Wal-Mart slaying suspects committed other robberies, police told

Police believe some of the suspects charged in Tuesday's fatal robbery at a suburban Tacoma Wal-Mart may be responsible for as many as eight recent strong-arm robberies at fast-food restaurants, auto-parts retailers and other businesses in Western Washington.

Victims of those previous robberies have come forward and identified at least some of the five Wal-Mart suspects as the people who had robbed them, authorities say.

"Obviously, someone who is willing to walk in and shoot someone in the head for a bag of money, then go have dinner at the Red Lobster, probably ain't above taking down some kids who work at a Kentucky Fried Chicken," said Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer.

"Multiple agencies are now looking at these suspects, including us."

Meanwhile Friday, prosecutors charged a fifth suspect in connection with the fatal robbery, alleging the 18-year-old girlfriend of one of the primary suspects helped him avoid police and later lied to officers.

Brittney Marie Maas-Baines, of Tacoma, now faces first-degree felony charges of rendering criminal assistance and obstructing a law-enforcement officer. She is being held at the Pierce County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

Maas-Baines is the girlfriend of Marshawn Alex Turpin, one of four suspects charged Thursday in connection with the slaying of Loomis armored-car guard Kurt Husted at the Lakewood Wal-Mart on Tuesday.

Turpin, 20, is charged with aggravated first-degree murder, robbery and assault.

Calvin Finley, 35, who is alleged to have fired the fatal gunshot, is charged with aggravated first-degree murder, robbery, assault and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Prosecutors have 30 days to determine whether they will seek the death penalty against one or both men.

Finley and Turpin are being held in Pierce County Jail on $5 million bail each.

Prosecutors also have charged Tonie Marie Williams-Irby, 42, and her boyfriend, Odies Delandus Walker, 41, of University Place, with first-degree murder and robbery. Each is being held on $2 million bail.

Williams-Irby is a Wal-Mart employee.

The original four defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Maas-Baines was arrested at her Tacoma apartment Thursday evening, after the first four suspects already had been arraigned. Authorities said Friday she helped her boyfriend, Turpin, avoid law enforcement after the crime.

"She was initially interviewed and denied knowing anything," Lakewood police Lt. Heidi Hoffman said. "Subsequent investigation revealed she was aware of this crime and provided assistance to [Turpin] after it was committed."

Specifically, Hoffman said the woman "provided him transportation out of the area and spent the whole afternoon with him" after the robbery and shooting.

According to charging papers, Maas-Baines owns the Nissan Maxima that Turpin drove to the Wal-Mart before the robbery.

Police interviewed Maas-Baines after SWAT officers arrested Turpin at the couple's Tacoma apartment on Wednesday, and she allegedly told investigators she and Turpin woke up Tuesday morning "like a normal day," charging papers say.

Prosecutors allege Maas-Baines told police Turpin then took her car for the day and that when he returned home that night, she never suspected he was involved in the fatal robbery.

"Everything was normal," she allegedly told police.

"Police were skeptical," court papers say, "but they allowed [Maas-Baines] to leave the police station."

After re-interviewing Maas-Baines on Thursday, police said she had changed her story, telling them she'd driven Turpin around for several hours after the robbery, though she still claimed she knew nothing about his involvement in the crime, charging papers say.

When a detective asked Maas-Baines, "Why did you lie yesterday?" she started yelling, charging papers allege. "I lied to protect him," they quote her as responding to the question.

Meanwhile, authorities in Pierce, King and Thurston counties are investigating the possibility that some of the suspects were involved in several other violent, "takedown"-style robberies, said Troyer, the sheriff's spokesman.

"These were bad crimes," Troyer said. "Just bad. Way over the top, more than they needed to be bad.

"Like running into a Kentucky Fried Chicken with guns, jumping over the counter, tying [employees] up and threatening to kill them."

Troyer said during some of those crimes, the robbers "could've gotten away with what they wanted without all the Hollywood stuff."

Although suspects in those crimes generally wore masks or otherwise concealed their faces, Troyer said some victims have since told police they recognize the Wal-Mart robbers as the same people who robbed them. Police drawings from some of the previous robberies also match some of the Wal-Mart suspects, he added.

"Obviously, these people fit the bill," Troyer said.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com