PORT ANGELES — A DNA test linking Lauryn Last’s deceased infant son with a Colorado man accused of sexually assaulting the 16-year-old corroborates her story, said the attorney defending her against a murder charge.
Last is accused of first-degree murder with a second-degree option in the Dec. 30 death of her newborn son, Thomas Loy Last.
She pleaded not guilty in January and awaits a Sept. 24 trial, in which she will be tried as an adult.
Gregory John Greenway of Pueblo, Colo., was arrested there Thursday on a warrant for investigation of sexual assault of a child by one in a position of trust.
DNA test results confirmed that he is the father of the newborn who died in Port Angeles, court documents said.
According to an arrest affidavit from the Pueblo District Attorney’s Office, Greenway impregnated Last, then 15, on spring break in 2008.
“It’s what she’s said all along, so certainly that lends some credibility to the things that she says,” said Suzanne Hayden, Last’s defense attorney, after a status hearing Friday in Clallam County Superior Court.
“I think that on an emotional level, it probably changes the case. On a legal level, maybe it will help explain her state of mind when things were happening.”
Greenway was arrested at a Pueblo shopping center on Thursday afternoon. A detective was driving by the area when he spotted Greenway and arrested him, according to the Pueblo Chieftain.
He remains in the Pueblo County jail on $75,000 bail.
Last delivered a baby in her father’s Port Angeles home.
Infant drowned
Police said it was drowned in a toilet before it was thrown into a trash container outside the house.
The body of the infant — named by Last’s mother, who lives in Pueblo — was found in a trash container near Tacoma a week later.
Hayden said she has requested tissue samples and other evidence to send to an expert defense witness.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams set a status hearing for Last for June 19.
Last remains in custody in the Clallam County Juvenile Services Detention Facility in lieu of $500,000 bail.
“She’s having a real tough time, but she’s doing the best she can under the circumstances,” Hayden said.
Last moved to Port Angeles from Colorado in October. She was living with her father, Ronald Last, who pled guilty to first degree unlawful possession of a firearm on May 5.
He was sentenced to 31 months confinement and a $2,800 fine.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
