Tacoma, WA: Body found in garage

Crime: Soldier confessed to killing wife, then hiding remains, say officials
BY JEREMY PAWLOSKI
Last updated: April 24th, 2010 06:57 AM (PDT)
Body found in garage A Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier who returned from an overseas deployment last year has confessed to killing his 27-year-old wife during an argument Feb. 18, then hiding her body in his garage, according to the Thurston County Sheriff's Office.

On Friday morning, deputies found the body stuffed into a plastic storage container in the man’s garage in the 9200 block of Skokomish Way.

Sheldon T. Plummer, 28, was booked Friday morning into the Thurston County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder, domestic violence.

The Sheriff’s Office began its investigation April 18 after one of Plummer’s friends, also a soldier, told deputies that Plummer had asked him about the best way to dispose of a body, said sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy.

Earlier, Plummer and the friend had a conversation about the television program “Dexter,” a Showtime series about a serial killer, and several days later, Plummer called the friend to continue their discussion and asked him about how to dispose of a body, said sheriff’s Sgt. Cheryl Stines.

Plummer initially told deputies that his wife had left him and their 2-year-old daughter about a month earlier, Mealy said. Mealy said that Plummer later gave a conflicting time frame for when his wife left.

Sheriff’s investigators became suspicious, because Plummer had told them his wife packed three suitcases and left after an argument, but her vehicle still was parked in the lot of their apartment complex on Skokomish Way, Mealy said. Deputies also were suspicious because the wife’s family in Arizona said that they had not seen or heard from her, Mealy said.

Plummer did not report his wife as missing, even though she had been gone for more than a month, Mealy said.

Investigators obtained search warrants for the man’s home and pickup Thursday night, Mealy said. After several interviews, on Friday morning, Plummer confessed to killing his wife Feb. 18, and said her body was in a storage container in the garage.

Mealy said investigators think the relationship between Plummer and his wife was volatile.

The Thurston County Coroner’s Office took possession of the woman’s remains Friday afternoon and will conduct an autopsy Monday, Mealy said. The remains were not removed from the storage container, he added.

Thurston County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jodilyn Erikson-Muldrew said Friday that Plummer’s first court appearance is scheduled for Monday. Plummer has no documented history of domestic violence, she added.

Stines said Friday that Plummer returned from his third overseas deployment in August 2009.

Sheriff’s investigators have learned that Plummer pawned his wife’s jewelry after she was killed, Mealy said.

Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock said Friday that the woman’s family has been notified of the situation and is headed to Washington from Arizona. He said he will not release her name until she has been positively identified.

The couple’s daughter was staying with friends as of Friday, Mealy said.

As sheriff’s investigators and the Coroner’s Office gathered around Plummer’s garage Friday morning, neighbors in the apartment complex on Skokomish Way gathered outside the yellow crime tape that encircled the residence. Many people who live in the apartment complex are soldiers and soldiers’ families, said neighbor Carla Gibson.

Gibson said she did not know Plummer well, but he seemed friendly enough.

“I would see him every day,” she said. “I thought he was a total normal person. … It freaks me out, because we live in a really good neighborhood.”

Joint Base Lewis-McChord spokesman Joe Piek confirmed that the man placed under arrest Friday was Sgt. Sheldon T. Plummer of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 51st Signal Battalion. He added that Plummer has been assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord since August 2004. He is trained as a multichannel transmission systems operator-maintainer and has worked for the past three years in his battalion as a senior system information noncommissioned officer.

“The thoughts and prayers of the entire Joint Base Lewis-McChord community are with the family, friends and loved ones of everyone involved in the tragic events that resulted in the arrest of a joint base soldier,” Piek said in a statement e-mailed to The Olympian.

Piek’s statement continues, “While assigned at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Plummer deployed to Iraq with his unit from Nov. 21, 2005, to Nov. 20, 2006, and again from Aug. 28, 2008, to Aug. 23, 2009.

“He had also previously deployed to Iraq while assigned in Germany, for a total of three deployments.”

Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5465

jpawloski@theolympian.com