"Cowboy" Mike Braae testifies that he didn't kill woman

By Jeremy Pawloski | The Olympian • Published May 20, 2008

"Cowboy" Mike Braae took the stand in his murder trial Tuesday and testified that he did not kill Lori Jones after meeting her for drinks at Bailey's Motor Inn on July 6, 2001.

On Monday, a forensic scientist from the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab, testified that DNA taken from semen taken after Jones’ rape and murder belonged to Braae, 48.

Jones was discovered dead under her bed in her Lacey apartment July 8. She had been strangled.

On the witness stand, Braae said that July 6, he and Jones had sex in Jones’ car in the Bailey’s parking lot, but she left with a man who pulled up in the lot in a dark-colored sport-utility vehicle, and he never saw her again.

Braae said Jones had a date with the man but she had broken it off to see him.

For more information, see Page A1 on Wednesday’s Olympian.