By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A Randle taxidermist is expected in court this week to face charges in the March homicide of a 58-year-old welder from Federal Way.
Erik R. Massa, 43, of Randle, was charged yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court with second-degree murder, according to the prosecutor’s office.
[1]Guy LaFontaine
A relative, Guy W. LaFontaine, had gone to Randle to go fishing but ended up on March 13 at Morton General Hospital with two broken eye sockets and other injuries. LaFontaine died the following morning.
Deputies arrested Massa later that day, but he was released from jail three days later, with prosecutors telling a judge they did not yet have enough evidence to charge him.
Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher initially charged Massa last week with first-degree assault, but said today a review of the forensic evidence prompted him to upgrade the charge.
LaFontaine died from blunt force injuries to his head, torso and extremities, according to information from his autopsy. He had a shoe print on his head, according to charging documents.
Detectives found a broken shotgun with blood on it in an empty silo next to Massa’s shop, according to charging documents.
LaFontaine worked at Todd Shipyards in Seattle as a welder.
Charging documents give the following account of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office investigation:
A deputy interviewed LaFontaine’s wife Gail on March 13. Her husband said he was going to go fishing near River Ranch Road in Randle.
She got a call from him, in which he said he had been beat up and he thought he was going to die. She found him on a road, picked him up and took him to Morton General Hospital.
Deputy Matt McKnight who responded to the hospital, was told LaFontaine had substantial wounds about his face and arm and told a nurse he was in extreme pain. He also had a broken arm and a bullet in his arm with an apparent fresh entry wound. (Meagher said today it turned out to be a wound from years earlier)
He was not cooperative with law enforcement.
At 3:45 a.m., the hospital advised McKnight they couldn’t keep LaFontaine in his bed and they were releasing him.
LaFontaine’s wife took him to St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way. He was pronounced dead there. Deputies learned of his death from the Federal Way Police Department.
At 8 a.m. that morning, sheriff’s detective Matt Wallace went to the 1,100 block of U.S. Highway 12 where Massa has a home and taxidermy shop. Wallace was looking for LaFontaine’s car.
He found what appeared to be blood on the car’s right door and then a dent on the right passenger door of a Nissan pickup there. Also, on the Nissan’s door, Wallace found “red liquid” with what appeared to be hair matted in it.
Meagher said he believed the two men were related by marriage, but isn’t sure exactly the details.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled LaFontaine’s death a homicide.
Detectives spoke with a man who said he spoke with Massa that morning.
Massa’s father-in-law, Don Roberts who is also Gail’s ex-husband, said to a detective Massa told him LaFontaine had been walking around the taxidermy shop with a shotgun, according to charging documents.
Massa has been summoned to the courthouse in Chehalis at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Meagher said he hasn’t been arrested, but his lawyer Joseph Mano will bring him in.