The Spotlight: Accused Coast Guard murderer released on bail

A missing woman, an unmarked grave, and the moment these two mysteries merged. It was just important that I did everything I could to find out who she was and make sure that her family knew where she'd been. How one determined detective with Washington State Patrol solved the cold case puzzle of a fiery crash. Walking into danger with a high-tech first step. Why this situation in King County was so risky, deputies let a drone make the first move. Put your hands up! Put your hands up now. It's a different kind of sting operation. See what started this chase in Pierce County that had deputies braving a bee farm. Tonight in The Spotlight. The Spotlight brought to you by Beacon Plumbing. Well, good evening again. Welcome to the Spotlight. Thank you for joining us. I'm David Rose. We begin tonight with a murder victim's family in even more pain and grief because the suspect charged in the case has been released from jail. 18-year-old Isaiah Bolar posted $3 million bail. According to the court documents, he is not on electronic home monitoring. His only restriction is to have no contact with the family of Lieutenant Connor Overstreet. Back on August 23rd, the Coast Guard member was shot to death in Skyway. While riding Lime scooters with friends, King County Major Crimes detectives say the group exchanged words with at least two people in a Toyota Prius. The car stopped and a shot was fired, killing Overstreet. Two days later, a flock camera alerted Kent police to the stolen Prius used in the killing. After a high-speed pursuit, Bolar was arrested. This is exclusive video I obtained for the Spotlight. I'm sorry. What the am I doing? No. What the am I doing? I don't even know why I ran. How the f*** did I run? Detectives say Bolar gave a backpack to a friend who jumped out of the car and then threw it in a garbage bin. Police recovered it and found a gun inside that matched the ballistics for the weapon that killed Connor. They also found Bolar's driver's permit in the backpack. Prosecutors charged him with murder in the second degree, alleging that Bolar either fired the deadly shot or assisted or encouraged the person who did. He was also charged with attempting to elude police after Kent police say he hit speeds of up to 100 miles an hour before he was stopped. His attorney says they have the wrong suspect, and she will be able to prove that in court. Bolar's bail set at $3 million. Now he's free, awaiting trial. Conner's sister sent a statement in reaction that reads in part, Knowing that an individual was in custody until trial brought my family a small bit of comfort and separation from the atrocity of the case. But this latest update has set us back. We're shocked and confused by the criminal justice and bail bond system. Concern for the community. He's completely heartbroken for Conor and everyone who knew and loved him. Well, I followed up to find out how he was able to post a bond that high. My sources tell me several people put up their homes as collateral. The next hearing on this case is scheduled for December 12th. For 35 years, Washington State Patrol detectives knew the victim of a fiery truck crash only as Helen Doe. She died in Cowlitz County on I-5 in 1991. We were there more than a decade ago when her remains were exhumed to build a DNA profile. But it wasn't until recently that technology, genealogy, and good old-fashioned police work would finally solve the mystery. Helen Doe is Molly McCullough, and her family had no idea she had ever made it to Washington. For 12 years, I just had her sketch up on the wall as a reminder, and I'm very thankful now that we get to put real pictures of Molly up here. For Detective Sergeant Stacey Moat, giving up on trying to identify Helen Doe was never an option. It just became important, so important to me, because she was in a box at the coroner's office, right? Just in the back shelf somewhere, and that's just not okay with me. I just don't think that, I mean, everybody deserves to have their name back. On May 14, 1991. Two semis collided on southbound I-5 near Kalama. The crash and fire killed driver Lester Harbell and the woman riding with him. For decades, investigators couldn't tell her family she was the passenger. Witnesses thought she might be Native American, based on her clothing and jewelry. So forensic artist Natalie Murray created this sketch in hopes someone would recognize her. For years, her body lay in an unmarked grave in Longview. Then, in 2014, the Puyallup tribe helped pay to exhume her remains, and tribal members performed a blessing. The Cowlitz County coroner sent the bones down to their lab with Othram, and they did the DNA testing, and they started just building the family tree. It showed Helen Doe was not Native American. She was white. Genetic genealogists at Othram Labs found her distant relatives. That gave Detective Sergeant Mote a long list of people to call. I probably made 60 or 70 phone calls, at least, as well as emails and text messages. You know, and a lot of those didn't go answered, unfortunately. On August 6th, she made one more call. Mike McCullough