Woman arrested in 1978 slaying

Investigators with a cold-case task force arrested a Pierce County woman Friday in what they described as the contract killing of a South Seattle auto mechanic in 1978.

Karen L. Martin, 51, was booked into the King County Jail in the slaying of Leroy Grant, 36, whose body was discovered on a Maple Valley road on Jan. 26, 1978. He had been shot at close range, once in the back of the head and twice in the chest.

Martin's arrest is the third in the past year by a task force investigating old homicides, possibly related to organized crime and the Seattle strip-club industry. The task force includes the King County Sheriff's Office, the FBI and the Seattle Police Department.

Martin "implicated herself" in Grant's killing in 1979 when she went to federal prosecutors claiming to have information on organized crime in the Seattle area, said John Urquhart, spokesman for the sheriff's office.

The sheriff's office was not told about Martin's statements at the time, Urquhart said.

Detectives who reopened the case now believe Martin was to be paid $10,000 for Grant's killing, he said.

Information sought

Cold-case squad: The sheriff's office is asking that anyone with information about the 1978 killing of Leroy Grant or related cases to call the local office of the FBI at 206-409-2282.

Urquhart said detectives have obtained information that Martin was hired by a middle man allegedly tied to organized crime and prostitution.

"We believe she was the shooter," Urquhart said.

Formal charges outlining the evidence against Martin could be filed next week, said Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County Prosecutor's Office.

Grant was lured by Martin to a remote area to restore a Corvette, Urquhart said. Grant had come into some money "he wasn't supposed to have," Urquhart said, without elaborating. Grant's wife had died of a heart ailment in 1977 and he was raising three children at the time of his death.

Lockheed Reader, a former King County homicide detective who investigated the case, said Friday that investigators at the time did not suspect Grant's murder was a contract hit.

"We didn't have that theory then. We were not able to develop a suspect," Reader said.

"Strippergate" scandal

The investigation into old homicides grew out of the 2003 "Strippergate" scandal. Associates of Seattle strip-club magnates Frank Colacurcio Sr. and his son, Frank Colacurcio Jr., contributed as much as $50,000 to three Seattle City Council candidates while the Colacurcios were seeking council approval to expand parking for Rick's, a Lake City strip club operated by the younger Colacurcio.

Both Colacurcios were charged with illegally funneling contributions through others to avoid campaign-contribution limits. The case was dismissed on technical grounds, but prosecutors asked the state Supreme Court this week to reinstate the charges.

Colacurcio Sr. has not been implicated in any of the cold cases brought by the task force, and his son was in his teens when the killings occurred. The task force has focused on cases possibly linked to associates of Colacurcio Sr., according to law-enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

In February, investigators arrested an Oregon man in the 1975 killings of South End strip-club owner Frank "Sharkey" Hinkley and his fiancée, Barbara Rosenfield, at the Bear Cave near Boeing Field. The killings came during a turf battle among strip-club owners in King County.

The Oregon man, James B. Braman Jr., apparently killed himself with a drug overdose shortly after his arrest. Before he died, prosecutors say, Braman told detectives he wouldn't talk about anyone else who might have been involved in the slayings because "they'll kill me."

Last month, the task force arrested Gary Isaacs in the 1975 killing of a Yakima County restaurant owner, Everett "Fritz" Fretland. He had refused to sell a bar he owned in Yakima to a strip-club operator in that city.

In the latest case, detectives learned about Martin's decades-old contacts with federal prosecutors, Urquhart said.

Martin, whose last name at the time was Cox, was offered immunity from federal prosecution in exchange for possible testimony to a grand jury. It was later, in the course of speaking to federal prosecutors, that Martin implicated herself in Grant's death, Urquhart said.

Immunity offer

The immunity offer was signed by former assistant U.S. Attorney J. Ronald Sim, who is now a criminal-defense attorney in Seattle.

Sim said Friday he recalled Martin coming forward and offering information about criminal activity. But he said he could not remember exactly what Martin told him.

At the time, Sim said, he was one of the lead prosecutors overseeing a lengthy grand-jury investigation of Colacurcio Sr. that led to the conviction of Colacurcio for failing to pay taxes on cash skimmed from two strip clubs in King County.

Sim said he couldn't recall if Martin provided information about Colacurcio and that she was never called as a witness during Colacurcio's trial.

Sim said the federal immunity offer would not be binding on state prosecutors handling the current case. But he said he expected the offer could become an issue raised by the defense.

Sim said he didn't tell King County investigators or prosecutors about Martin's statements to him about Grant's killing because of the immunity offer. "If somebody gives you something under grant of immunity, you're promising not to tell anybody," Sim said.

Grant was last seen at the Cascade Vista Lounge in Renton. Detectives later found his car at a restaurant in another part of South King County.

News researchers Gene Balk and Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.

Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628