2 women arrested in connection with Thurston County homicide
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Two Olympia women have been arrested in connection to a homicide in Thurston County that was reported earlier this week.
As a result of the investigation, a 37-year-old Olympia woman, Rochelle Schneberger, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder of Jose Luis Alejo-Tamayo. Another woman, 30-year-old Olivia Ingram-Legvold, was arrested and charged for first-degree rendering criminal assistance.
Jose's wife Susie says it started out like a regular Sunday morning.
"I usually have prayer meeting with my church and I called him prior to that and I told him, 'Hey are you coming home,' and he said, 'Yes I'm close by. I should be there soon,' and I said, 'OK I love you I'll see you for breakfast."
But Jose never made it to his Chehalis home. His body was found by a jogger outside of Olympia. He’d been killed by a gunshot to the head.
"Just complete disbelief, you know, I grew up watching Forensic Files and you never think anything like this could ever happen to your family until it does, you want the earth to open up and swallow you up. You want to think that you're in a dream. You just don't want to believe it," says Jose's sister Nina.
Prosecutors say it appears Rochelle Schneberger owed him drug money, and after he was killed, got Olivia Ingram-Legvold to try to help her cover it up. Court documents say Schenberger admitted to being there when Jose was killed, but claims someone else pulled the trigger.
In addition to trying to process he’s gone forever, family is dealing with the bombshell allegation that Jose sold drugs to the woman accused of killing him.
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"It's shocking and as I said, there's always two sides to every story," says sister Nina.
"How do you explain that to your kids? You cannot," says wife Susie.
The close-knit family says it’s impossible to imagine the devoted father, who worked as a mechanic and loved his church, would ever be involved with drugs in any way.
"You fall in love with this person and you just think theyre the best thing and I just want to remember him as that. I want to lay him to rest and know that he is resting and we are going to be OK," says Susie.
"There's just so much to process right now. We just need help through these times," says Nina.
As the invesigation into the motive and if someone else may be involved continues, family is trying to focus on the Jose they know and love.
"He was everything to me. I could always count on him and we grew up in this area and I remember going to school and we were minorities in the school district where we grew up, and I remeber he would always protect me," says Nina.
"'l'll never stop missing him. I'm going to miss him until the day I die," says Susie.
Schneberger is being held without bail. Ingram-Legvold is being held on $50,000 bond.
If you would like to support Jose's family, a gofundme has been set up to help with burial costs.
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