LONGVIEW — All suspects charged with aiding the escape attempt of the man said to have fatally shot Deputy Justin DeRosier have entered not guilty pleas and are scheduled for trial next year.
Savannah Eastman, one of three criminally charged in connection with the manhunt for Brian Butts, pleaded not guilty Monday afternoon in Cowlitz Superior Court.
Eastman, 24, Matthew Veatch, 25 and Ricky Roberts, 25, all are charged with first-degree rendering of criminal assistance for allegedly helping Butts try to evade police detection. Butts, 33, died in a police shootout during the evening of April 14, a day after authorities say he fatally shot DeRosier.
Roberts, Veatch and Eastman are slated for trial starting Jan. 14, Feb. 18 and Feb. 25, respectively. Eastman’s lawyer declined comment on her charges Monday.
Eastman is out of custody. Veatch is free on a $50,000 bond and Roberts remains in custody in lieu of $80,000 bail.
Several hours after DeRosier was shot late the night of April 13, officers found Matthew Veatch near the end of Modrow Road. He told officers that he was at his Fallert Road residence when he heard a gunshot, and that minutes later, Butts arrived from out of the bushes, according to police records. Butts gave Veatch a handgun to get rid of, which deputies later found in a safe in Veatch’s room, according to law enforcement documents.
Veatch told detectives that the safe was a logical place to put the gun, and he didn’t want officers ripping the house apart searching for it.
According to police records, Veatch admitted to leading Butts away from the residence on foot through a forested area, even as Butts told him that he “had shot a cop.” The two separated at a barn near Modrow Road after that admission, Veatch told investigators.
“At that point, I just wanted to get him … away from me so I didn’t get shot and killed,” Veatch said in interviews with detectives. “I was tryin’ to get him away from my house. I didn’t want gunfire at my house.”
Detectives and prosecutors now allege Veatch was not the only one trying to help Butts escape that morning. Investigators believe Matthew Veatch’s brother Michael Veatch called Eastman, his girlfriend at the time, who in turn called Roberts to arrange a getaway ride for Butts shortly after DeRosier was shot.
On the morning of April 14, Woodland Police officers located a vehicle parked at the end of China Garden Road occupied solely by Roberts, according to police records. It was parked near a set of communication towers with bright flashing lights about two miles south of the DeRosier shooting location on Fallert Road.
Detectives suspect he was part of a plan to use the towers as a beacon for Butts to find while tromping through the woods at night.
According to police records, Eastman and Roberts had a series of 11 phone calls between 2 and 6 a.m. the morning after DeRosier was shot.
Regardless, any plans that were made to ferret Butts away from law enforcement that morning ultimately failed.
Police say Butts was killed by investigating officers on April 14 after tromping out of the woods with a firearm on Spencer Creek Road on April 14. Butts fired at the officers, who returned fire and killed him, ending the nearly 22-hour manhunt, authorities say.
