DNA evidence on trial as jury mulls verdict in 1993 murder

Clayton Stafford had never popped onto the radar of a Yakima police detective investigating a 1993 murder, but advances in DNA testing led to his arrest last year.

Now jurors are considering whether that scientific evidence, along with testimony from Stafford's former neighbor, are enough to convict the disabled Yakima handyman for the murder of Shawna Yandell.

The panel of eight men and four women began deliberations late Tuesday afternoon and were sent home for the night after about an hour. They will return this morning.

Stafford is charged with first-degree murder. He faces a possible life sentence if convicted because of the prosecution's added charge that the crime included rape. A separate rape charge was dropped after prosecutors determined that it fell outside the statute of limitations.

Yandell, 21, was an Arkansas native looking for work in Yakima when she was killed on June 13, 1993. A group of Boy Scouts canoeing in the Yakima River discovered her beaten and nearly nude body on a sandbar.

The day before her death, Yandell and her boyfriend, Travis Sinden, had gone to the Tri-Cities to try to find a job picking cherries. When they returned to Yakima, another couple dropped them off near Kmart. They went to Yakima Sportsman State Park, where they sometimes hung out.

During the trial, Sinden testified that he had been drinking and passed out in a bathroom at the park. When he woke up, she was gone. He reported her missing the next day as police were responding to the discovery of Yandell's body about two miles upstream from the park.

During her closing argument, deputy prosecutor Patti Powers reminded the jury of Yandell's last conversation with Sinden.

"'I'm cold and I'm tired and I want to go home' -- and she never got that chance," Powers said.

It's unclear what happened between the time Yandell was last seen at the park early the day of her death and when her body was discovered about 3 p.m. that afternoon.

Defense attorney Greg Scott pointed out for the jury that police never confirmed how she entered the river or where she was killed.

He also emphasized that the DNA evidence confirmed only that Stafford and Yandell had sex. Stafford claimed in an interview with Yakima police Lt. Nolan Wentz that he did not know Yandell.

"Just because you have sex with someone doesn't mean you also committed a murder," Scott said.

Powers told the jury that the DNA evidence is consistent with her theory that Yandell and Stafford had sex after she was last seen at the park. Scott challenged that assertion, saying it's possible the two had intercourse up to 10 days before Yandell disappeared.

Teresa LaFray, who lived next door to Stafford in the Terrace Heights area, testified that he came over to her house one night in the summer of 1993. He said he had been in a fight and wanted to know how to remove blood from his clothing, according to her testimony.

On cross-examination, the woman said she came forward after the trial was under way because she wanted to make sure the jury considered all the evidence. She said she did not know whether Stafford killed anyone.

* Mark Morey can be reached at 509-577-7671 or mmorey@yakimaherald.com.