REGION
Thursday, October 14, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Court document give details on recent local homicide
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — A local woman
faces federal charges of first-de-
gree murder in the death of a man
she claimed sexually abused her
throughout childhood.
Skylar Crowe, 22, is facing
charges in the death of Richard
Higheagle, 38, according to an affi-
davit FBI Special Agent Rex Shark
filed Sept. 30 in federal court for an
arrest warrant. Much of following
information is from the affidavit.
Umatilla Tribal Police on Sept.
29 at approximately 7:40 p.m.
responded to 49 Willow Drive
on the Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion and found Higheagle, who
appeared to have been stabbed
once through the chest. He died at
a hospital about an hour after police
found him.
Crowe that night drove herself
to the Umatilla Tribal Police
Department. She told Shark she
stabbed Higheagle with a kitchen
knife and “admitted that she
intended to kill him,” but said
she was “remorseful that she had
killed him.”
Crowe told Shark she had lived
under Higheagle’s roof while he was
married to her mother and he had
sexually abused her through grade
school and middle school, and said
he also abused her sister until she
was 16.
A second source, who federal
investigators do not name but
describe as Crowe’s intimate part-
ner, told officials he saw Crowe stab
Higheagle. He told officials that
during the first month of their rela-
SNOWY BLUES
tionship, Crowe told him she had
“had been raped repeatedly by High-
eagle during her childhood” and also
“told him repeatedly during their
four years together that she wanted
to kill Higheagle.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jaclyn
Jenkins, the former Umatilla
County chief deputy district
attorney, reviewed the affidavit,
accompanying complaint and
arrest warrant, according to court
records. Jenkins, now based in
Portland, is the lead prosecutor in
the case. Conor Huseby, a federal
public defender based out of Port-
land, is Crowe’s attorney.
Tribal police booked Crowe into
the Umatilla County Jail, Pend-
leton, on Sept. 28, and the U.S.
Marshals Service transferred her to
the Multnomah County Jail, Port-
land. Federal court records show
Crowe had a detention hearing
Tuesday, Oct. 12, and Magistrate
Judge Youlee Yim You approved
her conditional released the follow-
ing day. The federal court in Port-
land set Crowe’s arraignment for
Oct. 29 at 1:30 p.m.
Excess dust leads to power outage
More than 7,000
people left without
power for several
hours Wednesday
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Snow blankets the forest Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021, along Interstate 84 in the Blue Moun-
tains outside Pendleton.
MILTON-FREEWATER
— A fire led to a power outage
Wednesday morning, Oct. 13,
for the town of Milton-Free-
water and some surrounding
areas, including College Place.
Milton-Freewater City
Manager Linda Hall said an
accumulation of dust was the
likely cause of the fire to the
69-kilovolt transmission line.
“It’s very common when
you go a long time without
rain — and wind and summer
storms accumulate — a layer
of dirt or dust builds on the
lines,” she said. “When you
get your first rainstorm after
that, it’s conductive, so it
causes a fire on the line.”
In this case, Hall explained,
the pole carrying the major
transmission line also caught
fire and was heavily damaged.
The fire triggered a shutdown
to the area’s electrical system.
This is a problem affecting
cities all over the world, Hall
said. It has happened before in
Milton-Freewater, but she said
it has been a while.
“It’s not super common,
but it’s not super rare,” she
said.
Hall said she believed
power would be restored at
2 p.m. that day.
City hall was able to stay
open, thanks to backup gener-
ators. Ambulance and fire
services remained opera-
tional, Hall said. Traffic lights
were out, however, and police
were responding to problems
resulting from the power
outage.
Milton-Freewater has
a population of 7,050 resi-
dents. A person answering
calls at the police station
referred to her situation as
“Grand Central Station” as
many people called to learn
what was happening and
how soon the power would
flow again.
Without power, the
Milton-Freewater School
District was not able to receive
calls or emails, but made a
statement on Facebook. The
district posted schools would
provide lunches to students
and continue bus service on
time. Staff would be outside
the school buildings to “assist
with student check out.”
A Facebook post from the
city recommended keeping
refrigerator and freezer doors
closed to keep food cool.
larly about appeals processes
for possible violations, and
one by one, the council voted
to table the updates.
City Manager Byron
Smith suggested that in the
future, the council review
proposals and send their
questions in advance of the
meeting so staff can be ready
with information.
Drotzmann was more
direct. He told the council
it had asked staff to provide
these proposals earlier in the
week so there was time to
review language before the
meeting.
“So please review the
stuff ahead of time,” he told
the councilors and get ques-
tions to staff before the meet-
ing instead of “putting them
on the spot.”
The council did not set
a time for when it would
consider the updates.
—EO Media Group
LOCAL BRIEFING
Semi driver killed
in train crash at
railroad crossing
County reports 4
COVID-19 deaths;
toll rises to 140
PENDLETON — Four
more Umatilla County
residents have died with
COVID-19, the county health
department reported this
week, raising the county’s
pandemic death toll to 140.
Umatilla County Public
East Oregonian
Health
on Tuesday, Oct. 12,
reported
new presumed
5.16 x 7 96
- color
140th COVID-19 victim.
Umatilla County has
reported 14,138 COVID-19
cases since the pandemic
began, according to data
from the county health
department. More than 17%
of the county’s residents have
tested positive for COVID-19
since March 2020.
Hermiston City
Council tables
action on local laws
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston City Coun-
cil‘s agenda for its meeting
Monday, Oct. 11, had three
updates to local laws. The
council, though, voted to table
all three to a future meeting.
The action drew a rebuke
from Mayor Dave Drotz-
mann.
The council was going to
consider updating following
local laws:
• The code enforcement
provision to give the code
enforcement officer the
authority to enforce parking
violations, establish the option
to cite violations to a hearing
officer, establish a parade
permit process and simplify
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the regulation of bicycles.
• The nuisances ordinance
to clarify and add a number
of definitions and update
language to current best
practices.
• And structural main-
tenance regulations to clar-
ify and update definitions,
remove redundant material
and establish the path of
appeals.
But in each case, council-
ors raised concerns, particu-
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ECHO — A train Tues-
day, Oct. 12, struck and
killed a semi driver at a rail-
road crossing on Cunning-
ham Road in Echo.
Lt. Sterrin Ward with the
Umatilla County Sheriff’s
Office said Lester Myles
Sickles, 42, of Kennewick,
died at the scene after the
train hit the semitrail-
er’s cab. Law enforcement
responded at about 3 p.m.
Officials have notified
the family members of the
driver, Ward said, and the
investigation is ongoing.
and confirmed coronavirus
cases and three deaths. The
next day, the department
reported 58 news cases and
one more death. According
to health department, the
four COVID-19 fatalities
are:
• A 77-year-old man who
tested positive Nov. 20 and
died Dec. 5 at a private resi-
dence. He had unspecified
underlying health conditions.
He was county’s 137th victim
of the disease.
• A 72-year-old man who
tested positive Aug. 31 and
died Oct. 2 at a private resi-
dence. Officials have yet to
determine if he had under-
lying health conditions.
He was the county’s 138th
victim.
• A 76-year-old woman
who tested positive Sept.
30 and died Oct. 10 at Good
Shepherd Medical Center,
Hermiston. She had unspec-
ified underlying health
conditions. She became the
county’s 139th victim.
• A 79-year-old woman
who tested positive Sept. 6
and died Oct. 3 at Good Shep-
herd Medical Center. She had
unspecified underlying health
conditions and is the county’s
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