2A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2017
“What are you doing about holiday shopping this year?”
“It’s done. I keep it
simple, stupid. I buy
edibles. If you can’t
eat it, don’t ship it.”
“Nothing yet. I don’t
have a plan, but I
will shop. Local and
not local.”
“I’m way behind. This
weekend. Going
shopping. Finally.
Locally.”
Carol Thomas,
Astoria
Jeanine Fairchild,
Astoria
Teresa Brownlie,
Astoria
THE DAILY ASTORIAN // QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Grandma murderer gets 50 years
Hamby said during the sen-
tencing phase of the hearing.
“My mother didn’t care about
money. She just wanted to
make beautiful things.”
A deadly plot
unfolds in
Ocean Park
Fifty years in prison
By NATALIE ST. JOHN
EO Media Group
In a somber courtroom,
Chace, 24, of Willow, Alaska,
pleaded to first-degree mur-
der and first degree attempted
murder for shooting Rice, 64,
at her Ocean Park home on
November 2016. She was sen-
tenced to spend a total of 620
months — more than 50 years
— in prison. Her accomplice
and boyfriend, Paul Rankin,
of Wasilla, Alaska, was sub-
sequently sentenced to about
15 years in prison. Rankin, 27,
pleaded guilty to conspiracy to
commit first-degree murder in
September. Prosecutor Mark
McClain agreed to recommend
a relatively short sentence for
Rankin in exchange for his tes-
timony against Chace.
After the hearing, McClain
said he initially considered
pursuing the death penalty for
Chace, but decided a very long
sentence was more appropri-
SOUTH BEND, Wash.
— “Was it mental illness,
or greed?” One man asked
another as they passed each
other in Pacific County
Superior Court on Monday
morning.
The man who had just
watched Katherine Joann
Chace plead guilty to the mur-
der of her grandmother, Paula
Rice, answered without miss-
ing a beat.
“It was greed.”
The victim’s son, Ben
Hamby, also spoke of the ava-
rice that cost him his mother,
and nearly took his brother’s
life, too.
“I’m completely incapa-
ble of making you see the bril-
liant light that was stolen from
us by the defendant’s mis-
placed greed,” an emotional
ate. He spent months work-
ing with defense attorneys, a
Pacific County Sheriff’s Office
detective and Rice’s family to
craft the plea deals. Ultimately,
the wishes of Rice’s fam-
ily members “were really the
drivers for this,” McClain said.
A fresh start
Paula Rice was a free-spir-
ited artist whose downfall
began with an act of kindness.
For most of her life, Chace did
not really know Rice, who is
her paternal grandmother, or
her father Michael Cooper,
who lived with Rice. Then
the two women connected
through Facebook, according
to recently released documents
from the murder investigation.
Eventually, they began talking
on the phone.
Chace confided in Rice,
saying Rankin abused her.
Alaska court records show that
about five years ago, she filed
a restraining order against him,
but dropped it within a couple
of weeks. Chace wanted to
leave Rankin, she told Rice,
but they had three young chil-
FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TONIGHT
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
37
ALMANAC
Cloudy; rain at night
Tillamook
37/54
Salem
29/47
Newport
39/54
Eugene
24/43
Sunset tonight ........................... 4:30 p.m.
Sunrise Thursday ........................ 7:50 a.m.
Moonrise today ........................... 3:06 a.m.
Moonset today ........................... 2:24 p.m.
First
Full
Dec 26
Coos Bay
38/58
Last
Jan 1
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
TOMORROW'S TIDES
Astoria / Port Docks
Time
4:11 a.m.
5:16 p.m.
Low
2.4 ft.
0.4 ft.
Burns
14/31
Lakeview
17/46
Ashland
35/57
REGIONAL CITIES
City
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Eugene
Ilwaco
Klamath Falls
Medford
Newberg
Newport
North Bend
Hi
38
35
62
41
52
46
51
48
53
58
Today
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20
15
45
24
39
21
30
34
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38
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pc
pc
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pc
pc
pc
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pc
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Hi
37
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63
43
52
47
54
48
54
58
Thu.
Lo
20
23
45
27
39
23
30
31
39
40
W
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
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City
Olympia
Pendleton
Portland
Roseburg
Salem
Seaside
Spokane
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Yakima
Hi
45
32
47
44
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52
32
45
48
37
Today
Lo
29
23
35
32
29
36
22
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31
26
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Thu.
