A large part of the defense’s argument for granting Colt leniency was based on the assertion by the psychiatrist Dr. Richard Adler: that Colt suffers from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. The diagnosis was based on numerous neuropsychological tests and on the testimony of Pam Kohler’s brother, Ed Coaker. Coaker said of Pam, “When Pam drinks one beer she gets mean, and when she drinks two beers she wants to fight. But, Pam drinks twenty beers… she would drink until she couldn’t hardly walk.” Coaker admitted to drinking with Pam while she was carrying Colt and claimed “her pregnancy didn’t affect her drinking whatsoever.”
The other revelation from Ed Coaker was his claim that Pam had met at least two of the men who shared the trailer with her and Colt, including Bill Kohler, through prison pen-pal programs.
The mitigation report also took the state CPS system and Stanwood-Camano school district to task for letting Colt “fall through the cracks.” Dr. Adler notes that “All of the CPS investigations were closed in short order, ironically due to mother’s lack of cooperation.”
Colt says he loves his mother and wants her to be happy. Her alcoholism, though, “is the number one, and as far as I am concerned, the only problem my mom has that prevented a friendship with me.” As of press time, Colt has been in Seattle for seventeen months, but has not yet seen Pam.
ON THE WASHINGTON STATE side of things, Greg Banks from Island County and Randy Gaylord from San Juan County told the judge that they’d taken Colt’s rough childhood and his nonviolence into account in recommending that she give him the high end of the sentencing range: nine years and eight months.
After the prosecution and defense had finished their presentations, Judge Churchill recessed for twenty minutes then came back into court and made a remarkable speech:
I think this case is a tragedy in many ways, but it’s also a triumph of the human spirit. I sympathize with the defendant due to the terrible upbringing he had. As one investigator indicated, “it was a mind-numbing absence of hope.” It was a tragedy he had to steal food… to endure the taunts and jeers of classmates… that he had an alcoholic and abusive mother… We can all shake our heads and wonder how did this all happen, and more importantly, how can we keep it from happening to another child?
Judge Churchill said that in reviewing Colton’s upbringing and the psychological reports of his mental health issues, “I was struck that I could have been reading the history of a mass murderer… I could have been reading about a drug-addicted, alcoholic, abusive young man who followed in the path of his mother. Yet I was not reading that story. That is the triumph of Colton Harris-Moore. He has survived.”
Sitting in the courtroom, it felt like the judge was about to let Colt walk out a free man or maybe give him a medal. But there came a “nevertheless… ” Judge Churchill said she was elected to uphold the law, was bound by the state’s sentencing reform act, and needed to protect the public. She acknowledged that “Mr. Harris-Moore has an extensive criminal history, and a high offender score.” She said, though, that because she felt he was remorseful, contrite, and because he was paying full restitution—“something that is unique in cases like this”—she would give Colt the minimum sentence allowed within the standard range: seven years and three months. She ended with, “I wish him well.”
Colt, who was ready to accept the max, was happy and relieved with the judgment. Churchill tacked on the $292,167 in restitution owed to the San Juan and Island County victims, and Colt was taken away.
Colt’s federal and state sentences will run concurrent, but the state clock does not begin counting down until he turns twenty-one on March 22, 2012. With time off for good behavior, he could be stepping out of a Washington State prison in time for his twenty-fifth birthday.
UP HERE IN SAN JUAN COUNTY, Sheriff Bill Cumming decided not to run for another term. After a tough, mudslinging election, voters chose new blood in fifty-one-year-old Rob Nou, who says his policy is that deputies should collect forensics from every crime scene possible.
Unsurprisingly, the crime rate on Orcas Island dropped after Colt left. I suspect that it might remain even lower than what it was before he arrived. Because of Colt, residents are much more conscious of the potential for crime. Many homes and almost all businesses are wired with burglar alarms and surveillance systems. Unfortunately, the relaxed, open-door atmosphere is a thing of the past.
