PORT ANGELES — A house destroyed by fire Sunday morning is owned by the mother of Kendell K. Huether, who faces the filing of formal murder charges in court today.
Early Sunday morning, Kendell Huether’s mother, Penny C. Huether, was in her 1,300-square-foot house at 815 W. Ninth St. in Port Angeles with two of her daughter’s four children when the house caught fire, Deputy Fire Chief Ken Dubuc and Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said Monday.
No one was hurt in the blaze.
Evidence indicates that the fire was not suspicious, though an investigation into the cause continues today, Dubuc said.
“We do not have any indication other than it was an accidental fire, from my preliminary investigation,” Dubuc said.
“I spoke with Penny, and she said they were just doing their normal morning routine when they smelled smoke, got out of the house and called 9-1-1,” he said.
“She was in the kitchen at the time.”
Penny Huether could not be reached for comment Monday.
The Red Cross is helping her out, Dubuc said.
The house has since been boarded up and secured, he added.
Kendell Huether, 25, and Kevin A. Bradfield, 22, both of Port Angeles, will be formally charged in Clallam County Superior Court at 1 p.m. today.
They were arrested early Thursday morning for investigation of second-degree murder in the death of Jennifer Danielle Pimentel, a 27-year-old developmentally disabled woman whose body was dumped near the Hood Canal Bridge in Jefferson County.
A conviction for second-degree murder requires intent, while first-degree murder also requires premeditation, Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said last week.
Deputy County Prosecutor Ann Lundwall said Monday she has not decided whether to stick with second-degree murder charges or upgrade the charges to first-degree murder.
“I haven’t seen the [police] reports yet,” Lundwall said Monday.
Kendell Huether and Bradfield remained in Clallam County jail early afternoon Monday.
Bradfield’s bail is $1 million, while bail for Huether, also investigated for first-degree rendering of criminal assistance, is $100,000.
Smith said the homicide investigation is ongoing and that a motive has not been established for the death of Pimentel, a longtime friend of Kendell Huether’s.
“We are not in a position to talk motive,” Smith said.
A city police detective took “key evidence” obtained from the investigation to the State Patrol Crime Lab on Monday, Smith said.
Police have examined evidence from the house occupied by Kendell Huether and Bradfield at 808 E. Lauridsen St.
Bradfield reportedly told police that he strangled Pimentel on Oct. 9 while Huether watched and as Pimentel cried out, “Stop, you’re killing me. Please stop!” and “Kendell, help me!”
The couple took three of Huether’s children along when they drove to a wooded area off Paradise Bay Road north of the Hood Canal floating bridge to dump the body, police said.
Bradfield and Huether later led authorities to the Pimentel’s unburied remains.
Bradfield’s mother, Michelle Escalante of Hermiston, Ore., said in an interview last week that Bradfield is mentally impaired from a beating he suffered in Seattle earlier this summer.
Pimentel’s father, Henry Pimentel, said in an earlier interview that his daughter and Huether had been friends since the two met in a special-needs class.
Pimentel had the mind of a 12-year-old, said family members who joined more than 200 people at a City Pier candlelight vigil Thursday.
There she was remembered fondly as a caring, loving person.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
