Police have arrested three people believed to be involved in the brutal beating to death of a homeless man found in a vacant home in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
The Klamath Falls Police Department said in a statement that officers found Kolton Esparza just before 11 a.m. on Feb. 26 while performing a welfare call.
‘I beat Kolton with a rock and stomped him out with my shoes.’
The homeless man was found naked, bound with rope, and beaten very badly. Police reported that he had signs of torture as well.
He was transported to a hospital, where he died a day later from his injuries.
After an investigation, police arrested two men and a woman for their involvement in his death.
Prosecutors say 49-year-old Jamie S. Harrington drove Esparza to the Eulalona Trailhead in Klamath Falls along with her brother, 34-year-old Reggie L. Townsend Jr., and a 39-year-old man named Wesley J. Powless, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Esparza was allegedly beaten by the men before he was able to run away, with them chasing after him.
Prosecutors say the men caught up to him near the vacant home and beat him with a brick or rock while kicking him. Powless and Townsend allegedly cleaned up the scene and left with evidence in a black garbage bag.
A medical examiner found that the man’s cause of death was “severe head trauma.”
Investigators claimed to have obtained a confession letter from Townsend to his girlfriend that read, “I beat Kolton with a rock and stomped him out with my shoes.”
KDRV-TV also reported that Townsend had been released only three months prior after serving a sentence for manslaughter.
Harrington and her brother were arrested on Feb. 27, while Powless was arrested in a later traffic stop.
Powless and Townsend were charged with second-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, and tampering with evidence. Harrington was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
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