Velma Ogden-Whitehead

Case overview

Velma Ogden-Whitehead pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2005 killing of her husband, Ronald Whitehead. She was sentenced to 22 years in prison on June 5, 2008.

Timeline

• March 18, 2005 — Ronald Whitehead was fatally shot near SeaTac while driving to work; his death was initially treated as a random carjacking.
• March 19, 2005 — Police described the homicide as apparently random; a 911 caller reported seeing Whitehead pushed from his vehicle and shot at an intersection near Eighth Avenue South and Des Moines Memorial Drive.
• June 28, 2006 — King County prosecutors charged Ogden-Whitehead, her son Jon Ogden, and Wilson Sayachack with first-degree murder in connection with the slaying.
• June 25, 2006 — Court documents described an alleged murder-for-hire scheme involving payment to a then-16-year-old friend of her son to hide in the trunk and shoot Whitehead.
• June 5, 2008 — Ogden-Whitehead pleaded guilty and was sentenced by King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez to 22 years behind bars.

Background

Ogden-Whitehead was accused of plotting her husband’s slaying and having it made to look like a carjacking.

Her husband, Ronald Whitehead, was described as a 61-year-old career Boeing employee. He was shot near SeaTac while driving to work on March 18, 2005. Investigators later said the killing was intended to look like a carjacking.

Investigators said Ogden-Whitehead and her husband had a rocky marriage. Police and prosecutors described her claims of abuse as contested at sentencing, and Judge Steven Gonzalez rejected her domestic-violence explanation.

The offence

How the killing was carried out (as alleged by prosecutors and described in court documents)

Ronald Whitehead was fatally shot near SeaTac on March 18, 2005. Prosecutors said Ogden-Whitehead recruited her son, who hired classmate Wilson Sayachack to carry out the slaying.

Investigators said Sayachack hid in the trunk of Whitehead’s car while Jon Ogden, Whitehead’s stepson, was in the passenger seat. Prosecutors said the slaying was intended to look like a carjacking.

Court documents described a plan in which a friend of her son would hide in the trunk and shoot Whitehead as he drove to work at Boeing on March 18, 2005. Prosecutors said Ogden-Whitehead profited from “a large amount of insurance money,” and she was making plans to move to Arkansas.

One report described the prosecution theory that Sayachack climbed through the folding back seat during the trip and, at Ogden’s urging, shot Whitehead in the back of the head. The same account said Jon Ogden helped Sayachack push Whitehead out of the car, and Ogden then shot Whitehead three times in the back.

Victim

• Ronald Whitehead, 61, Boeing employee — fatally shot near SeaTac while driving to work on March 18, 2005, and pushed from his car.

Intended appearance of the crime

The slaying was made to look like a carjacking.

Investigation

Police initially characterized the homicide as apparently a random crime. A 911 caller reported seeing Whitehead pushed from the vehicle at an intersection near Eighth Avenue South and Des Moines Memorial Drive, near the border between Burien and SeaTac. Police reported that the carjacker drove off heading east toward SeaTac and that Whitehead was shot at least twice, including once in the head; three shell casings were found on the pavement. As of that reporting, police had not found Whitehead’s car.

Prosecutors later said investigators examined Ogden-Whitehead’s finances and personal relationships for more than a year. They said Ogden-Whitehead had an affair with a fellow employee at the auto-parts store where she worked.

Investigators said Ogden-Whitehead stood to gain financially from her husband’s death, including life insurance, retirement accounts and benefits from Boeing valued in excess of $650,000, as well as rental properties. Prosecutors reported she sold two properties for a profit of $460,000 and collected life insurance and employer benefits totaling more than $650,000.

Police subpoenaed phone records showing Jon Ogden and Sayachack exchanged 53 text messages on their cellphones in the hours just before the slaying. Prosecutors said Ogden received a call on her cellphone at 5:44 a.m. on the day Whitehead was killed—described as the exact time police received a 911 call from a witness who saw Whitehead pushed from the car and shot.

Detectives found a print from Sayachack’s right palm in the back seat of the Mustang.

Weapon information mentioned during the case

A handgun thought to be the murder weapon was discovered during a trial, leading to more investigation time for attorneys. The handgun had been tested since it was discovered by police in an unrelated drug seizure in Puyallup, and prosecutors said it turned out to be the murder weapon.

The weapon used to kill Whitehead was described as not having been found in one account, with authorities believing it was one of three weapons owned by Whitehead, only two of which were recovered by police.

Arrest and charges

Ogden-Whitehead gave numerous media interviews after the slaying and asked for help finding her husband’s killer.

She was arrested in 2006. In one account dated June 25, 2006, Ogden-Whitehead and her 18-year-old son Jon Ogden were arrested Friday on suspicion of first-degree murder. At a court hearing in King County Jail, prosecutors asked for $5 million bail for each defendant. King County District Court Judge Fred L. Yeatts ordered both held without bail.

On June 28, 2006, King County prosecutors charged Ogden-Whitehead, her son Jon Ogden, and Wilson Sayachack with first-degree murder in connection with the slaying of Ronald Whitehead in the SeaTac area.

Trial history of other defendants (as described)

Wilson Sayachack was tried twice for his alleged role in the slaying before Ogden-Whitehead’s sentencing.

