Centralia Murder Suspect Released Pending Autopsy of Victim, Forensic Testing

Feb. 24—A judge signed an order of release Friday for the 25-year-old Centralia woman arrested as a murder suspect earlier this week.

The court had approved a 72-hour hold for the suspect, Elidey Paola Ojeda Moredo, on Thursday for the state to establish probable cause for charges, but Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said Friday that the Lewis County Prosecutor's Office was waiting on autopsy and forensic reports.

That autopsy is scheduled to take place next week, Meagher said, while the forensic testing would take longer.

"We are out of time," Meagher said Friday.

An affidavit of probable cause filed in Lewis County Superior Court Thursday afternoon shines more light on the circumstances that led to Ojeda Moreno's arrest early Wednesday morning from law enforcement's perspective.

The Lewis County 911 Center dispatched emergency services and officers with the Centralia Police Department (CPD) to 312 East Locust St. at approximately 1:25 a.m. on Feb. 23 for a report of a 28-year-old man bleeding from abdominal injuries, possibly from a stab wound.

Ojeda-Moreno was the one to make that initial 911 call, according to court documents. She was reportedly still at the scene when officers arrived.

While the victim's name is included in the affidavit, The Chronicle is not publishing it because the Lewis County Coroner's Office is still in the process of notifying his family of his death.

An autopsy is pending and the Lewis County Coroner's Office will release the victim's name and cause of death once that autopsy has been completed and the victim's family has been notified.

Ojeda Moreno reportedly claimed the victim, who she said "was her boyfriend seven years ago," had knocked on her door unexpectedly. When she opened the door, the victim reportedly "told her to call 911, then he fell," according to court documents.

The responding officers found the victim unconscious and not breathing, "lying on his back, in the gravel parking lot out in front of the residence" about 10 to 15 feet from his vehicle, according to court documents.

Officers noticed blood on his shirt and identified three stab wounds in his upper left abdomen, according to court documents.

The officers placed a pressure bandage on the wounds to try and stop the bleeding and performed CPR until a medical unit arrived.

The victim was transported to a local emergency room, where he died from his wounds.

"A homicide investigation was immediately initiated by CPD Detectives. The Lewis County Sheriff's Office assisted in processing the crime scene," according to the news release from the Centralia Police Department.

Ojeda Moreno was reportedly the only person at the residence when officers responded to the 911 call.

One officer noted she "had blood on her hands" and "a cut on the tip of her right index finger" that was covered with "a fresh Band-Aid," according to court documents. Ojeda Moreno reportedly said "she cut her finger at work earlier that evening" and had arrived home at about 9 p.m.

After Ojeda Moreno gave officers permission to enter her residence, the officers "located a kitchen knife in the sink. It was wet, and had soap suds on the blade as if recently washed," per court documents. Officers also noted "blood on the carpet inside the doorway, and in the bathroom and in the kitchen," which Ojeda Moreno reportedly claimed "was from her cut finger."

When questioned by an officer, Ojeda Moreno reportedly said dispatch had told her to grab a towel to put pressure on the victim's wounds. She said she went into her bathroom to grab a towel and washed her hands while she was there, but didn't mention the detail about washing her hands to another officer who had asked clarifying questions, per court documents.

The affidavit does not clarify whether Ojeda Moreno had attempted to apply pressure to the victim's wounds, only that she had not done so prior to calling 911.

She told officers she put the Band-Aid on her finger while she was in the kitchen after calling 911.

An officer also reportedly "observed a picture frame that appeared to have been knocked off the wall and was now on top of the couch" as well as "a pack of cigarettes on the ground which appeared to be out of place."

In a report cited in the affidavit, an officer stated, "He didn't believe Elidey's finger would still be bleeding four hours after she cut it. More likely, she cut it just before calling 911 and put a fresh Band-Aid on it. He also noted that she could not have washed her hands because they were covered with blood. The knife in the sink was consistent with the size of the stab wounds. Elidey did not say any other person was present and nobody else was present when the officers arrived."

At one point during the questioning, Ojeda Moreno "said she wanted an attorney, so the officers stopped asking her questions," per the affidavit. However, she then reportedly "started talking without being prompted" and made statements suggesting that she believed an ex-boyfriend named "Eugenio," who she called "overprotective" and said "had been stalking her," was the aggressor.

She then reportedly claimed Eugenio had come to her apartment at about 9:30 p.m. that evening, had gotten food with her and that he was in the bathroom when the victim initially knocked on her door, though she reportedly said he had not been stabbed at that point. Ojeda Moreno reportedly claimed the victim pushed her and refused to leave when she asked "and kept asking where her new boyfriend was." She reportedly stated she tried to shut the door on him, at which point Eugenio came out of the bathroom. Ojeda Moreno reportedly said she then went to the bathroom, leaving Eugenio and the victim at the door.

She reportedly heard the two begin to argue, prompting her to come out and tell them to stop. She claimed the victim "went to his car and returned with a flashlight, and hit Eugenio with it," per the affidavit.

The two then reportedly began fighting outside, at which point Ojeda Moreno claimed "she was scared and she went inside."

The victim then reportedly knocked on her door a second time and asked her to call 911. She claimed "she did not know why (the victim) wanted her to call 911, so she told him to leave." She reportedly watched the victim walk back towards his vehicle and watched him fall, then noticed the blood on him and called 911.

When booked into the Lewis County Jail, Ojeda Moreno reportedly claimed "Eugenio had cut his hand and that he washed his hand in the apartment and that was how blood got in there."

A secondary search of the apartment resulted in officers finding "blood around the front door of the bathroom, blood on paper towels in the toilet (and) blood on toilet paper outside the bathroom ... as if someone had washed the blood from the sink and tried to flush the paper towels down the toilet," according to the affidavit.

Officers did not locate a flashlight at the scene.

The affidavit states, "Circumstantially, it appeared to officers that either Elidey had stabbed (the victim) then tried to clean it up, or that some other person, maybe Eugenio, had stabbed (the victim) and Elidey was cleaning it up to cover for Eugenio."

As of the time the affidavit was filed on Thursday, the Lewis County Prosecutor's Office was considering second-degree murder or rendering criminal assistance charges against Ojeda Moreno.

Arguing against using circumstantial evidence to establish probable cause, Ojeda Moreno's attorney, Eric Pilonm, said Thursday "there's no indication that she committed any crime."

He later stated, "She has an attorney, she is willing to work with law enforcement to locate the suspect in this case."

While Lewis County Court Commissioner Paul Strophy found the state's case against the Ojeda Moreno was "extremely thin in that it's circumstantial," he said Thursday there was enough circumstantial evidence to establish "reasonable cause" for a 72-hour hold.

State law requires an arrested suspect to be released if charges are not filed within 72 hours of their arrest.

Ojeda Moreno's case is the third instance this year where a homicide suspect was arrested and released pending charges.

Michelle LeAnne Steffens, 52, of Mineral, who is suspected of killing her husband on Jan. 22, was arrested Jan. 23 and released pending charges on Jan. 25. Haylea A. Hutchings, 31, of Olympia, who is suspected of causing the death of an 8-month-old baby girl in Centralia December 2022, was arrested Jan. 24 and released pending charges on Jan. 25.

Charges had not been filed in either of those cases as of Friday.