A university student tied to a pickup and dragged to his death on a rural road had been threatening people with an ax during a night of heavy drinking at a hunting campsite, witnesses told police.
Wendell C. Sinn Jr. was jailed for investigation of second-degree murder in the death of Jerid S. Sturman-Camyn near Usk, about 45 miles north of Spokane, Pend Oreille County sheriff's deputies said.
Sturman-Camyn, 20, described as a martial arts enthusiast, lost his temper, grabbed an ax and threatened others during a drinking party at Sinn's hunting camp late Saturday, witnesses told deputies.
According to a sheriff's office statement, Sinn told a 17-year-old boy to get into the pickup and be prepared to flee.
Sinn, 45, of Newman Lake, then reportedly tied a rope to the truck's trailer hitch and to Sturman-Camyn and told the teenager to drive away. The 17-year-old apparently was unaware that he was dragging Sturman-Camyn when he drove away in fear, the sheriff's statement said.
Deputies found the pickup with Sturman-Camyn's body after the 17-year-old called to report someone was chasing him down a road with an ax and another person called and reported a body being dragged by a pickup.
There was no word early Monday whether Sinn had a lawyer to speak for him or whether the 17-year-old would face charges.
Sturman-Camyn, a civil engineering student at Eastern Washington University, had been training in martial arts in Spokane for about eight months, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported Monday.
On his MySpace page, he gave his nickname as "Bubba," described himself as an enthusiast of combat sport fighting and added: "I've been known to get a little wild at times and I like to live by the motto 'go big or go home!'"