answered. And I said, do you know of any female family members that went missing back in the 90s? And he just simply said, yeah, that'd be my sister Molly. It just hit. I just kind of knew. It just sounded like her. For years, they'd wondered where she'd gone. That phone call finally brought the two searches together. Helen Doe was Mary Ellen McCullough. Her family called her Molly. I think to get closure was really the best thing for us. Every Christmas, we'd always talk about this. Mike describes his sister as independent, always on the move, and happiest on a horse. But she really was a free spirit, wasn't she? Oh, yeah. Yeah, she just moved around. She didn't like being tied down. He says the last time he saw Molly was at Christmas in Florida. Then she missed their grandmother's funeral and their mother's. When we didn't hear from her, we just figured the worst and kind of accepted it. We're hoping for something better. I kind of knew that was coming. The break in the case came from DNA his niece had put into an ancestry database like FamilyTreeDNA.com. The site allows you to check a box giving law enforcement permission to use it. You've got to do your DNA because if you have somebody missing, that's the only way you're going to find them. Mike says he's grateful to the State Patrol, the Puyallup Tribe, the coroner's office, and especially to Detective Sergeant Moat for never giving up on his sister. It was just important that I did everything I could to find out who she was and make sure that her family knew where she'd been. She says she hopes identifying Helen Doe will give hope to other families of missing loved ones. These are other cold cases that we have open just here in the King County area for the state patrol that we just have up here as a reminder to keep working on them. Mike says they're planning on having Molly cremated. They will take her back to Cambridge, Ohio, where she was born. One other thing I learned is that the public can donate to help Othram Labs and law enforcement identify more victims. To see the list of cases, find the online version of the story, go to Fox13Seattle.com, and go to the Spotlight section under the More tab. A Seattle woman's dog saved her life two years ago when he took a bullet for her. Now she's getting help from the community to help her dog get surgery. The Spotlight's Shira Matsuzawa has their story. Walking around Seattle Center, you would have never known that seven-year-old Judah currently has bullet fragments still lodged in his head. Good job. This was Judah two years ago. His owner, Lauren Wiggins, told Fox 13 in November of 2024. She and Judah found themselves at the center of domestic violence. As I was trying to exit our home together, he decided to grab his gun and shoot me. Judah jumped in, attacked the man and Lauren says was shot in the head and in the shoulder. Judah saved Lauren's life. If I had Two extra shots to me, I would have died that night. For a while, I was feeling a lot of guilt that he felt the need to save me. But she's grateful. At the time of the shooting, Judah's vet recommended the bullet fragments stay in his head because it was too dangerous to remove. Move. Swing. But recently, Lauren noticed swelling in his head. Judah's vet confirmed the fragments moved and say now is the time to remove them. If the fragments that have already shifted kept on moving around, it could go to his brain, it could affect his eyes, and I don't want that to happen to him. He doesn't deserve that. Which is why she's now turning to the public for help, to raise the necessary funds needed for his surgery and recovery. He's literally my lifeline. Without him, I Probably would crumble, fall apart, all the things. I mean, he really is my soul dog. So, you know, he's literally everything to me. For the Spotlight, I'm Shira Matsuzawa. The man who shot Lauren was originally charged with assault in the first degree, but he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Garen Hunter was sentenced to just under two years in prison with a year of DOC supervision. He was released in July. So why such a light sentence? I spoke with Senior Deputy Prosecutor David Martin. He says Hunter was having a full psychotic break and had no criminal history. In fact, it took nine months of treatment just to get him competent enough to stand trial. Martin said his attorneys would have put his mental state on trial and they may have won the case. So they opted for the confirmed conviction. I also talked to Lauren. She says the vet is currently working to schedule Judah for the specialized scan he needs for surgery. That surgery is expected to happen sometime in December. The GoFundMe page raised more than $44,000 to pay for the surgery and recovery, soaring past the $35,000 goal. Pierce County Sheriff's deputies went to great lengths to make this arrest. They had to use a drone and then trek through a bee farm to track down a theft suspect. The Spotlight's A.J. Janneville tells us what led them deep into the woods. You're surrounded! Get up! Let me see your hands! Pierce County Sheriff's deputies responded to a report of a stolen work van found in a ditch near 19th Avenue