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29
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32
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TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER
NATIONAL CITIES
Hi
49
30
36
53
45
26
61
36
81
42
57
66
80
57
70
53
63
32
66
32
54
29
62
47
37
Baker
20/37
Ontario
21/33
Klamath Falls
21/47
Fantasies and plans
Natalie St. John/EO Media Group
Katherine Chace, seen with her defense attorney Erik
Kupka Monday in Pacific County Superior Court, was sen-
tenced to more than 50 years in prison for the 2016 murder
of her grandmother, Paula Rice and the attempted murder
of her father, Michael Cooper.
cash and credit cards, buy
an RV, and set out for Texas.
Around the time of the August
text, they began planning the
murders in earnest.
“I might be able to fash-
ion a silencer. I have to look
into it, tho,” Rankin wrote that
same evening. They planned
for Rankin to fly to Washing-
ton state to help execute “The
Plan.” They wondered if the
neighbors might be a problem.
They debated about what to do
with their dog.
“Leave her in the house and
let (a friend) take her to the
pound?” Chace suggested.
In October, they researched
trust funds, commiserated
about the expense of mak-
ing a silencer, and urged each
other to take care of last-min-
ute details.
“Go through your half
of the plan. Make sure you
have everything figured out,”
Rankin wrote. “Everything you
can think of anyways, LOL.”
“Okie dokie,” she replied.
Preparations
Chace picked Rankin up
in Seattle in early Novem-
ber 2016. He was not wel-
come in the Rice household,
so he hiked into the woods in
Loomis Lake State Park and
made a tent out of a blue plas-
tic tarp and a stick.
There was much work to be
done. She sneaked Rankin into
Rice’s home “several times
to learn the layout,” Detec-
tive Ryan Tully wrote in his
report. They debated drugging
Cooper with Valium or some
other sedative, and researched
Rice’s finances.
One day, they went to the
Home Depot in Warrenton. A
security camera recorded them
as they purchased the PVC
pipe, steel wool and other
ingredients for a homemade
silencer. They kept the receipt.
Execution
Originally, Rankin was to
pull the trigger. As the desig-
nated night drew near, texts
show that the couple seemed
more concerned about whether
their 2-year-old daughter had
pooped out a quarter that she’d
swallowed than they did about
the prospect of murdering two
family members.
“But then (Rankin) decided
he couldn’t do it himself. He
told her she had to be the one
to do it,” Tully wrote. “He told
her to take as much money and
bank cards from Rice as she
could get. They would then
drive the Jeep to Texas.”
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017
Tonight's Sky: The Geminid Meteor Shower peaks
tonight with an average of 80 meteors per hour.
Today
Lo
36
22
18
26
22
12
37
17
69
21
26
47
49
34
48
32
45
27
33
27
28
24
45
34
32
La Grande
19/37
Roseburg
32/47
Brookings
44/65
Jan 8
John Day
25/47
Bend
15/39
Medford
30/54
UNDER THE SKY
High
9.3 ft.
7.5 ft.
Prineville
16/40
Lebanon
27/47
In close quarters
Rice lived off of a family
trust fund that provided about
$8,000 per month. This money
also provided for Cooper, who
has a medical condition that
makes it difficult for him to
work. When Chace and her
children arrived, the money
provided for them, too.
“The defendant had free
room and board, and transpor-
tation, and insurance, and her
children lacked for nothing,”
Hamby said.
But all her life, Chace had
ricocheted between joy and
sadness. She had always been
impulsive, she told state psy-
chologists; she had always
been plagued by a terror that
the people she loved would
abandon her.
It wasn’t enough.
Despite Rice’s generos-
ity, Chace was soon rest-
less, lonely and tired of being
“cooped up” with her kids. As
summer came on, her resent-
ment sprang into full bloom.
Unbeknownst to Rice and
Cooper, she reconciled with
Rankin, who stayed in Ilwaco
during a secret April 2016
visit. After he went back to
Alaska, she aired her frustra-
tions in derisive text messages.
In late August, she complained
that she couldn’t see a chiro-
practor because Rice was tem-
porarily low on funds.
“$8,500 a month, and
they’re out of money,” she
wrote.
Chace and Rankin began
fantasizing about killing Rice
and Cooper in late spring. In
their florid imaginings, the
murders would clear the path
to Rice’s trust, even though
Chace was not in the will.
They’d take her inheritance,
Cloudy
Pendleton
23/34
The Dalles
27/38
Portland
35/47
SUN AND MOON
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Memphis
Miami
Nashville
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, DC
A little morning rain;
mostly cloudy
49
38
Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs.
