"Gabriel Gaeta held on $1 million bail in death of Jenise Wright, 6"

"PORT ORCHARD, Wash. - The parents of a 6-year-old Washington girl found slain last week sat in a courtroom as a judge ordered a 17-year-old boy under investigation in the child's death and sexual assault held on $1 million bail.

Prosecutors in Kitsap County filed court documents Monday saying they had sufficient evidence to hold Gabriel Gaeta on first-degree murder with aggravating circumstances, felony murder and first-degree rape of a child. They are pursuing the case in Kitsap County Superior Court, where Gaeta is expected to be tried as an adult.

Kitsap County prosecutor Kelly Montgomery asked for $1 million "based on the heinous nature of the crime that is alleged."

She also asked for other conditions, including that he not be allowed to contact minors under age 18 or frequent areas where minors would go. 

Judge Kevin Hull agreed to both the bail and other restricting conditions. Hull also granted prosecutors' request for a mental-health evaluation for Gaeta.

Prosecutors said they want that competency evaluation before filing charges against the teen.

Court records released Monday showed Jenise Wright suffered blunt-force trauma to the head and was strangled and sexually assaulted. Authorities said they linked evidence found near the girl's body to the DNA of Gaeta, who was friends with her family.

A message left with Gaeta's lawyer Monday was not immediately returned.

Gaeta arrived in court with a black jacket over his head. He spoke softly as he answered the judge's question. His next court date was set for Aug. 28.

Jenise's parents sat in the courtroom's second row. James Wright, Jenise's father, told The Seattle Times the suspect was a close friend of the family and had visited their home many times.

"It's devastating, and it's going to be hard to forgive," he said.

Court documents lay out grisly details into the death of Jenise, who was last seen when she went to bed Aug. 2 at her family's home in a Bremerton mobile-home park. Officials have said there were no signs of forced entry at the residence and no indication Jenise was taken from her room.

The girl's body was discovered Thursday almost entirely submerged in a nearby muddy bog. It appeared to have been moved between a half-hour and three hours after she died.

Searchers found a small wood pallet over the body, and also located a nylon duffel bag on top of the pallet. They earlier discovered Jenise's underwear and shorts about 15 to 20 feet from where her body was found.

Authorities say forensic evidence analyzed by the Washington state crime lab linked the clothing to the teen's DNA. 

The sheriff's office collected DNA cheek swabs from Gaeta and dozens of other nearby residents during the investigation.

Detectives interviewed the teen Saturday, during which time he "clearly nodded yes" when they asked whether he was the only one involved, according to court documents.

"Certainly, as you can see from the probable cause statement, his interactions suggested that he knew that responsibility was rightfully focused on him," Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge said.

Authorities then searched his home and found evidence, including a blood- and mud-covered shirt and a bloody towel in Gaeta's bedroom.

His residence is two homes away from the access to a wooded trail leading to where the body was found, according to the court document.

Katelynn Christenson and her friend Amanda Ungren, both 18, were among those who crowded the courtroom Monday.

The two said they went to the same junior high school as the suspect. They said they weren't close with him but saw no signs of violence.

"He was a nice kid," said Christenson, who said she called her mother in tears when she heard who the suspect was.

Ungren said she didn't know Jenise's family but lived in the same trailer park when she was a child.

"It hit close," she said. "I came to support her and only her.""

Source

http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/gabriel-gaeta-held-on-1-million-bail-in-death-of-jenise-wright-6-1.9036973

"A 17-year-old neighbor on Monday was ordered held on $1 million bail in the slaying and rape of 6-year-old Jenise Wright of Bremerton."

"The 17-year-old neighbor of Jenise Wright wasn’t arrested until Aug. 9, but he had caught the attention of investigators several days before, according to court documents filed in Kitsap Superior Court.

A Kitsap Superior Court judge on Monday ordered Gabriel Z. Gaeta held for investigation of first-degree murder, felony murder and first-degree rape of a child. Bail for the teen, an acclaimed wrestler for Olympic High School with no criminal history, was set at $1 million.

The teen, wearing an orange jumpsuit and with a jacket over his face, was led into court where his mother and stepfather, and Jenise Wright’s parents, were seated. The judge granted a defense request that his face not be photographed until charges are formally filed.

Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge said Gaeta will be charged as an adult because of the seriousness of the crimes he is alleged to have committed, but he will be kept at the county’s juvenile-detention center until he turns 18 in December.

In an interview Monday, the slain girl’s father said the suspect was a “close friend of the family.”

James Wright said the teen had been to his family’s house “many, many times” and was a friend of their older children.

He had taken the teen under his wing and taught him how to chop firewood to make extra money, he said.

