Drifter cleared in Jenner killings

A Wisconsin man was questioned in last week's slayings of two camp counselors in Jenner and after passing a polygraph exam is not considered a suspect in the case, authorities said Wednesday.

"We are done with Mr. Scarseth," Sonoma County Sheriff's Lt. Dave Edmonds said of Nicholas Edward Scarseth, 21, of Chippewa Falls, Wis., a drifter who had emerged as "a person of interest" in the case.

Edmonds said no motive has been established for the killings of Lindsay Cutshall, 22, and Jason Allen, 26, a fact he called "problematic" in solving the crimes.

But he said investigators are pursuing several theories.

"I think we're making progress in this investigation," he said. "I'm thankful we have a lot of work to do. We're not sitting around staring at each other."

At Fish Head Beach north of Jenner on Wednesday, investigators dug in the sand and took down lean-tos built out of driftwood in their search. The Ohio couple, due to be married next month, were found shot to death Aug. 18 at the secluded beach.

The couple lay side-by-side in separate sleeping bags on the beach. Both were shot once in the head.

Edmonds said it isn't unusual to be searching for evidence at the crime scene a week after the slayings, given the nature of the terrain.

Fish Head Beach is accessible only by climbing down a steep trail that descends from the 200-foot bluff.

"Trace evidence is very hard to find," he said. "This is very rugged terrain. It's an effort to be very thorough."

A spokeswoman for the Carole Sund Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation said Wednesday that the agency was offering $10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

Scarseth, in the meantime, was ruled out as having any connection with the slayings after being interviewed late Tuesday by detectives. He voluntarily turned himself in after hearing a radio report that he was wanted for questioning.

Edmonds described Scarseth as cooperative and said he provided "productive" information to investigators. But he declined to say more about the interview.

He said Scarseth was the 6-foot-5 dreadlocked man who was reported to be in Jenner around the time of the slayings. But Sgt. Steve Freitas said investigators don't believe he was in the town when the bodies were discovered Aug. 18.

Scarseth was released after he passed the polygraph examination, Edmonds said.

"We believe he is not a suspect in this case," he said.

Two Sonoma County detectives met with Scarseth's parents in Chippewa Falls on Wednesday morning.

Edmonds said the detectives arrived in Wisconsin on Tuesday to gather background information on Scarseth.

But Scarseth's parents said the detectives told them they had come to deliver a personal apology for their son's ever becoming connected with the case.

"That's why they came all the way out here, to apologize for the mess," Karen Scarseth said.

Edmonds disputed that.

"I'm not familiar with an apology or the necessity of an apology in this case," he said.

Scarseth's father, Mark, said detectives told him that a tip from a coffee shop owner in Jenner led authorities to identify his son as a person of interest.

The owner reported he saw Cutshall and Allen and a young man who fit Scarseth's description on two occasions. But Mark Scarseth said the detectives said the second sighting of the couple was after they already were dead.

"It means first of all, eyewitness accounts are generally inaccurate," said Mark Scarseth, a floor installer.

Edmonds would not comment on the apparent witness discrepancy.

Mark Scarseth said the two detectives also said the release of their son's name before they had a chance to speak with him had impeded their investigation.

Sheriff's officials said earlier that they erred in a series of alerts sent Monday to Western law enforcement agencies seeking more information about Scarseth and another man who was later cleared.

The first alert, which went out on a public broadcast, named the two men as suspects in the Jenner killings and said they should be stopped. The alert further advised that the men posed an "officer safety risk."

About 30 minutes later, another alert was sent out canceling the first one, saying the men were not suspects in the case after all. Later, at least one more alert went out, this one stating Scarseth only was wanted for questioning.

Edmonds earlier blamed the communication snafu on dispatcher error.

Mark Scarseth said he harbors no ill will for the incident, even though his family was deluged with media calls since his son's name was made public.

"I don't harbor animosity towards anyone or anything," he said. "It's a murder investigation. Everybody wants a resolution. That's far more important than our involvement in it for a day."

The Scarseths said detectives told them they paid for their son's bus fare after interviewing him and he was headed north. His parents had yet to hear from him Wednesday.

"It was all mistaken identity," Karen Scarseth said. "If it was someone else they were thinking of, he helped them as much as he could and they sent him on his way."

Investigators also have interviewed and cleared other people in the case, Edmonds said. That includes a young man who worked with Cutshall and Allen at the Rock-N-Water Christian youth camp in Coloma, he said.

The couple left the camp Aug. 13, saying they were going to visit friends. They were reported missing three days later after they failed to show up for work.