On the evening of March 23, 2024, Lindy Jones Rummell, a 60-year-old White woman, was found dead in her Brush Prairie, Washington, home of multiple gunshot wounds. Her husband, James Rummell, and two friends initially reported finding her and said the family’s truck had been taken, framing the scene as a burglary that turned deadly.

Within a day detectives obtained a tip pointing to Eugene, Oregon, and a 55-year-old man named Darrell Riley. The stolen truck was recovered burned in rural Benton County, Oregon. Investigators say evidence linked James to Riley and indicate James drove to Eugene to pick Riley up shortly before the killing. Prosecutors allege a murder-for-hire plot: James, reportedly under financial strain, solicited Riley to kill Lindy for about $35,000 from her life insurance, a plan said to have been in motion for roughly ten months.

James Rummell was arrested on charges including making false statements, accomplice to first-degree murder and burglary, and has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder and solicitation to commit murder; he pleaded not guilty. Riley was arrested in Oregon and faces a warrant for first-degree murder while awaiting extradition to Washington. If anyone knew Lindy or has information about the planning or movements of James or Riley around late March 2024, please come forward.