FORKS — Moises Ramirez Matias, who is charged in the Jan. 8 stabbing death of 18-year-old Laranda Konopaski, was taken into custody Wednesday after he told a friend he wanted to get a lawyer and turn himself in, a Forks Police Department spokesman said.
Sgt. Ed Klahn said Ramirez Matias, 25, the target of a nationwide manhunt, was arrested three miles from the trailer where Konopaski was killed after Ramirez Matias had the friend call Forks police.
Ramirez Matias has been charged with first-degree premeditated murder with a deadly weapon and is being held on $2 million cash bail in the maximum-security pod at the Clallam County jail.
His arraignment will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday in Clallam County Superior Court.
The hearing had been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. that day, but extra time is needed because Ramirez Matias, a Guatemalan citizen in the country illegally, needs an interpreter, said court Administrator Lindy Clevenger.
On Wednesday, Forks police officers, along with personnel from several North Olympic Peninsula law enforcement agencies, were attending a crisis intervention stress-management class to help them deal with the death of Konopaski, whose trailer “contained large amounts of blood,” according to court records.
A bloody knife was found on the bed in the master bedroom.
The agencies’ presence in Forks enabled personnel from the Forks Police Department, Port Angeles Police Department, LaPush Police Department, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office — who did not know what to expect — to respond with overwhelming force to the call, Klahn said.
Ramirez Matias, who had been living in Forks, was subsequently arrested without incident at the 700 Merchants Road building in Forks near where his friend lives and works, Klahn said.
“You couldn’t ask for a better outcome to a devastating incident,” Klahn said.
Found near death
Police found Konopaski near death at about 5:15 a.m. Jan. 8 in the hallway of her Rainforest Mobile Home Park home after a 9-1-1 call for emergency help.
She died of multiple stab wounds at Forks Community Hospital within an hour of the incident.
The 9-1-1 call was made by the 4-year-old daughter of Konopaski and Ramirez Matias.
She said her father had stabbed her mother and that her mother was dead, according to court records.
If he is convicted, Ramirez Matias could be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison and fined up to $50,000.
After his release from prison, he would face possible deportation a second time for illegally being in the U.S., according to the Border Patrol.
Extraordinary security
Extraordinary security has surrounded Ramirez Matias’ incarceration as it does all high-risk prisoners, Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict said.
On Thursday morning, the day after Ramirez Matias’ arrest, a security caravan transported him from the Forks jail to Port Angeles for his first Clallam County Superior Court appearance.
He rode in a Forks Corrections transport van with two armed officers inside the van and a “chase vehicle,” a Forks police cruiser, behind the van, Klahn said.
A LaPush police officer who passed the van and police car west of Lake Crescent decided to lead the way to the Clallam County Courthouse, though the LaPush officer’s participation was not planned, Klahn said.
The one dozen non-courthouse-employee spectators at the hearing were electronically screened before entering the courtroom, where a deputy checked for contraband under the defense table and chairs where Ramirez Matias was scheduled to sit for his 20-minute court appearance.
Instead, the approximately 5-foot 110-pound Ramirez Matias stood shackled in front of Judge George L. Wood for most of the hearing because a court-appointed interpreter, speaking by telephone and through a speaker on Wood’s desk, could not hear him when he was seated.
A sheriff’s deputy stood at Ramirez Matias’ side about 3 feet away.
Ramirez Matias told Wood he has hired a Seattle lawyer.
A graveside service for Konopaski is scheduled at 1 p.m. Monday at Mount Angeles Memorial Park, 45 S. Monroe Road, in Port Angeles.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
