Olympia man accused of plotting to have his wife killed -- for a 2nd time in a year
A 55-year-old Olympia man who was recently acquitted by a jury of felony harassment charges is now facing a much more serious charge: plotting to murder his wife.
New evidence emerged during the trial of John Warren Frederickson in the form of a fellow jail inmate who claims Frederickson tried to hire him for the hit. Authorities have now opened a new case against Frederickson for criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
Frederickson has been detained in Thurston County Jail since March 5 while awaiting trial on multiple counts of domestic violence. On Oct. 20, Frederickson was acquitted of felony harassment charges in a jury trial that also found him guilty of fourth-degree assault.
According to a statement of probable cause filed Thursday, an inmate reached out to Detective Alan Clark of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) to report that Frederickson approached him “approximately 20 times” about having his wife killed.
“This is very hard for me as I have never ‘snitched’ before,” the probable cause quotes the inmate as saying. “I know an individual who has approached me regarding a, I guess, murder for hire, for lack of a better term.”
The inmate allegedly told Clark and another detective that he shared a jail dorm with Frederickson and thought he was joking at first, but came to believe Frederickson was serious.
The inmate told Frederickson it would cost between $15,000-$20,000, and Frederickson provided his mother’s name and phone number and said she would provide the funds. When questioned by detectives, the inmate told them that he had no intention of following through on the plan, but does have connections to people in the Aryan Brotherhood who could carry out the murder.
This is the second time Frederickson has been accused of plotting to murder his wife.
Court records show that Frederickson was first booked on Jan. 3, when deputies arrested him after his wife called the police to report that he’d drunkenly thrown a salad plate at her and smashed their TV on the ground at their mobile home near Lamberts Corner, on the east side of Black Lake.
That same day, deputies also seized a gun that his wife had hidden after a series of similar violent, drunken outbursts, according to the statement of probable cause written by a Deputy Perez.
Two weeks later, on Jan. 19, sheriff’s deputies contacted Frederickson’s son in Wyoming, who said Frederickson called him and said he “met a guy in jail and paid his bail and paid him $8,500 in cash to kill [his wife].”
The son also said that Frederickson “repeated himself three different times and each time the story was a little different,” according to a separate statement of probable cause written by a Deputy J. North.
Court records show Frederickson was released from custody shortly after the first arrest, but was then rearrested in Wyoming on Feb. 28.
He appeared in court on Thursday and is being held at Thurston County Jail on $5,000,000 bail.
His previous case is not yet finished, either. A sentencing hearing on the assault charge case is scheduled for Nov. 10.
This story was originally published November 7, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
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