Court East in Tacoma. A witness told investigators they saw a man pulling tools out of the van before fleeing. Just ducked in the bushes across the street right over here. So we have a drone up. We're trying to find him now. Drones are a significant help. It's another tool for us to use. We don't have... Tons of boots on the ground in terms of finding a suspect that's deep in the woods. Court documents say the suspect, wearing Crocs, hid in a thicket so deep the drone heat sensors did not pick him up for several passes. Finally, deputies find him and make their way through a bee farm to make the arrest. Kind of an eerie feeling is kind of watching some of that body cam. You can see. Little droplets, which are bees, crossing through the screens. Stop! Put your hands up now! High above your head! For the Spotlight, I'm AJ Jannevelle. The suspect in this case is 24-year-old Mohamed Abdi. Prosecutors charged him with obstruction of a law enforcement officer and with possession of controlled substance fentanyl from a separate case. Judge Claire Sussman granted his attorney's motion to ban us from showing his face in court. His hearing was initially delayed because a Somali interpreter was needed. That's interesting because body cam video shows him speaking perfect English. What do you mean, what did you do? I was taking a ----. Cool, we'll talk to you in a second once I read you your rights. Abdi's attorney asked Judge Sussman to release him on personal recognizance, saying he works as a laborer cleaning properties in exchange for rent in Tacoma. The judge did deny that request, set his bail at $7,500 for each charge. He's also been charged in King County in a separate case of possession of a stolen vehicle. A woman held captive in her own home by a man known to be armed with a gun. King County Sheriff's deputies walked into this dangerous situation with the help of a drone. Please, come on out! Bodycam video shows deputies entering an apartment in White Center on October 16th with a drone scoping things out before they moved in. Deputies were warned ahead of time the suspect was armed with a gun and was violating a no-contact order at the woman's home. The suspect was found hiding in a closet with a loaded gun and his five-year-old son. Got one here? Come on. I got one. Get on top. On the ground? On the ground. Deputies say 26-year-old Wesley Dillon spent several days at the woman's apartment, wrapping a cord around her neck, dragging her around and threatening to kill her. He's facing charges including residential burglary, domestic violence assault, and unlawful possession of a firearm. He's being held on $304,000 bail. Up next in the spotlight, Washington's Supreme Court considering a major change to criminal justice. We hear both sides of the debate that could drastically reduce bail for many defendants. A King County Sheriff's deputy stabbed in the arm during an arrest in Shoreline. And then the very next day, the suspect was released from jail. Now we're seeing body cam video of how things took a sudden and dangerous turn. Stay down! You tried to stab me! Slow motion video shows the suspect pulling a knife right before he was tackled. That suspect is Daniel McCullough, arrested on October 30th after deputies say he threatened to slit the throat of a store manager of a thriftway market because he was told he needed to move his bus that had been parked there for several days. Officers spotted him in the parking lot, but he refused orders to stop and tried to walk away. The deputy who tackled him was slashed across his upper arm, but didn't realize it at first. Prosecutors charged McCullough with second-degree assault and felony harassment. Requesting a $75,000 bail, instead, bail was set at $25,000, and McCullough was released from jail the very next day. No surprise, he failed to appear for his arraignment on November 5th, so Judge Nelson Lee issued a bench warrant for his arrest that raises his bail to $150,000. Washington Supreme Court justices are considering some controversial changes to Washington's bail rules that would make it easier for many defendants to get out of jail. Justices recently heard oral arguments over the proposal. If approved, one of the new changes would require judges to find a high likelihood of willful flight from prosecution before imposing bail. The proposal would also cap bail at $200 for most misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors, except for DUIs and cases involving domestic violence That bail would be paid directly to the court, and a defendant could post just 10% of the bail. That means on a $200 bail, they'd only have to give $20 to secure their release. The proposal was submitted by public defenders from multiple counties, including King and Snohomish. They argue it would make the system more equitable. For people with money, bail is a condition of release. For people without money, it becomes an order of pretrial detention. When bail becomes detention, we must ask ourselves, what justifies taking away a person's freedom? Opponents of the changes include Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett, who says bail is meant to ensure defendants return to court, and that the proposed changes seem contrary to public safety. During the hearing, justices also heard from the president of Washington's Bail Agent Association. If a defendant pays 10% directly to the court, who takes responsibility afterwards? Who tracks down someone who stops responding to the court? Who works with the family? And who gets that person back before the judge? Today, bail agents perform much of that work with a direct incentive to do it. Following this hearing, the state Supreme Court's Rules Committee will discuss the arguments and then present recommendations to the full court. Three years after a man was shot to death outside a Federal Way gas station while sitting on a curb, his killer has been sentenced. 