By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said last month the case against accused double murderer Ricky Riffe is an unfolding case.
Riffe, 54, was charged last summer in the 1985 abduction and shooting of Ed and Wilhelmina Maurin, an elderly couple who lived in Ethel.
[1]Ricky Riffe
This morning, Riffe’s Seattle-based attorney was dealt a new twist.
“In an strange and surprising move, the prosecution has now chosen to charge Mr. Riffe, just 60 days before trial with charges of an alleged 1984 child rape which had been investigated at that time by the police,” John Crowley posted on his law firm’s website.
Riffe was already scheduled for a hearing this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court where attorneys have been regularly apprising the judge on their progress in the voluminous case.
Crowley said he doesn’t know many details of the new allegations, but said they were investigated by law officers in 1984 who did not recommend any criminal charges at the time.
“When CPS got involved, they did not remove the child from the home,” Crowley said.
The allegations involve a step-daughter, according to Crowley.
The former Lewis County resident has been held at the Lewis County Jail since his arrest in July at his home in Alaska.
Prosecutors contend Riffe and his since-deceased brother abducted the Maurins and forced them to withdraw money from their bank in Chehalis before shooting them and dumping their bodies near Adna back in December 1985. Ed Maurin was 81 and his wife was 83.
Crowley called the new charges a great development for his client.
“I think it’s a signal they’re trying to shore up a weak murder case,” he said.
Riffe’s hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. today in front of Judge Richard Brosey.
The trial is scheduled to start the week of May 6.
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For background, read “Maurin murders: Riffe’s defense includes an alibi” from Wednesday January 16, 2013, here [2]