PORT ANGELES — A Superior Court hearing for a defendant in the case of a Christmas week triple homicide has been delayed to June 7 while the State Patrol Crime Lab continues to sift through hundreds of pieces of evidence, much of it blood.
Ryan Warren Ward, 37, is one of three defendants charged with three counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the Dec. 26 Port Angeles-area shooting.
“There is a lot of blood evidence,” Brian King, Clallam County chief criminal deputy, said Monday.
“We collected nearly a thousand pieces of evidence.”
King said he expects State Patrol Crime Lab reports with DNA results will start being issued in about two months.
Ward remained Monday in the Jefferson County jail on $3 million bail following the status hearing Friday, which was delayed to June 7.
Superior Court Judge Lauren Erickson delayed Ward’s status hearing Friday at the request of Port Angeles attorney Lane Wolfley, representing Ward, and county Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin.
“At this point, we are still in the process of discovery,” Devlin said.
The charges were filed against the Port Angeles resident Jan. 28 in connection with the shooting deaths of Darrel Iverson, 57; Iverson’s son Jordan Iverson, 27; and Jordan Iverson’s girlfriend, Tiffany May, 26.
After being shot multiple times the day after Christmas, their bodies were discovered New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day at Iverson’s 52 Bear Meadow Road residence, where authorities said methamphetamine use was widespread.
Also charged are Kallie Ann Letellier, 34, incarcerated on $3 million bail in the Clallam County jail, and Dennis Marvin Bauer, 50, being held on $3.5 million bail in the Kitsap County jail.
Status hearings are scheduled Friday for Bauer and June 14 for Letellier.
According to court documents, Bauer was upset with Darrel Iverson’s treatment of Letellier, with whom Bauer had a relationship.
Ward, Bauer’s nephew, according to court records, first said he was not at Iverson’s property when the shooting occurred, then said he was there but did not take part in the killings.
He said Bauer shot Iverson and Iverson’s son and that Letellier shot May.
As Bauer, Letellier and Ward fled Iverson’s residence in a vehicle following the killing, Ward “made comments to the effect” that “the Iversons were both still alive after being shot by Dennis, and he had to finish them off,” Letellier said, according to her probable cause statement.
Letellier conducted a video interview Feb. 1 with a Sheriff’s Office investigator in Iverson’s driveway, where the Iversons’ bodies were found.
“[Ward] said he had one [shot] to the head and one to the chest,” Letellier said.
“I don’t know if he was telling the truth or not,” she said.
“I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to know.”
Invoices of $2,344 from lawyer Karen Unger, representing Bauer, and $1,300 by lawyer Larry Freedman, representing Letellier, have been submitted for payment, according to court records.
“We’re trying to make sure we do this, if at all possible, within our existing budget,” Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols said Monday.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