27-year-old Donald Harris was gunned down by a stranger with no apparent motive for the murder. Spotlight Shira Matsuzawa shows us the emotional day in court for Donald's family. For three years, loved ones of Donald Harris, known as Donnie to friends and family, have been fighting for what's on their shirts. They got what they've been seeking, justice for Donnie. My baby's free. My family can now breathe, you know, we can be free and be at peace. On July 15th in 2023, surveillance video captured Harris sitting alone near a gas station when Taryn Forks, who was 17 years old at the time, pulled up. Video shows Forks shooting Harris twice. We've paused the video moments before Harris is shot. Investigators say he wasn't armed and didn't know Forks. Because of his actions, I cannot sleep most nights. All I see is the terror in my son's eyes when he saw that gun pointed at him. I didn't just lose my brother. I lost a piece of my childhood, a piece of my heart, and a piece of the future I thought we would share. Forks showed little emotion but addressed the court and the Harris family. To the family who lost their dearly beloved, I want to give you my most sincere apology for my reckless mistake. That has brought both of our families so much pain. The judge then sentenced Forks to 19 years in prison. This is a very difficult, troubling case. I think some words that describe aspects of the case are that it is absolutely heartbreaking, it's senseless, it's disturbing, and it's tragic, deeply tragic. While Forks will spend that time in prison. I never even got to say goodbye. My world is completely shattered. Harris' mom, Deborah, says she's now living a life sentence. Yeah, a life sentence of grief. For the Spotlight, I'm Shira Matsuzawa. I was texting with Deborah as the sentencing approached to organize our coverage. She has been carrying that pain of losing her son for three years to the public, not knowing that he was an innocent victim. She is grateful that his story has been told. And while it is heartbreaking, she says justice has been served. Next in the spotlight, a transformation station where cars become cruisers. See how Washington State Patrol replenishes its fleet of vehicles at a surprising rate. What does it take to turn an ordinary car into a fully equipped Washington State Police cruiser? Well, that process takes place at fleet headquarters in Tumwater, where a small crew is hard at work cranking out patrol cars. Spotlight's Shira Matsuzawa has a behind-the-scenes look at the assembly line. This power tool isn't fixing up just any car. These crews are working on the newest Washington State Patrol cars. Per car, we're looking at about 17 to 22 hours just for the vehicle portion. And then we build our own wire harnesses in-house, and that's about a five-hour process. This is the inside of the fleet, where all of the WSP patrol cars for the entire state are constructed. Paul Grijalva is the fleet installation supervisor. He, along with a 10-person team, produce two patrol cars every business day. Yep, you heard right. Two cars every business day. Paul says they streamlined the process about two years ago when they switched to a production line, cutting the build time almost in half. From placing the decals to drilling the car for antennas, the entire process is done in four stages. And once a car reaches 150,000 miles, it's pulled off the road and replaced with one of these. In eastern Washington, where they have more area to cover, that trooper might cover more mileage per day. They're putting more mileage on the vehicles. And if the car is damaged, it also comes here to the boneyard. As we enter the winter months, Paul says that's likely to happen more. From start to finish, Each car costs roughly about $100,000 with the equipment and camera. These cars are hand-built by folks here in Washington. So anytime you see a trooper driving, know that that car was built here in Washington by folks that have a passion for law enforcement. For The Spotlight, I'm Shira Matsuzawa. Paul tells us his crew turns out between 240 to 250 vehicles each year to help cut down on collisions and keep troopers safe. WSP always wants to remind drivers to slow down and remember, move over one lane whenever possible if you are approaching an emergency vehicle or a work zone. Well, that's going to do it for us tonight on The Spotlight. Until next week, I'm David Rose. Please stay safe.