PORT TOWNSEND— One of four people convicted in the brutal 2000 attack of a Port Townsend woman will be released on parole in the next 35 days.
Kenneth Wurdemann’s victim, Linda LeBrane, is appalled.
“I had written a letter to the parole board saying that I thought he should serve the entire 13 years,” said LeBrane, now 64.
“But they said he had expressed remorse and that it was better that he was paroled and supervised for three years rather than just released with no supervision.
“That made sense to my brain, but it didn’t make sense to my stomach.”
Twelve years ago, LeBrane was forced off Interstate 84 near Caldwell, Idaho, by her assailants, who robbed her, beat her with a baseball bat, stabbed her multiple times, set her car on fire and slashed her throat, leaving her for dead.
She went through months of medical recovery, two years of intense physical therapy and five years of psychiatric treatment, and still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
Four people were sentenced in January 2004 for the crime, after LeBrane was called to the Canyon County, Idaho, witness stand 12 times to testify in trials and sentencing hearings — which she said was extremely stressful.
LeBrane received the news of the granting of parole Thursday.
Wurdemann can have no contact with LeBrane and will be released in South Carolina into the custody of that state’s correctional system, which will need to approve his travel outside the state, Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney Gearld Wolff said Friday.
Wurdemann’s release is also conditional on his successful completion of a psychological evaluation program.
“He was the one I am least scared of,” LeBrane said.
“He was a Mormon missionary who had just finished his mission, and he fell in with the wrong crowd,” she said.
“He said he was just along for the ride.
“He was hitting me with a metal baseball bat, while the others said that if he didn’t, they would kill him, too.”
Three of the four assailants remain in custody in the Idaho prison system.
Sarah Kathleen Pearce is scheduled for a parole hearing in February 2017, while Jeremy Flores Sanchez and John David Wurdemann, Kenneth Wurdemann’s brother, have no hearings scheduled and are serving life sentences, according to the Idaho Department of Corrections.
All three are conducting appeals to have their convictions overturned, but it is “highly unlikely” these efforts will succeed, Wolff said.
Kenneth Wurdemann also was sentenced to paying $54,000 restitution to LeBrane.
That’s money she doesn’t expect to see.
“We lost our house because I couldn’t work,” LeBrane said.
“It would be nice to see some of this money, which I could really use.”
Over the past few years, she has recovered somewhat.
She earned a master’s degree in creative writing from Goddard College in July 2011.
She plays violin in the Port Townsend Community Orchestra.
She has written poetry and will read excerpts of her work March 22 at the Northwind Arts Center at 2409 Jefferson St. in Port Townsend.
She is also writing an account of her assault “so I can finally get it out of my brain.”
But full recovery is elusive.
“It’s still really hard for me to go out,” said the woman, who declined to have her photograph taken for this story.
“I never know what will trigger the PTSD,” she said.
“I can be completely normal, and it can be set off by something innocent, like if someone comes up behind me and touches me on the back.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
