A Pe Ell man has been arrested for the alleged murder of a 43-year-old man that occurred at a Pe Ell residence Thursday night.
Deputies were dispatched to a residential property in the 400 block of South Third Street in Pe Ell at about 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 14, for a report of “a suspicious circumstance,” according to a news release from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
When deputies arrived, they located “an unresponsive 43-year-old male,” according to the release.
The man was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to the release.
The man’s name was not released by law enforcement personnel on Friday.
“As a result of the initial investigation and interviews, detectives arrested 46-year-old Jonathan Ray Selle of Pe Ell” as a suspect in the man’s death, according to the sheriff’s office.
Lewis County Jail records indicate Selle was booked for second-degree murder at approximately 5:03 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 15.
Charges had not been formally filed in Lewis County Superior Court as of Friday afternoon.
“Due to the nature of the investigation, no further information is being released at this time,” the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said in the news release, adding, “An autopsy has been scheduled, and further information regarding the decedent, to include cause and manner of death, will be released by the Lewis County Coroner’s Office when appropriate.”
The sheriff’s office asks anyone with information about the incident to call the Lewis County
Sheriff’s Office at 360-748-9286 or Lewis County Communications at 360-740-1105.
The death, if proven to be homicide, would mark the second murder in the Pe Ell area this year. Leonard Kowalsky, 40, of Pe Ell, died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after Kelly David Hribar, 46, of Pe Ell, shot him with a shotgun from the shoulder of state Route 6 near milepost 30 on Wednesday, Aug. 16. A jury convicted Hribar of first-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm convictions in October and a judge sentenced him to 34 years in prison on Nov. 29.
