PORT ANGELES — Bail of $3 million was set Thursday in Clallam County Superior Court for the third of three people accused in the Dec. 26 triple homicide east of Port Angeles.
Ryan Warren Ward, 37, was in the Clallam County jail late Thursday afternoon on three charges of aggravated first-degree murder with firearms enhancements and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Ward was a methamphetamine user, the father of four children, and did work as a “bill collector” in a drug world that included the three shooting victims, according to interviews contained in probable cause statements in the case.
Ward’s arraignment and those of accused killers Dennis Marvin Bauer, 50, and Kallie Ann Letellier, 34, are at 9 a.m. Feb. 8 in Superior Court.
Bauer’s bail is $3.5 million and Letellier’s $3 million.
Bauer and Letellier each have been charged with three charges of aggravated first-degree murder with firearms enhancements.
Bauer, Letellier and Ward, who is Bauer’s nephew, are accused in the slayings of trucking company owner Darrell C. Iverson, 57; his son, Jordan D. Iverson, 27, and Jordan Iverson’s girlfriend, Tiffany A. May, 26.
The victims lived at Iverson’s debris- and vehicle-strewn 52 Bear Meadow Road residence, where authorities continued collecting evidence Thursday, Sheriff Bill Benedict said.
An Iverson family member and Sheriff’s office deputies found the victims’ bullet-riddled bodies New Year’s Eve day and New Year’s Day, the father and son partially covered by a tarp in the driveway and May in a locked shed.
Ward texted a friend Dec. 31 “stating people were dead and that he was nearly murdered himself,” according to his probable cause statement.
He initially told authorities he was last at Iverson’s residence Dec. 20 or Dec. 21, later saying he was there during the killings but did not shoot anyone.
Letellier, who allegedly shot May in the back while May fled, said otherwise.
“During the car ride following the killings, Ryan made comments to something to the effect that he did not want to be involved in the killings, but the Iversons were both still alive after being shot by Dennis, and he had to finish them off,” Letellier said, according to Ward’s probable cause statement.
Clallam County Sheriff’s Office deputies transported Ward from the Snohomish County jail in Everett on Wednesday night after he was released from a hold on a Snohomish warrant for second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
