Des Moines man's second trial begins after hung jury in murder-for-hire case

A 19-year-old Des Moines man sat before a King County jury this morning for the start of his second murder trial in the alleged 2005 murder-for-hire of a high school classmate's stepfather.

Wilson Sayachack was 16 when prosecutors said he shot and killed Ronald Whitehead, 61, on March 18, 2005, in a slaying police said was made to look like a carjacking. Sayachack's first trial ended in a mistrial on Feb. 7 after a jury deadlocked 9-3 in favor of acquittal.

The second jury was not told about the mistrial during this morning's opening remarks by prosecution and defense attorneys.

King County Deputy Prosecutor Craig Peterson told jurors that Sayachack shot Whitehead four times and left him in a South King County roadway. Peterson didn't provide a motive for the slaying, but said bullets found in the murder weapon appeared to match bullets found at Sayachack's home.

Defense attorney Veronica Freitas, in her opening statement, blamed Whitehead's wife and stepson, a classmate of Sayachack's at Mount Rainier High School, for the slaying. Both have been charged.

"You will not hear one shred of evidence that will put the murder weapon at Wilson Sayachack's hand on March 18, 2005," Freitas said. "Wilson Sayachack is truly a victim of circumstance."

Whitehead was driving to work when he was shot four times at South 188th Street and Eighth Avenue South, according to authorities. His body was pushed from the car.

Whitehead's Ford Mustang was found two days later a few miles away.

Whitehead's wife, Velma Ogden-Whitehead, and her son, Jon Ogden, are both scheduled for trial later this year.

Investigators say Ogden-Whitehead and her husband had a rocky marriage and that she had an affair with a fellow employee at the auto-parts store where she worked.

After her husband's death, they say, Ogden-Whitehead received life insurance, retirement accounts and benefits valued in excess of $650,000. She also inherited four rental properties, two of which she sold for $460,000. Ogden-Whitehead, who was married to her husband for 10 years, took trips to Las Vegas, bought new cars and was planning to move to Arkansas in the months after his death, according to the prosecutor's office.

Detectives eventually linked Ogden-Whitehead, her son and Sayachack to the crime based on phone records detailing more than a dozen cellphone calls and text messages in the days leading up to the slaying, according to the court documents.

According to charging papers, Sayachack hid in the trunk of Whitehead's Mustang the morning of the shooting as Whitehead headed to work. Ogden, who was Whitehead's stepson, was seated in the passenger seat.

Sayachack allegedly climbed through the folding back seat and shot Whitehead in the back of the head, charging papers say.

Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com