Last Days

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9 The week kicks off with a creepy new
chapter in an ongoing Northwest mystery, at the center of which quivers
Nicholas Francisco, the 28-year-old SeaTac man who
disappeared back in February 2008, when he told coworkers at a Seattle
advertising firm that he was planning to spend the evening baking
cookies with his pregnant wife and their two children and never
made it home. Francisco’s mysterious disappearance kicked off
a massive regional search and cast his family into a state of suspended
panic, with initial reports depicting the missing man as a devoted
young father with ties to Seattle’s neo-fundie Mars Hill Church and no
history of mysterious disappearances. Eventually, a messier picture
emerged, with Francisco’s wife, Christine, filing for divorce, citing
“willful abandonment that continues for a period of time” and a
“history of acts of domestic violence… or an assault or sexual
assault which causes grievous bodily harm or the fear of such harm.”
Which brings us to today, when Burien’s intrepid B-Town
Blog reported that detectives have found Francisco “alive and
well, living in another state and under a new name.” “Since he did
nothing illegal and this case is basically closed, we won’t reveal
where he was found,” said King County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. John
Urquhart to the B-Town Blog (but seemingly reliable gossip places
Nicholas Francisco in California). Stay tuned.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10 The week continues with a collection of
men who make Nicholas Francisco look like father of the year, every one
of them hailing from the Mohler family of Missouri
and/or Iowa. Specifically, 77-year-old Burrell Mohler
Sr., 53-year-old Burrell Mohler Jr.,
52-year-old David Mohler, 48-year-old Jared
Mohler, and 47-year-old Roland Mohler, each
of whom was arrested today and charged with a variety of crimes
against children, including rape, forcible sodomy, and use of
a child in a sexual performance. Horrifying details come from the
Associated Press, which reports today’s arrests follow allegations made
by a 26-year-old woman who approached investigators in August with
claims of rampant sexual abuse at the hands of the Mohler men. (Beyond
the crimes listed above, the woman alleges that she was forced to have
sex with a dog as a child and made to have an abortion when she was
11.) “A probable cause statement released by the Lafayette County
prosecutor’s office says five other siblings of the woman have accused
all five men of abuse,” reports the AP, which identifies three of the
five arrested Mohler men as lay ministers in the Community of
Christ, a Mormon splinter group that boasts about 250,000
members worldwide. But by far the most beguiling components of the case
are the glass jars in which the allegedly abused
children stored written accounts of their abuse before burying said
jars around the family’s Missouri property. “That was what they were
told—write these memories down, put them in a jar and bury it,
and the memories would go away,” said Sgt. Collin Stosberg to the AP.
“It was a way for them to cope.” By tomorrow, crews will be excavating
the Mohler property, where they’ll find evidence suggesting “a body or
bodies in numerous locations,” as Lafayette County sheriff Kerrick
Alumbaugh tells the AP. On Friday, a sixth Mohler
relative—72-year-old Darrel Mohler—will
join his imprisoned kin when he’s arrested on charges of forcibly
raping a child in 1986.

••Meanwhile in Virginia: 48-year-old John Allen
Muhammad—aka the “D.C. Sniper,” whose 2002 shooting
spree claimed 10 lives—was put to death by lethal injection.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11 Nothing happened today, unless you
count the errant cigarette that set fire to a house early this morning
on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, leaving 24-year-old Ben
Hills—drummer for the Seattle band the Shy Ones and a
widely beloved presence around town—with fatal injuries. For a
remembrance of Hills, see page 53. (And please, please don’t smoke in
bed.)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12 The week continues with someone who
actually deserves to die: Christopher Monfort, the
41-year-old man charged today with aggravated first-
degree
murder in the slaying of Seattle police officer Tim Brenton.
“Under state law, an aggravated murder conviction carries one of two
sentences—life in prison without the possibility of parole, or
death,” Seattlepi.com reports, and
prosecutors have 30 days to decide which punishment they will pursue.
In the meantime, Monfort remains at Harborview Medical Center, with his
wounds reportedly rendering him paralyzed from the waist down.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 In much more celebratory news, the week
continues with The Stranger‘s Happiest Day of the
Year, when we cease all snark, sass, and judgment to spew love
all over a handful of artists and the city that’s lucky to have them at
the annual Genius Awards party. Honored at tonight’s
bash at the Moore: writer Stacey Levine (whose
mind-bending writing actively discourages the type of unanimous
response typically required to win awards, which is one reason we love
her), comedy visionaries the Cody Rivers Show (who
couldn’t show up due to performance obligations but were
well-represented by eternal Stranger Genius Kathryn Rathke’s
illustrated portrait), filmmaker Zia Mohajerjasbi (whose acceptance speech consisted of eloquent Baha’i wisdom), visual
artist Jeffry Mitchell (whose short, sweet speech made
us weepy), and the Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Supplementary Genius-bash delights came in the form of musical
performances by They Live!, U.S.F., and Throw Me the Statue, and sexual
performances by that guy and girl in the upper balcony. Thanks to all
who came (ba-dum CHING!) and see you next year.

••Speaking of postmodern media events: Today,
Richard and Mayumi Heene—aka the parents who
perpetrated last month’s “balloon boy”
hoax—faced charges relating to the case in Colorado. As
the Associated Press reports, the Heenes allegedly fabricated their
“boy in a runaway balloon” hoax in hopes of landing a reality show.
Instead, they got criminal charges, with 48-year-old Richard Heene
today pleading guilty to one felony charge of attempting to influence a
public servant and 45-year-old Mayumi Heene admitting a misdemeanor
offense of false reporting to authorities, for which they face maximum
jail terms of 90 and 60 days, respectively. The Heenes will face
sentencing on December 23.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14 Nothing happened today, unless you
count the
$1 million bail ordered for Kevin Todd
Swalwell, the 46-year-old man suspected in a string of
arsons in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15 Nothing happened today.

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