Judge sets $100,000 bail in man's dragging death

NEWPORT, Pend Oreille County — Bail was set Monday at $100,000 for a Newman Lake man arrested in the death of an Eastern Washington University student who was dragged by the neck nearly 13 miles behind a pickup truck.

The 45-year-old man was held for investigation of second-degree murder in the Saturday-night dragging death of Jerid Sturman-Camyn, 20, along a rural Pend Oreille County road after a confrontation at a hunting camp.

The suspect made a preliminary appearance in Pend Oreille County Superior Court, where a judge ordered him held on $100,000 bail.

An autopsy Monday showed that Sturman-Camyn, a martial-arts expert who once lived in Kitsap County, died of strangulation, authorities said.

The rope was tied around Sturman-Camyn's neck, Deputy Prosecutor Tony Koures said.

The 17-year-old truck driver, identified only as the suspect's son, told deputies he was unaware anyone had been tied to the truck when he drove away in fear to avoid a confrontation.

According to the Pend Oreille County Sheriff's Office, the victim had become angry, armed himself with an ax and threatened several people during a drinking party at the suspect's campsite on the east bank of the Pend Oreille River.

The suspect was afraid for his safety and for those at the campsite, and during the altercation with Sturman-Camyn told his son to start his pickup and "be ready to leave if things got bad," police said.

There were at least eight people at the campsite at the time, investigators said.

While the boy was waiting in the truck, the suspect attached a rope to the truck's trailer hitch and then around Sturman-Camyn's neck, and yelled for the teen to drive, Koures said.

Deputies found the 17-year-old parked in the truck on the side of the road, about 13 miles from the campsite. They found Sturman-Camyn dead behind the truck. It is unclear whether the teen driver will face charges.

Sturman-Camyn was studying civil engineering at Eastern Washington after transferring from Washington State University and had been training at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu club of Spokane for about eight months, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported Monday.

He previously was on the football and wrestling teams at Klahowya Secondary School in Silverdale, Kitsap County, finishing seventh in the Class AA high-school state wrestling tournament in the 189-pound weight class as a junior in 2004 and second as a senior in 2005.