Eastern Washington student dragged to death behind pickup truck

An Eastern Washington University student from Kitsap County was killed Saturday when he was dragged as far as four miles behind a pickup, reportedly after threatening people at a hunting campsite.

A 45-year-old man from Newman Lake, Spokane County, has been arrested for investigation of second-degree murder.

The Pend Oreille County sheriff's office says 20-year-old Jerid Sturman-Camyn, who had attended high school in Silverdale, Kitsap County, was killed about 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

Sturman-Camyn was among eight people, some of whom were drinking heavily, at the Newman Lake man's hunting campsite, according to sheriff's deputies. Sturman-Camyn became angry and threatened others, saying he would come after them with an ax, witnesses told the deputies.

The 45-year-old man, who expressed fear for his safety, told a 17-year-old boy to get into the pickup "start it and be ready to leave if things got bad," Sheriff's Sgt. Alan Botzheim said in a news release.

The man then tied a rope to the trailer hitch of a 1996 white Ford pickup and placed the other end of the rope around Sturman-Camyn. He then yelled to the teenager to drive away, Botzheim said.

The teen didn't know what the man had done, and was apparently unaware he was dragging Sturman-Camyn when he drove away in fear, Botzheim said. The teenager called the sheriff's office at 11:27 p.m. and said he believed someone was chasing him down the road with an ax.

While on the phone with the boy, deputies received another call that the boy was driving down the road dragging a body. When deputies arrived, they found the boy sitting in the truck parked on the side of the road, and Sturman-Camyn's body on the ground attached to the rope.

The Pend Oreille sheriff's office said the Kalispel Tribal Police and U.S. Border Patrol assisted them in the initial response to the scene.

The 45-year-old man was arrested and booked into jail in Newport, north of Spokane.

Sturman-Camyn, who went to high school at Klahowya Secondary School in Silverdale, was a star athlete in wrestling and football.

A MySpace page linked to his name listed "Bubba" as a nickname and showed a photo of three young men in the back of a pickup holding a buck by the antlers.

Seattle Times reporter Kristi Heim contributed to this story.