Mistrial in alleged murder-for-hire plot

A mistrial has been declared in the trial of a 19-year-old man charged with first-degree murder in a March 2005 slaying prosecutors claimed was a murder-for-hire plot hatched by the victim's wife.

King County jurors, who had been deliberating since 11:15 a.m. Monday, said this morning they couldn't reach a verdict in the trial of Wilson Sayachack. Jurors said they were deadlocked at 9-3 in favor of acquitting Sayachack. Judge Steven Gonzalez then declared a mistrial.

Sayachack was 17 when prosecutors alleged he killed Ronald Whitehead, 61. Sayachack, whose trial began about three weeks ago, was paid $1,000 in 2005 by Whitehead's wife, Velma Ogden-Whitehead, to kill him, according to police and evidence presented during Sayachack's trial.

Ogden-Whitehead, who gave numerous media interviews after her husband's death, begging for information from the public and accepting donations for a reward fund, is set to go to trial on a charge of first-degree murder in May. Investigators said she received at least $1 million in cash, property and benefits after Whitehead's death and before her arrest 15 months later.

Ogden-Whitehead's son, Jon Ogden — an acquaintance of Sayachack's — is also charged with first-degree murder and is to go to trial April 14.

Whitehead, a career Boeing employee, was driving to work on March 18, 2005, when he was shot four times at the busy intersection of South 188th Street and Eighth Avenue South, near his Des Moines home, then pushed from his car.

The Ford Mustang was found later a few miles away. Detectives at first presumed Whitehead had died in a random carjacking, but then found his wallet in his pocket. They then spent more than a year examining Ogden-Whitehead's finances and personal relationships before arresting her and the two men.

They discovered dozens of phone and text messages between Ogden-Whitehead and Sayachack around the time of the murder.

Prosecutors said this morning that Sayachack's mistrial would not affect the trials of the other two defendants.

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com