'Cowboy' Mike tells his side

Defendant claims he didn't kill woman but did have sex with her

By Jeremy Pawloski | The Olympian • Published May 21, 2008

"Cowboy" Mike Braae testified Tuesday that after he had sex with Lori Jones in her car in the parking lot at Bailey's Motor Inn, she left with a man who pulled up in a sport utility vehicle, and that was the last time he saw her.

That was July 6, 2001. Two days later, Jones, 44, was found strangled under the bed of her home in Summer Ridge Apartments.

A forensic scientist from the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab testified Monday that DNA taken from semen after Jones' rape and murder belongs to Braae.

Braae testified for more than three hours Tuesday in his trial on charges of rape and murder. He argued with Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jon Tunheim, who allowed Braae, 48, to expound on his prowess as a ladies' man who wooed women in bars by playing his guitar and singing country songs, as well as his ability to elude police.

Braae was arrested in Idaho on July 20, 2001. He was wanted by Lacey police for questioning in connection with Jones' homicide after his fingerprint was found in Jones' apartment. Braae led Idaho police on a 40-mile car chase that ended when he jumped off of a 40-foot bridge into the Snake River. Braae was hauled onto a police boat after he tried to drown a police dog that was sent into the water to catch him, an Idaho sheriff's deputy testified.

Braae told Tunheim that when he fled, he hadn't seen the extensive news coverage that described him as a suspect in Jones' homicide, and he hadn't known she had been killed. Braae said that when Idaho police tried to apprehend him while he was parked behind a truck stop, he was asleep in his pickup.

Braae said he had been driving around Eastern Washington and Idaho looking for cars to buy, fix and sell.

"I was rudely awakened by some police officers who wanted to speak to me," Braae said.

'Not a quitter'

He said he fled the truck stop because he didn't want police to catch him with a large quantity of marijuana he had obtained to give Jones when he returned to the Olympia area.

"I'm just not the type that gives up easily," Braae told Tunheim about running from police. "I'm not a quitter; it's not in my makeup."