan Link, 17, of Terrebonne; Lucretia Anne Karle, 16, 1314 S.W. Obsidian, Redmond; Ashley Marie Summers, 15, 2105 S.W. Xero, Redmond; and Seth Edwin Koch, 15, 3855 N.W. 49th, Redmond.
Blanton said Adam Thomas is the son of Barbara Thomas, who was found with a gunshot wound to the head.
The suspects remain in jail in Whatcom County, Wash., awaiting extradition to Bend, Blanton said, where they likely will be charged as adults.
"It's very concerning regarding the ages of the people involved," Blanton said.
The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday flew three detectives to Washington to question the suspects. Four more detectives drove to Whatcom County, Blanton said.
On Tuesday, the homicide caused schools in Redmond to take extra precautions with a modified lockdown. Edwin Brown High School Principal Tim Gleeson said he was told of the homicide and "there was allegedly some juveniles involved, and that we might want to take extra precautions."
Gleeson said he informed the campus they were going to keep the doors closed and locked "because we had some concerns."
Blanton couldn't confirm which school the teens currently or formerly attended, but did say that they were students in Redmond.
About 30 officers and deputies have been working the case since it began on Monday, Undersheriff Larry Blanton said.
Deputies were posted outside the driveway of the Bend-Redmond Highway home on Tuesday afternoon.
They barred anyone from the crime scene. Detectives and the Oregon State Police crime lab were still gleaning the house for evidence.
The modest aqua green one-story home sits at the end of a gravel driveway on the back of a one-acre lot filled with junipers and cheat grass. Detectives could be seen moving in and out of a shed near the home with small brown bags on Tuesday afternoon.
Blanton said he expected the body to be taken to the state Medical Examiner's Office in Portland today for a complete autopsy.
Sheriff's deputies found the body after receiving a report on Monday at about 7:30 p.m. of possible runaways at a house in the area.
Neighbors to the home, said the house has been occupied by a woman in her 50s and a teen-age boy for the past four years.
Thirteen-year-old Troy Cardwell described the teen-ager as friendly, who told a lot of jokes on the bus to school.
"He was always nice to us," he said. "He would do this trick where he would take his hat off and pretend to pull his hair out and swallow it."
Others in the neighborhood were still in shock that someone was murdered.
"It's scary to think this happened just six doors away," said Lisa Payne. "I thought it was such a safe neighborhood. It's pretty quiet most of the time."
********************
Brutal murder shocks Central Oregon
By Tom Peterson and Ted Taylor, Bend Bulletin
Published: March 29. 2001A 52-year-old Redmond woman described as "bubbly with a constant smile" was shot to death as her son and four other teens stole her car, according to charging documents from the Deschutes County District Attorney's Office.
Documents state the victim's son and other teens conspired to kill Barbara Ann Thomas at her home on Monday in the course of stealing her Honda coupe. During the robbery, the teens also allegedly hit Thomas with a glass bottle.
Deschutes County Undersheriff Larry Blanton said she had been shot in the head and described the crime scene at 65600 Old Bend Redmond Highway as "gruesome."
Awaiting extradition to Deschutes County from Bellingham, Wash., are: Adam Squires Thomas, 18, of Redmond, the victim's son; Justin Alan Link, 17, of Terrebonne; Lucretia Anne Karle, 16, of Redmond; Ashley Marie Summers, 15, of Redmond; and Seth Edwin Koch, 15, of Redmond. The five refused to voluntarily be extradited to Oregon, but could be returned to Deschutes County as early as today. Their next court appearance was scheduled for April 26. The teens have lawyers representing them in Washington, said Deschutes County Deputy District Attorney Darryl Nakahira.
All five have been charged as adults in Deschutes County and face several Measure 11 charges, which carry mandatory prison terms. A juvenile must be 15 years old to be charged as an adult in Oregon.
The teens are charged with aggravated murder, second-degree assault, first-degree robbery, conspiracy and first-degree burglary. If convicted on the murder, assault and robbery charges alone, the minimum sentence is more than 38 years.
Sheriff's deputies discovered Barbara Thomas' body Monday evening when they went to the residence to investigate a report of a stolen car and two runaway girls at the location. Thomas had been shot in the head.
Meanwhile, in Bend Wednesday, store managers and employees at Prime Outlets mall on south Highway 97 where Barbara Thomas was an assistant administrator, were shocked by her death.
One of the workers at the mall described the 5-foot-11-inch woman with curly brown hair and glasses as a "people person who lit up the store when she walked in."
"Whenever she came in, I was always stoked because I knew she was so nice," 21-year-old Homore Richards said, standing behind a counter at Malone Outfitters. "She always wanted to know how we were doing."
Ron Audette, manager of Prime Outlets, hired Thomas and had worked with her for the past three years.
"She had an uncanny spirit about her, and she was unique in that she could see the good in things," he said. "Barb made it fun to come to work on Mondays." Audette said there was no forewarning of her slaying.
"If Barb had problems at home, she certainly did not bring them to the office. This comes as a shock and a tragedy to everybody.
"This always seems to happen to the good people," he said. "I'm having to let managers at stores here know about this, and every time I have to relive it.
"We have to deal with the sorrow the anger and why?," he said, his eyes red around the edges. "How does this happen?"
Redmond High School Principal Dan Purple confirmed that Thomas' son, Adam, was a senior; Summers a freshman; and Koch a sophomore at the school. Link attended the school last year. Karle was a former Redmond High student who attended Edwin Brown High School, an alternative school, Purple said.
"It's a shock at a magnitude of the first degree," he said Wednesday, adding that some friends of the suspects were counseled after hearing the news. Purple and Edwin Brown Principal Tim Gleeson could not talk about the students and what activities they were involved with, citing student confidentiality laws.
Redmond High students were still in the dark as to exactly what happened and who was involved because "the teachers won't talk about it," sophomore Drew Boone said.
But the students certainly were talking about it.
"It's scary to think something like this could happen in Redmond, Oregon," sophomore Ashley Alexander said, sipping a soda at a Redmond McDonald's during her lunch period. "When you hear about stuff like this, you think more of Portland and bigger cities."
Jenna Whitehouse, also a sophomore, agreed, adding that she knew Koch in middle school and remembered him as a "quiet" teenager who had "normal friends."
"You would never expect kids (our age) would do something like that," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
********************
According to newspaper reports, all five of the murderers, including her son, are in prison for life. The story that unfolded during the trials was brutal. To read the ongoing stories, just search any of the murderers names in the Bend Bulletin or on Google.
Posts
I do Remember this VERY SAD
ReplyDelete