'Cowboy' Mike tells his side

"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."

Braae testified that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Jones since April 2001, but he could not name anyone who ever saw them together before the bartender at Bailey's saw them there July 6, 2001. Braae said he and Jones met when she walked up and began talking to him in April 2001, while he was fishing on Hicks Lake in Lacey.

Braae said he never met Jones' daughter Elisa, who lived with Jones and was 11 at the time of her mother's death. When Jones was killed, Elisa was on a camping trip on the coast with a friend.

Braae said that on July 6, 2001, Jones had left a note on the door of his Tacoma home asking him to meet her at her apartment. When he got there, a note on her door advised him to meet her at Bailey's, he said.

Earlier in his testimony, Braae said he was born in Palo Alto, Calif., but grew up in Bonney Lake. He said he made a living working on cars and buying and selling them.

When Tunheim asked Braae whether singing in bars got him women, he responded, "If you want to put it that way, of course it does."

Yakima incident

Tunheim also questioned Braae about allegedly trying to force himself on a woman in Yakima and strangling her in July, after Jones' death. Tunheim showed a picture of the woman to Braae and the jury, showing her with large bruises around her neck.

Braae said the woman wasn't his type, then added, "There's a saying that the girls all get prettier at closing time; that's not necessarily true."

When Tunheim asked Braae whether he strangled the woman so he could be in control, Braae angrily responded, "You're more of a control freak than I am."

Braae said the woman in Yakima had wanted to have sex with him, and there was no reason to force himself on her.

"You're a well-dressed, well-groomed, good-looking guy; why wouldn't she want you, right?" Tunheim asked Braae.

"Right," Braae responded.

Memory lapses

Braae said that after Jones left him outside Bailey's, he called her several times, but he couldn't remember exactly when. Braae responded to many of Tunheim's questions that he could not remember events from that far back.

"I'm getting old; I don't have the best memory in the world and I drink a lot of beer," he told Tunheim.

One of Braae's attorneys, Larry Jefferson, asked Braae whether he is responsible for Lori Jones' death.

"That's ridiculous," Braae said. "I had absolutely no reason to want to harm her. Just the opposite; we were talking about trying to make some sort of exclusive commitment to each other."

Braae is serving a prison sentence in Idaho stemming from his conviction on charges related to the police chase July 20, 2001.

Jeremy Pawloski covers public safety for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5465 or jpawloski@theolympian.com.