TAHLIA GANSER - SKAGIT VALLEY HERALD
Three-and-a-half years have passed since Dawn Ruger disappeared from Skagit County. Friends reported her missing in early 2007. More than a year later, authorities knew where her body had been dumped.
The 44-year-old’s former boyfriend, Ben C. Price, confessed in May 2008 and led investigators to Ruger’s remains. He had broken her neck on New Year’s Eve in 2006 in Skagit County and left her body in a shallow grave in a remote part of northern Whatcom County.
Price, 30, of Lynden, was sentenced June 18 to 12 years in prison for the slaying, after accepting a plea agreement in May. He was originally charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty in Skagit County Superior Court to a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter.
Price also was sentenced to 36 months of community custody. He was ordered to receive mental-health treatment in prison and while under supervision.
The plea agreement took into consideration Price’s diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. He also has a history of methamphetamine abuse, as did Ruger.
At the time of the killing, Price was suffering from hallucinations and delusions, said his attorney, Wes Richards of the Skagit County Public Defender’s Office.
Price thought Ruger was a witch who was putting demons in his head and practicing voodoo on him. He also thought the CIA was telling him that Ruger was Lucifer and that he needed to kill her, Richards said.
Ruger’s family said they were disappointed by the 12-year sentence.
Ruger’s father, Frank Riddle of Sedro-Woolley, told Superior Court Judge Dave Needy that Price “used the system” to get a lower sentence for killing Riddle’s only daughter.
Ruger’s stepmother, Cathy Riddle, agreed, saying Ruger didn’t get the justice she deserved.
“I don’t feel like he should ever be out because it could happen again,” Cathy Riddle said. “I don’t want another person to go through this with their daughter. Why do they let them out so soon?”
Ruger attended Sedro-Woolley High School and went on to study at Skagit Valley College. She briefly worked at a bank, then opened a day care in her home. The petite blonde was described by her family as “sweet and dynamic.”
Ruger had two grown sons.
“She’s never had a chance to live her life out with her kids because of (Price),” Carol Riddle said. “She didn’t make good decisions, but she didn’t deserve this.”
Before her death, Ruger bounced between friends’ homes in the Sedro-Woolley and Clear Lake areas. Friends had warned her about hanging out with Price because of his history of domestic violence. Skagit County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erik Pedersen said in court that Price had written several letters to Ruger while he was in jail on other charges.
“She just trusted people too much,” her stepmother said. “That was her biggest fault. Basically, that’s why she’s dead.”
Price’s sentencing range was 12 to 16 years. His attorney asked for an exceptionally low sentence of six years.
The prosecution asked for the low end of the range — 12 years — as part of the plea agreement. Pederson felt it was fair because of Price’s mental health and drug history.
“It’s tragic that as a result of meth that a person would kill someone that they truly appear to care about,” Pedersen said after the hearing. “As far as the sentence, the sentence is never going to bring back Ms. Ruger.”
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