Sandi, Murphy, and I remain perched on Raven Ridge, our mossy little patch of Northwest paradise. I think of Colt every night as I go around and check the cabin doors. It’s not a happy chore. Ironically, Colt says he chose to come to Orcas Island mainly for the same reason we did: because it’s such a peaceful, beautiful place. Colt even says he spent most of his time here in Deer Harbor, but says that while he did see me a number of times, he was not the one we heard under the cabin. Murphy, for one, is not convinced.
After piecing together what I know of Colt’s entire life, though, there’s no anger, just frustration and sadness. I feel both for the victims that are still affected, and also for Colt due to the past events that were out of his control coupled with his own bad choices that will result in him spending years behind bars. But I also have hope for his future.
I realize now that Colt’s big smiles in the Bahamas were also a sign of his remarkable resiliency. Colt appears to have sloughed off his negative identity as an alienated bad boy and now sees himself as a student. It’s certainly better that his energies go toward planning for college instead of plotting helicopter attacks on Costco.
Colt reached out through a friend to say that although he doesn’t like the idea of the book and movie about him because he thinks it will make it harder to eventually melt into anonymity and live that “normal” life he so craves, he doesn’t hold it against me. He also said that he hopes we can go kayaking or hiking on Turtleback Mountain together when he gets out.
I look forward to that. Though I’m glad he didn’t ask me to go flying.
Acknowledgments
Other than the parts of this story that I personally witnessed, this book is based on reporting in the form of hundreds of interviews and reviewing reams of legal documents. It would be a much poorer telling if I did not have the generous help and cooperation of so many sources whose personal stories brought this tale to life. A number of people I spoke with requested anonymity and thus unfortunately can’t be thanked here by name. Some were afraid of losing their jobs; others were concerned for their personal safety. I also disguised the names of several crime victims who requested I do so for privacy reasons. In every use of an anonymous source, I checked details against police and court records as well as secondary sources wherever possible.
To set the scene on Camano Island and to recreate Colt’s early life, I relied on interviews with: Bev and Geof Davis; Bill, Doreen, and Megan Wagner; Pam Kohler; Jack “Skeeter Daddle” Archibald and his wife, author Karen Prasse; Josh Flickner; Joel Bradfield; Bonnie Bryand and her son, Kory; Harley Davidson Ironwing; Anne Pitser; Jim Pettyjohn; Helen Owens; Kara Weber; Shannon Kirby; Maxine Kostelyk; Christa Postma; Carol Star; Josh Richardson; Mike Bulmer; Patty Morgan; Brandi Blackford; Leslie Hawthorne; Glen Kramer; and Jacquie Staggs.
Early on in my research, I got a call from what I thought was the ghost of Walter Brennan. It turned out to be a man named Pete Poeschel. Pete’s call led to a mysterious mainland meeting where he introduced me to an important source. Thanks, Pete, you’ve got a good heart and a great laugh. Thanks, too, to Donna Poeschel.
I received terrific support from my friends and neighbors on beautiful Orcas Island. The one upside to having the crime wave hit here is that I got to meet even more of the nice folks who call Orcas home. Special thanks to those who contributed their personal stories and expertise: Bob Rivers; Kyle Ater and Cedra Gutschmidt; Belinda Landon and Marion Rathbone; Teri Williams and Jay Fowler; Jack Cadden; Jeremy Trumble; Ryan Carpenter; Cory Wiscomb and his 2010 senior class at Orcas High—Go Vikings!; flyboys Bill Anders, Eric Gourley, Grant Schumaker, and Geoff Schussler; flygirl Bea Von Tobel; John Gorton; Jason Linnes; Jay Longfellow; Rosemary Hennessy and Fred Vinson; Maggie Vinson; Henry and Donna McNeil; Mike and Matt Stohlmeir; Dick Greaves; Babs Briggs; Colleen Armstrong; Kevin and Carol McCoy; Mark Morris and the Orcas Craic’ers; Scott Lancaster; and Suzanne Lyons. Over
