Details emerge in apparent murder-suicide

Reserve Deputy Bob Winsor, left, informs an Elfin Services, Inc. caregiver, who was making her morning rounds, of the deceased inside the residence of Donald Wastler and Evelyn Wastler Monday morning in Proebstel. (Troy Wayrynen/The Columbian)

Clark County Sheriff investigators remove a body from the residence of Donald Wastler and Evelyn Wastler Monday morning in Proebstel. (Troy Wayrynen/The Columbian)

Sgt. Scott Schanaker of the Clark County Sheriffs talks to an investigator as he leaves as reserve deputy, Bob Winsor, stands by a gated entry Monday morning outside Donald Wastler and Evelyn Wastler's residence Monday morning in Proebstel. (Troy Wayrynen/The Columbian)

At 4:07 a.m. Monday, Donald R. Wastler sent an emotional e-mail to local media and court officials, venting about a family dispute over the care of his mother.

About an hour later, deputies found the bodies of Wastler and his mother shot to death.

In the e-mail sent Monday morning, Wastler made reference to a guardianship petition his sister had filed in Clark County Superior Court. He disputed allegations in the petition.

“My mother was happy. I was strained but content with knowing she was happy,” Wastler wrote.

Wastler, 58, and his mother, Evelyn D. Wastler, 86, were found fatally shot inside their rural Proebstel area home in what an investigator for the medical examiner’s office said is likely a murder-suicide.

An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

Wastler was found in the entryway of the home, 8811 N.E. 212th Ave. His mother was found dead in her bedroom, said Clark County Sgt. Scott Schanaker. A handgun was found in the home.

The investigation is continuing.

Dispatchers received a 911 call just before 5 a.m. from the residence. No one talked or answered on the other end of the line, so deputies responded to the home. After no one answered the door, they entered and found the two dead, Schanaker said.

Donald Wastler lived as an in-home caretaker for his mom, who was gravely ill and bed-ridden, neighbors said.

Wastler was known as a neighborhood watchdog and was a board member of the Proebstel Neighborhood Association. He was actively involved in public safety issues and often stopped by his neighbors’ homes to report any suspicious activity he’d seen.

“He was the neighborhood lookout,” said neighbor Brennan Colson. “He would always give us updates.”

Yet some neighbors said he seemed odd and extreme at times. He carried a gun everywhere he went and had threatened others, said another neighbor, Jason Webster. That happened when some teenagers were loitering outside his house, and he pulled out his gun, Webster said.

“He wasn’t very stable himself,” Webster said. “He was a little off his rocker.”

Still, Webster said Wastler cared about his neighbors.

“He was a pretty nice guy,” he said. “He always respected his neighbors.”

He was a vocal opponent of the Camp Bonneville project, which has set aside military land north of Camas for a possible county park. His opposition led him to threatening others at meetings, neighbors said.

Still, Colson said Wastler was a loyal caretaker of his mother. He was often seen riding her around her 8-acre property in a golf cart.

“He would always say how his mom was so sick,” Colson said.

Schanaker said deputies hadn’t had any previous problems at the residence, besides some minor noise complaints.

Wastler started his early-morning e-mail by explaining that he had taken care of his mother since his father passed away in 2002.

In the nearly two-page e-mail, Wastler detailed the guardianship case and attempted to exonerate himself.

Efforts to reach his sister, Patricia Lewis, of The Dalles, Ore., were unsuccessful.

Just before 11 a.m. Monday, a court-ordered caretaker showed up at the home, not knowing of the deaths. She told the deputy at the entrance of the home that she needed to make sure Evelyn Wastler was safe.

“No, she isn’t safe,” the deputy told her.

He paused and then said: “It looks like a murder-suicide.”

The caretaker gasped, visibly upset. After making a phone call in her car, she drove off. She declined to be interviewed.