ASTORIA
37/52
Precipitation
Tuesday ............................................ 0.00"
Month to date ................................... 0.93"
Normal month to date ....................... 4.03"
Year to date .................................... 77.24"
Normal year to date ........................ 61.40"
Time
10:24 a.m.
11:26 p.m.
SUNDAY
49
37
REGIONAL WEATHER
Astoria through Tuesday.
Temperatures
High/low ....................................... 51°/35°
Normal high/low ........................... 49°/36°
Record high ............................ 61° in 2002
Record low ............................. 10° in 1919
Dec 17
50
42
Intervals of clouds and
sunshine
Partly cloudy
New
SATURDAY
52
37
dren. Her attempts to break
free of him always failed.
Rice invited Chace and
her kids to move in. In March
2016, she and the kids left
Alaska for Ocean Park.
W
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70
22
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38
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29
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27
44
22
27
22
26
23
45
34
27
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
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Dec. 12, 2017
FERGUSON, John T.W. “Tim,” 50, of Seaside, died in Sea-
side. Ocean View Funeral & Cremation Service of Astoria is in
charge of the arrangements.
MOULTON, Curtis James, 64, of Cannon Beach, died in Can-
non Beach. Ocean View Funeral & Cremation Service of Astoria
is in charge of the arrangements.
Dec. 8, 2017
JOLLIFF, Dale David, 82, of Warrenton, died in Warrenton.
Caldwell’s Mortuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements.
Nov. 10, 2017
O’KELLEY, David, 57, of Tigard, formerly of Astoria, died
in Tigard. Autumn Funerals, Cremation & Burial in Tigard is in
charge of the arrangements.
MEMORIAL
PUBLIC MEETINGS
OBITUARY
POLICY
The Daily Astorian pub-
lishes paid obituaries. The obit-
uary can include a small photo
and, for veterans, a flag sym-
bol at no charge. The deadline
for all obituaries is 10 a.m. the
business day prior.
Obituaries may be edited
for spelling, proper punctua-
tion and style. Death notices
and upcoming services will
be published at no charge.
Notices must be submitted by
9 a.m. the day of publication.
Obituaries and notices
may be submitted online at
www.dailyastorian.com/forms/
obits, by email at ewilson@
dailyastorian.com, placed via
the funeral home or in person
at The Daily Astorian office,
949 Exchange St. in Astoria.
For more information, call 503-
325-3211, ext. 257.
WEDNESDAY
Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners, 5 p.m., work
session and meeting, Judge
Guy Boyington Building, 857
Commercial St.
Astoria School Board, 6:15
p.m., study session, 7:30 p.m.,
regular meeting, Capt. Robert
Gray School third-floor board-
room, 785 Alameda Ave.
Wickiup Water District Board,
6:30 p.m., 92648 Svensen Mar-
Brownson
holds meet
and greet
The Daily Astorian
Astoria City Councilor
Tom Brownson is holding
a “Meet Your Councilor”
event at 9 a.m. Saturday at
Three Cups Coffee, 279 W.
Marine Drive.
Residents are invited to
discuss city issues.
LOTTERIES
Saturday, Dec. 16
CHARLES, Dr. Ellen Vera — Celebration of life at 1 p.m.,
First United Methodist Church, 1076 Franklin Ave., with a recep-
tion immediately following the service.
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy,
sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries,
sn-snow, i-ice.
Need a Lift?
DEATHS
ket Road, Svensen.
Warrenton-Hammond School
Board, 7 p.m., Warrenton High
School library, 1700 S. Main
Ave.
THURSDAY
Sunset Empire Transportation
District Board, 9 a.m., Astoria
Transit Center, 900 Marine Drive.
Seaside Convention Center
Commission, 5 p.m., 415 First
Ave.
The Daily Astorian
Established July 1, 1873
(USPS 035-000)
Published daily, except Saturday and Sunday, by EO Media Group,
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OREGON
Tuesday’s Pick 4:
1 p.m.: 2-2-3-7
4 p.m.: 5-6-3-4
7 p.m.: 6-4-2-4
10 p.m.: 2-5-5-8
Tuesday’s Lucky Lines: 03-
08-09-15-18-22-28-32
Estimated jackpot: $22,000
Tuesday’s Mega Millions:
8-23-24-25-27, Mega Ball: 9
Estimated jackpot: $208
million
WASHINGTON
Tuesday’s Daily Game:
7-4-4
Tuesday’s Keno: 02-05-10-
13-14-18-21-25-33-36-39-
54-56-59-62-71-75-78-79-80
Tuesday’s Match 4: 03-14-
17-21
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