Woman found chained, boyfriend’s body buried

Newport man charged with murder, rape, kidnapping

NEWPORT — One man’s body was found in a grave and a 25-year-old woman was found chained inside a motor home at a Fertile Valley residence Thursday, June 5, about a quarter mile off Highway 2.

John Lowell Rosen, 48, was arrested the next day and charged with first- and second- degree murder, first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. He made his first appearance in court before Pend Oreille County District Court Judge Robin McCroskey Monday, June 9.

She found probable cause to continue with all but the first-degree murder charge. She said she did not find premeditation to support that charge.

McCroskey said Rosen did not qualify for a public defender and set bail at $500,000. She set arraignment for 9 a.m. Thursday, June 12.

Rosen was arrested June 5 after Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s deputies were called by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office for a welfare check at 334 Fertile Valley Road.

According to a probable cause statement, Spokane authorities had been told of a possible homicide at that residence by James Lang. Spokane County deputies met with Lang at Millers One Stop in Elk.

Lang told them a woman was chained to a tree at that Fertile Valley Road address and the property owner, Rosen, and a male named “Chaz” had shot someone on the property and dumped the body in a hole. Lang said the men were both heavily armed and Chaz, who wasn’t identified by any other name than Chaz in the probable cause statement, told him, “If the police come for me, they can take me one bullet at a time.”

A Pend Oreille County deputy went to Millers and met with Lang. The only change in Lang’s story was that the woman was chained at the mobile home.

Law enforcement went to the Fertile Valley Road address, contacted Rosen by phone and asked him to meet them at the end of the driveway. Rosen told them he thought they were there because of a girl that was chained up, which was true, he said, but it was because they do role play.

Rosen asked if they wanted him to take them to the woman, and led them down a side dirt road near the driveway entrance to the property to a tan Fleetwood Bounder motorhome with orange and yellow stripes. The door was barred closed with a pry bar. When Rosen opened the door, they found a 25-year-old woman chained inside the motorhome. She initially agreed they were doing role play.

The Pend Oreille County Deputy told Rosen there was talk of a fresh hole nearby about 7 feet square and at least that deep. Rosen said the hole had been dug to bury a bear he had shot and showed the deputy a picture of the bear carcass. He then took the deputy to the bear carcass.

Another deputy stayed behind with the woman, and she told him she was very afraid and was not role-playing. She said Rosen and a guy she only knew as Jesse had shot her boyfriend, Austin D. Tinsley, 40, and thrown him in the hole. That deputy crawled into the hole, moved a few inches of freshly spread dirt and discovered a human body. Then he used bolt cutters to set the woman free.

The woman said she and Tinsley had been living on the property the last couple months. She said Sunday, June 1, she had heard multiple gunshots while she was cleaning a car. Jesse, later identified as Jesse Still, pinned her to the ground, she said. Then Rosen and Still took her to the motorhome, where they both raped her. They then chained her before locking her inside.

Rosen told her not to look. The windows were covered, but she said she was able to see Tinsley lying on the ground with blood on his head.

The woman said Rosen and Still, with the assistance of Chaz, put Tinsley in the hole.

Thursday, June 5 Rosen had taken her to his house where he raped her after she showered, she said. Then he returned her to the motorhome and chained her up again. Rosen took the deputies to the motorhome later that day.

The woman was taken to Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene for a sexual assault exam.

According to the probable cause statement, Lang, the man who talked to authorities at Millers One Stop, was interviewed at the Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office. Lang said Rosen, Chaz and Still all live on the property, have weapons and have access to the various trailers, campers and recreational vehicles and structures on the property.

“Chaz” was interviewed at the Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office. A news release from the Sheriff’s Office said another man “detained on scene was interviewed and released.”

According to the probable cause statement, Still was picked out of a photo lineup by the victim, who identified him as the one who had killed Tinsley. Still is a convicted felon out of Idaho, with convictions for unlawful possession of a firearm. He was arrested June 5 after appearing on federal charges for unlawful possession of a firearm. According to the probable cause statement, he was in jail on federal charges June 6.

According to Rob Curry, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Washington, Still was sentenced to 36 months in prison June 5 in Spokane for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In a separate first appearance Monday, Shawna L. McGlothen, 28, who lived with Still and was arrested at the Fertile Valley Road address, appeared on a gross misdemeanor charge of making a false statement to a public servant. She is accused of saying Still did not live on the property.

Deputy prosecuting attorney Samantha Brookman asked for a $500 bail, based on failing to appear several times and a previous conviction for criminal mischief with a deadly weapon.

Defense attorney Brett Billingsley asked that McGlothen be released on her own recognizance. He said she couldn’t make bail and that she acknowledged she misspoke. He said whether she made a false statement or not depended on interpretation of the questions; since Still was in jail when McGlothen was asked if he lived there, he did not live there.

McCroskey ruled there was enough probable cause to continue with the case and that McGlothen be arraigned at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, June 12.

Billingsley said he might end up representing Rosen, so he couldn’t represent McGlothen. He asked that Carson Van Valkenburg’s office be assigned as her public defender.