Wright said he and his wife know they will ultimately have to forgive Gaeta in order to heal, but it’s hard.

“It’s devastating. It almost would have been easier if it was a stranger,” he said.

Jenise Wright, 6, was last seen around bedtime Saturday, Aug. 2. She was gone Sunday morning, but her father and her mother, Denise Wright,were not immediately alarmed because she was allowed free range of the mobile-home park. They called 911 when she had not returned by Sunday night, the Sheriff’s Office said.

On Monday, Aug. 4, while the public was still being urged to help “bring Jenise home” and hundreds of law-enforcement agents were converging on the park and its surrounds, searchers discovered child’s clothing, according to the certificate of probable cause outlining the state’s case against the defendant.

It was identified as Jenise’s by her mother, and a field test on the clothing revealed it was stained by blood, court documents say.

That same day, as part of a door-to-door canvas of the neighborhood, FBI special agents Matt Yeager and Mike Baldino went to Gaeta’s house, which is near the heavily wooded perimeter of the park where the clothing was found, court documents say.

The teen was there, but his stepfather and mother said he was “too upset to really speak with” or to give a voluntary DNA sample. They confirmed the boy had been home all weekend, and asked the agents to return later, court documents say.

It is not noted in court documents, but the agents found the teen’s behavior odd and believed he was “someone to keep an eye on,” according to a source familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A forensic examination of the clothing on Aug. 6 by the Washington State Crime Lab determined the blood on it belonged to a female biological child of James and Denise Wright. It also extracted male DNA from the clothing, police and prosecutors say.

On Aug. 7, the girl’s body was found15 to 20 feet from where the clothing was discovered in a 3- to 4-foot-deep muddy bog on a heavily wooded and overgrown slope, police said.

The body was submerged in mud and covered with a wooden pallet, the court documents say.

An autopsy on Friday determined the girl had been raped, struck in the head and strangled, court documents allege.

That same day, an FBI agent returned to Gaeta’s home and obtained a voluntary DNA sample from the teen, prosecutors said. The agent noted that “he was leaning against the wall, barely able to get out of bed and emotionally upset,” court documents say.

On Saturday, the state crime lab matched Gaeta’s DNA to that found in Jenise’s clothing and he was arrested, court documents say.

Prosecutors said he became upset when asked by investigators about the girl’s disappearance.

He was “crying and had tears streaming down his face, his nose was running and he focused on a spot in the room and did not divert his gaze,” according to the court document.

The teen continued in that manner until they left the room, at which point, he got up, stretched, yawned and wiped his nose, court documents say.

Eventually, the teen is alleged to have nodded his head “yes” when investigators asked him if he was the only one involved in Jenise’s death, prosecutors said.

Police found bloodstained clothing and a blood- and mud-covered towel when they searched his room after the arrest, according to the court documents.

Troy Reynolds, who was Gaeta’s wrestling coach at Olympic High School, told the Kitsap Sun last year that the young man was shy in many ways but was a fierce competitor on the mat.

“He’s the gentle-giant type of kid,” Reynolds told the Sun. “He’s not super aggressive in practice, but in competition, he’s a different animal. He’s freakishly strong. The mat is kind of his canvas.”

On Monday, James and Denise Wright appeared at a child-custody hearing in the Kitsap County Youth Services Center hoping to regain custody of three of their five other children.

The eldest children are adults and live in the Bellingham area, the family said. The third-eldest was staying with his older siblings the weekend that Jenise disappeared. The other two, who are 8 and 12, were removed from the home by Child Protective Services on Aug. 4.

They were also placed with the two adult siblings, James Wright said.

At the hearing, representatives of the Nooksack Indian Tribe, of which Denise Wright is a member, indicated it wanted to be involved in the custody matter and would be bringing the parents up to Bellingham so the family and the community could grieve together.

After the hearing, James Wright vowed to fight for his children and thanked the community for their prayers. He said he and his wife were able to feel the love and concern of every one of them.

He also invited the public to attend a memorial service for Jenise at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at 9256 Nels Nelson Road N.W. in Bremerton.

Seattle Times reporter Andrew Mannix and researcher Gene Balk contributed and to this report.Christine Clarridge: cclarridge@seattletimes.com or 206-464-8983."

Source

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024292347_bremertonsuspectxml.html

Keywords; Seattle Times, News Articles, Nooksack Indian Tribe, James Wright, Denise Wright, God Bless Jenise, FBI Agent, Mike Baldino, Matt Yeager, Kitsap County Prosecutor, Russ Hauge, Gabriel Z. Gaeta, Kitsap Superior Court,