SPOKANE — A mother and her two sons connected to the death of the woman’s husband lied to authorities, then cut communication with them for months before they were arrested last week in Arizona, according to court documents and the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office.
Court documents do not indicate who authorities believe killed 65-year-old Jerry Rasmussen, but Brenda Rasmussen, 55, Danny Jones, 34, and Andrew Jones, 31, were arrested Tuesday in Fort Mohave, Arizona, on suspicion of first-degree rendering criminal assistance relating to his death, according to a Stevens County Sheriff’s Office news release.
A probable cause affidavit filed in Stevens County Superior Court said Daniel Tavaglione, 77, was also charged with the same crime.
On Nov. 12, detection dogs picked up the smell of human remains coming from the area of a new shed on the Rasmussen couple’s property, 33427 Darrin Road, outside the unincorporated town of Valley, documents said.
In early December, authorities removed the shed and searched the area beneath it, where they found Jerry Rasmussen’s body wrapped in a pink blanket and clear plastic wrap, documents said.
The medical examiner located what appeared to be a bullet hole and a bullet in Jerry Rasmussen’s head, documents said. Authorities said the cause of death was a gunshot wound.
Brenda Rasmussen tried reporting her husband missing to the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 27, documents said. She told a deputy that Jerry Rasmussen told her he had cabin fever, took $30,000 in cash and left on his motorcycle.
Brenda Rasmussen, who said she and her husband were fighting, told police he was missing for a couple weeks, she could not reach him by phone and she was getting worried. She said she did not try calling her husband until three or four days after he was reportedly missing, according to court documents.
Since he allegedly left on his own and she could not say he was in danger, the sheriff’s office did not enter Jerry Rasmussen as missing, documents said.
Brenda Rasmussen called the sheriff’s office again Sept. 29 and said her husband’s family visited town to help her find Jerry Rasmussen, documents said. That same day, Eric Rasmussen, Jerry Rasmussen’s son, came to the sheriff’s office with concerns about his father’s whereabouts.
Eric Rasmussen filled out a missing person report for his dad at the Chewelah Police Department.
Eric Rasmussen told a deputy he was concerned for several reasons. He said he spoke with his father often and had not heard from him in weeks, documents said. When he did call the house the past couple weeks before he arrived, Brenda Rasmussen told him his father was in the garden or busy.
He said she finally told Eric Rasmussen that his father left on his motorcycle, saying he took $30,000 in cash from the freezer and left her with $3,000, documents said.
Eric Rasmussen told the deputy his father would have taken a different motorcycle for a long ride, both of Brenda Rasmussen’s grown sons recently moved into the couple’s home, which Eric Rasmussen said his father would not have approved, and he did not think his father would leave his wife for that long because she does not drive nor have a driver’s license, documents said.
Danny Jones told detectives he had taken Jerry Rasmussen’s truck to Las Vegas the day he allegedly disappeared. Eric Rasmussen said in the documents his father would never allow someone to drive his truck that far, especially not Danny Jones.
Det. J. Colton Schumacher wrote in court documents that Brenda Rasmussen and Danny and Andrew Jones were very responsive via text message and phone calls from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1. On Oct. 1, Schumacher said he received a text from Andrew Jones saying the three of them were getting a room at the Double Tree Hotel in Spokane for the night because they were afraid of staying in the same house with Eric Rasmussen, documents said. Schumacher said that was the last correspondence he received from them. He said he texted each of them and left several voicemails.
“It is clear Danny, Andrew, and Brenda have made a great attempt to conceal information, provide false statements, and hide their locations in order to obstruct law enforcement in the investigation to locate Jerry Rasmussen,” Schumacher said in the documents.
Before fleeing, Brenda Rasmussen and Danny Jones told detectives that Danny Jones purchased the shed for the Rasmussen couple as a way to pay them back for all the help they provided him in getting his house in Spokane ready to sell, documents said.
The driver who delivered the shed to the home Sept. 7 said in the documents Brenda Rasmussen, Danny Jones and an older man who he assumed was the woman’s husband were present. Brenda Rasmussen told detectives her husband was there that day.
Considering Jerry Rasmussen was already dead and buried when the shed was delivered, it appeared the older man whom the delivery driver remembers was Tavaglione, who all three other suspects stated had flown into town that week to pay Jerry Rasmussen back a loan, Schumacher said in the documents.
It appeared Tavaglione either flew up from California to assist in the homicide or was called to assist with the concealing of the body, crime scene and motorcycle, Schumacher said in the documents.
Schumacher said it’s a “feasible possibility” that Andrew Jones and Brenda Rasmussen transported the motorcycle she claimed Jerry Rasmussen drove away to an unknown location to be concealed, sold or destroyed, documents said.
Schumacher also said it’s a “feasible possibility” the newly delivered shed, signed for by Brenda Rasmussen, was placed to conceal a burial location for Jerry Rasmussen since it was delivered within 24 hours of his alleged disappearance.
The affidavit said Keven Golightly, Brenda Rasmussen’s ex-husband, told detectives prior to Jerry Rasmussen’s death that Brenda Rasmussen told him she was not happy, referring to her relationship with her husband. However, Brenda Rasmussen told detectives she and her husband were very happy and that they loved each other, documents said.
Brenda Rasmussen, Andrew Jones and Danny Jones remain in the Mohave County Jail. Tavaglione was arrested Thursday and was released Friday by posting bond, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in California.
