Community Police & Fire

Gig Harbor Police Blotter: Trespasser knocks over property owner while fleeing in truck

Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police and Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One.

A property owner near the intersection of 22nd Avenue Court and Stone Drive was knocked over by a pickup driven by someone trespassing on his land on Aug. 20, according to a report from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

The man told officers he checked on his 100-acre property early that morning and noticed an unoccupied pickup he didn’t recognize parked in front of his locked gate. He walked down the gravel road to see if anything was amiss, but then thought better of it.

Two hours later, a neighbor called the property owner to alert him that someone had used one of his own excavators to force open the gate. The property owner and his neighbor investigated, but couldn’t find anyone at first.

They returned to the head of the driveway. That’s when the pickup the man saw earlier came driving slowly up the gravel road. The driver of the pickup opened its door, an apparent attempt to hit the land owner. The property owner tried to reach inside the truck and was knocked to the ground as the suspect drove away.

Deputies attempted to contact the registered owner of the vehicle, but could not reach him on their first attempt. The sheriff’s office said the investigation is ongoing.

Teen sees own stolen car in parking lot

A 16-year-old Olalla boy told police he saw his own stolen car turning into the Costco parking lot around 6:30 p.m. Aug. 21.

The young man told police he left the car, a 1999 Honda Accord, at the YMCA around 3:30 p.m. while he had dinner with a friend. As they returned to the Y, he saw someone else driving his car into Costco.

The driver of the stolen car, a woman in her 40s, parked the Accord. The car owner parked next to it and confronted the woman, who drove off. As she did, a GMC pickup parked behind the 16-year-old’s friend’s car, blocking them in until the Accord was out of the parking lot.

Officers entered the car as stolen and requested surveillance footage from the YMCA in an attempt to identify the suspects.

Sentences in 2020 KP murders

The final person convicted in the murder of a Key Peninsula couple in 2020 received a sentence of life in prison in a Pierce County courtroom this month.

Earlier this summer, another person convicted in the crime also received a life sentence and two others received lengthy prison sentences. They were convicted in the May 17, 2020, deaths of Ted Ralston, 71, and Joanna Gormly, 73.

Sean Higgins, 26, received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole on Aug. 18. Previously, Ezra Ralston, 29, also was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Spencer Kleine, 26, was sentenced to 45 years and Rebecka Neubauer, 25, was sentenced to 33 years and 4 four months. Kleine and Neubauer pleaded guilty.

Ezra Ralston, the couple’s grandson, was behind the plot, investigators have said. He killed the couple with the intention of setting up a commune on their waterfront property in Vaughn.

Ted Ralston and Joanna Gormly