The man accused of murdering a 64-year-old woman and severely injuring an elderly man in a Longview home pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon in Cowlitz County Superior Court.
As Alexander Lee Rogers of Longview entered his plea, the victims’ supporters scoffed.
Court documents show murder victim Dawn Peters had offered Rogers work in the past, and he came to her home in the 100 block of Terumi Lane on Aug. 5 asking for money.
When none was offered, the surviving victim, 73-year-old Andrew Peters, said Rogers attacked.
Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Thad Scudder ruled Tuesday to hold Rogers without bail, and he was in Cowlitz County Jail as of Wednesday.
Andrew Peters said Rogers, 51, cut his throat when he declined to give him money. He then turned towards Dawn Peters and cut her throat, according to updated arresting documents.
Dawn Peters collapsed in the dining room, and as Rogers walked down the hall where more residents were, Andrew Peters pressed a medical alert button on the living room wall to alert dispatchers, the report continues.
Rogers is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder. Both charges carry a deadly weapons enhancement. He also faces felony harassment for threatening Andrew Peters, as well as failing to register as a sex offender.
After the attack, police interviewed a witness who reported hearing the house’s medical alert alarm, then finding the victims and seeing a slender man wearing a baseball cap and jacket nearby. The Longview police officer who talked with Rogers earlier on Aug. 5 in the parking lot of the Ocean Beach Fred Meyers for an unrelated incident said the description matched. Footage from a neighboring home shows a similar man, the report states.
On the day of the attack, Andrew Peters told Longview Police Chief Robert Huhta that the son of a man he knew stabbed him, according to the police report. A day after the stabbing, Andrew Peters ID’d Rogers as the suspect in a photo lineup at the hospital, the report continues.
Detectives then tracked Rogers’ cellphone data to Woodland.
Police obtained surveillance footage showing Rogers paying in cash for gas at the Safeway Fuel Station in Woodland for a black BMW, arresting documents show. He then headed south and disposed of a cellphone in a garbage can at a McDonald’s, later recovered by police.
Rogers bought food at a 7-Eleven in Ridgefield and headed south on Interstate 5.
Later in a police interview, Rogers told officers he ditched the phone because he didn’t know if it was being traced, the report states.
On Aug. 11, deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department located Rogers’ black BMW in a Calabasas business parking lot.
After searching the vehicle, law enforcement found a jacket with dried blood on it, plus a knife and other cloth items that also had dried blood on them, arresting documents show. Once officers from the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Rogers on Aug. 12, he allegedly admitted to being at the Peters’ home on Aug. 5 but denied any involvement with the murders. He also told detectives they needed a murder weapon to make an arrest and asked several times to see video of him committing the murder, otherwise, he would stop speaking to the police.
Police talked to Rogers again on their way back from Los Angeles, this time at the Jackson County Jail in Medford. Rogers told officers Dawn Peters let him inside the home and they had a conversation. Then, he said Andrew Peters attacked Dawn Peters with a surgical knife, and slit his own neck, according to the report.
Rogers alleged Andrew Peters hit a panic button and told the dispatcher someone was trying to kill them while looking directly at Rogers. He said this made him feel like he was being blamed for the attacks, so he fled.
Police also obtained a search warrant for Rogers’ Gmail account, showing searches that include directions from Longview to California and Nevada and images of child porn, court records show.
A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Sept. 25. He is being represented by David Phelan, deputy director of the Cowlitz County Office of Public Defense.
