Body of missing woman found in Burien

A Lynnwood-area woman who vanished five days before her 33rd birthday was found dead Monday in a wooded area of Burien.

Nicole Pietz was reported missing Jan. 29. Her body is believed to have been in the neighborhood, about two blocks west of South 144th Street and Des Moines Memorial Drive South, for at least a week, said King County sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart.

Pietz's 2003 Volkswagen Jetta has not been found, Urquhart said.

Homicide detectives with the King County Sheriff's Office are investigating the case, although the death has not been ruled anything other than suspicious.

Arbitrator upholds

firing of officer

A former Des Moines police officer who was fired for beating and threatening a reluctant informant will not get his job back, an independent arbitrator has ruled.

Officer Barron T. Baldwin and undercover King County sheriff's detectives George Alvarez and Jim Keller were arrested in October 2003 after another Des Moines officer reported that the three had beaten, pepper-sprayed and threatened to drown a man the detectives wanted to turn in to an informant.

In June 2004, a King County jury acquitted Keller of a misdemeanor assault charge. Jurors were split 8-4 in favor of acquitting Keller of unlawful imprisonment, a felony, and acquitting Alvarez and Baldwin on assault and unlawful-imprisonment charges. King County prosecutors decided not to re-try the case.

Keller and Alvarez were suspended without pay for 20 days, returned to patrol duties and have since filed a lawsuit against the Sheriff's Office.

After Des Moines police Chief Roger Baker fired Baldwin, Baldwin appealed to an arbitrator.

In his 34-page ruling received by the city of Des Moines on Monday, arbitrator Ronald L. Miller said all three officers used unnecessary force and intimidation tactics on the man. During an internal investigation, Baldwin also lied, Miller said in upholding the chief's decision to fire the eight-year veteran.

Detective docked

for off-duty fight

A State Patrol detective has been docked two days' pay for his involvement in a fight in a Yakima nightclub while off-duty.

Detective Trent Cain was disciplined after an internal investigation. The penalty was imposed after investigators found that Cain's conduct was unbecoming and that he broke rules governing the use of alcohol or drugs.

At issue was a Jan. 7 fight at the Kokopelli Restaurant and Lounge. Cain, 40, and a friend were originally charged with assault, but prosecutors dismissed the case after they agreed to pay $500 each to the man they were accused of beating.

Witnesses told Yakima Police that Cain was harassing a woman for a second dance, though she and her date had asked him to leave them alone. Cain and the man then stepped outside the club, where Cain and his friend bloodied the man's face before bystanders broke it up.

1 fisherman dies,

2 others missing

A 45-foot crabbing boat broke up in rough seas off Tillamook Bay several hours before dawn Tuesday, leaving one fisherman dead on a beach and two others missing, officials said.

Coast Guard helicopters and boats searched offshore, but no sign was found of the two missing men. Before dawn Tuesday, searchers found the body of 30-year-old Jeff King of Garibaldi on the beach, along with survival suits and an empty life raft, officials said. Also on the beach was the stern of the Catherine M., a crabbing boat.

The Coast Guard is investigating why the boat went down. One possibility is that it took on water and broke up in the surf, said Petty Officer Jeff Pollinger of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Times staff and news services