INVESTIGATIONS: Local deaths catch nation's eye

By Heidi Witherspoon

North Mason Sun

The April 3 issue of People magazine, the popular weekly available at area newsstands, chronicles the tragic deaths of young people across the nation.

Taking a look at a week's worth of deaths committed by juveniles with handguns, a Mason County murder is listed among 33 others - all of which happened Feb. 27 through March 5.

The Benson Lake murder occurred the week six-year-old Kayla Rolland was killed by her first grade classmate in Flint, Michigan.

Walter Torres-Mariani, 18, was shot in the head during the early morning hours of Feb. 27 by Joshua Haley, 17. The magazine carries a snapshot of Torres-Mariani as well as 33 other children.

News television show 20/20 will give national attention to the Shawn Lowrance case with filming to take place sometime in the next two weeks.

Lowrance drowned at Brown's Creek near Shelton last October. Mason County sheriffs continue investigation of the parents, who had recently adopted the nine-year-old and took out a $600,000 life insurance policy on the boy. Producers of 20/20 told Mason County Sheriff Steve Whybark they are following a trend of suspicious deaths involving foster children and life insurance claims.

The first three months of the new millennium have already brought Mason County's homicide level to its yearly average.

According to Mason County Undersheriff Gary Crane, there have been two homicides in greater Mason County, and one in the North Mason area.

In 1999, North Mason had no homicides, and greater Mason County had one.

The combined average for the 1990s was between two and three homicides annually, and during the 1980s there were approximately three to four homicides per year, Crane said.

So far this year, homicides currently under investigation include the death of George Marlin in Matlock; the Brown's Creek death of 9-year-old Shawn Lowrance; and the murder of Torres-Mariani at Benson Lake.

In the Torres-Mariani case, investigators continue to search for the murder weapon, detectives are investigating background information on Joshua Haley who is in custody in the Mason County Jail, and lab tests continue.

The case involving Marlin's death in Matlock may have been an altercation among friends that went bad, Mason County Sheriff Steve Whybark said.