• The first trial ended in a mistrial when jurors couldn’t agree on a verdict.
• The second trial ended in a mistrial in April after a key witness came forward and a handgun thought to be the murder weapon was discovered during the trial, requiring more investigation time for attorneys.

In one account, Sayachack’s third trial was scheduled for Sept. 22, and Jon Ogden was scheduled to go to trial July 21.

Plea and sentencing

Plea

Ogden-Whitehead pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

She admitted helping her teenage son and his friend with a plan to steal her husband’s car. She maintained that she did not expect him to be killed.

She read from a handwritten note in court and apologized for the slaying:

“There are not enough words to express my remorse for what this has done to my family. I deeply regret that I took matters into my own hands. I made a poor choice.”

In a statement read in court, she said she planned the robbery of her husband that was carried out by her son and his friend Wilson Sayachack. She denied knowing he would be shot but conceded she knew that guns were readily available in their home and that force might be used.

She later said in her statement:

“I knew about it and facilitated it.”

Prosecutors said Ogden-Whitehead paid Sayachack $1,000 for the killing.

Sentencing

King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez sentenced Ogden-Whitehead to 22 years behind bars.

Judge Steven Gonzalez rejected her self-defense and abuse claims, stating:

“You are the perpetrator, not the victim you claim to be. Your claims of abuse and suffering are hollow.”

In another account, Judge Steven Gonzalez said:

“Domestic violence victims deserve our compassion and resources, but the domestic violence victim is not you,”

and:

“Your claims of abuse and suffering, I must say, are hollow.”

A separate quotation attributed to Judge Steven Gonzalez included:

“You played the part of a grieving widow and a crime victim as you spend money on your lover. Your tears are not for making your son a murderer, nor are they for Mr. Whitehead. Your tears are for yourself.”

Judge Steven Gonzalez also told Ogden-Whitehead that the abuse she claimed to have suffered at the hands of Whitehead was an “insult to him [Whitehead] and his memory.”

The standard sentencing range for the first-degree murder charge was described as 20 to 26 years. Prosecutors and defense attorneys recommended the low end of the usual range as part of a plea agreement, and the judge added two years.

Other court-related statements and recommendations

Defense attorney Jonathan Newcomb (spelled variously in the source text as Jonathan Newcomb and Jonathan Neucomb) said Ogden-Whitehead had told people her husband abused her long before he was killed and had shown them injuries. He also said she suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis and would probably be in a wheelchair by the time she got out of prison if she lived that long.

Prosecutors and the defense recommended the low end of the usual sentence range as part of a plea agreement, though Judge Gonzalez added two years.

Craig Peterson was quoted as the senior deputy prosecuting attorney and stated that the handgun was tested after it was discovered in an unrelated drug seizure in Puyallup and turned out to be the murder weapon.

Prosecutors and defense made references to an agreement to drop a part of the charge that could have added five years for use of a firearm. The judge added two years beyond the low end of the sentencing range.

Impact on the family and victim impact statements

During the June 5, 2008 sentencing, Whitehead’s family addressed the court.

Kimberley Whitehead, the slain man’s daughter, said:

“Velma, you stole Ron's future from him, from me and from my brother. You have broken our hearts. You have made me an orphan.”

She also said:

“Velma Ogden-Whitehead killed my father simply because she wanted his money. She may not have pulled the trigger, but what she did was worse.”

She said she believed Ogden-Whitehead “played the part” of a grieving widow and that the father was a victim of a random carjacking:

“She believed she had everyone fooled -- that my father was the victim of a random carjacking,”

and:

“She does not deserve to ever be free again.”

Jay Hildebrand, identified as Ogden-Whitehead’s fiancé and a family spokesman, called her an “incredible, manipulative liar” and said Ogden-Whitehead sought interviews with the media and attended support groups for violent crime victims. He also said she made it impossible for relatives to grieve peacefully by having her name added to Whitehead’s headstone.

Judge Steven Gonzalez told Ogden-Whitehead that her tears were not for making her son a murderer or for Mr. Whitehead, but for herself.

Post-offence financial background and alleged motives

Prosecutors characterized the scheme as financially motivated. They said Ogden-Whitehead collected large sums after Whitehead’s death, including life insurance and benefits, and used the funds to take trips and buy cars and to plan to move to Arkansas.

When confronted by detectives in one account, Ogden-Whitehead’s son and friend admitted to the crime. Ogden’s son confirmed the story to detectives and described referring his friend to Ogden-Whitehead “as someone that could help her get rid of Mr. Whitehead.” Court documents also described that Ogden’s son had text messages sent to a prepaid phone laying out the murder plans.

A prosecutor characterized the public pleas for justice as part of a plan and cover-up:

“a part of the plan, and a part of the cover-up.”

Other details

• Ogden-Whitehead sobbed through the sentencing hearing and walked into court anticipating the 20-year sentence worked out by prosecutors and her defense attorney in a plea agreement.
• Ogden-Whitehead was 50 at sentencing.
• Ronald Whitehead was described as being shot four times in one sentencing-related account and as having been shot at least twice including once in the head in an early investigation account; both descriptions appeared in the material.