Des Moines woman pleads guilty in husband's slaying

A Des Moines woman accused of plotting the 2005 slaying of her husband pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder under a plea deal with prosecutors.

Velma Ogden-Whitehead had been scheduled to go on trial on murder charges this summer, followed by her son, Jon Ogden, also charged in the alleged murder-for-hire plot that targeted Ronald Whitehead, a 61-year-old career Boeing employee.

Ogden-Whitehead, 50, said in a statement read in court Thursday that she planned the robbery of her husband that was carried out by her son and his friend Wilson Sayachack. She denied knowing he would be shot but conceded she knew that guns were readily available in their home and that force might be used.

The standard sentencing range for the first-degree murder charge is 20 to 26 years in prison. Sentencing is set for June 5.

Sayachack — the accused shooter — has been tried twice for his alleged role in the slaying. The first trial ended in a mistrial when jurors couldn't agree on a verdict. The second trial ended last month when King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez called a mistrial after a key witness came forward and a handgun thought to be the murder weapon was discovered during the trial, requiring more investigation time for attorneys.

The handgun, which has been tested since it was discovered by police in an unrelated drug seizure in Puyallup, turned out to be the murder weapon, Craig Peterson, senior deputy prosecuting attorney, said this morning.

Whitehead was fatally shot March 18, 2005, near SeaTac while he was driving to work, in a slaying police said was made to look like a carjacking.

Prosecutors say Sayachack, 16 at the time, hid in the trunk of Whitehead's car while Jon Ogden, Whitehead's stepson, was in the passenger seat.

Ogden-Whitehead, who for months after the slaying appealed publicly for help finding her husband's killer, admitted she allowed Sayachack to hide in her garage and gave him information about her husband's schedule.

"I knew about it and facilitated it," she said in her statement.

Ogden-Whitehead, who sobbed through the hearing, was accused of paying Sayachack $1,000 for the killing. Police said she made hundreds of thousands of dollars after selling property she inherited upon Whitehead's death.

"Some of the motivations here are difficult to put a finger on," said her defense attorney Jonathan Neucomb. "It wasn't to do with any financial gain ... . There were things going on in that marriage that we'll discuss at sentencing. It was not a happy marriage."

Neucomb said Whitehead decided to plead guilty in part because she was upset that her case had been made by prosecutors to look like a premeditated murder, and in part because the evidence that would have been presented at trial would have shown her connection to the robbery.

As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop a part of the charge that could have added five years to her sentence for use of a firearm.

Prosecutors said the deal was a good one because Ogden-Whitehead will still serve a significant sentence for first-degree murder, and because both sides of the family were in agreement about avoiding her trial.

Peterson said he wasn't sure how the plea might affect the other two defendants. Ogden is to go to trial July 21, and Sayachack's third trial is scheduled for Sept. 22.

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