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Man Killed Over Poster, Police Say: Court Records Outline Death of Victim Later Found in River

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By John Craig, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Mar. 21--Court documents say a dispute over a Beatles poster led to the killing of a man whose body was found Saturday in the Spokane River.

Robert A. Entel, 18, allegedly told police he strangled 45-year-old Bud Robert Johnson with a computer cord.

But his roommate, a woman who described Entel as her cousin, said Entel bragged about holding Johnson's head under water until the last bit of air in Johnson's lungs escaped through his mouth.

The woman said Entel told her watching those final bubbles rise to the surface of the Spokane River was "better than sex."

Spokane police cited the woman's account as well as Entel's in an affidavit for a warrant Saturday to arrest Entel and co-defendant Donald L. Smiley-Lyle, 17, on suspicion of first-degree murder.

The affidavit says Entel and Smiley-Lyle killed Johnson because they suspected him of burglarizing the house that Entel and the woman shared, in the 14000 block of East Springfield.

The woman, whose age was unavailable, had a brief romantic relationship with Johnson. She told officers Johnson "obsessed" over her and gave her a framed Beatles poster, autographed by a celebrity, in February. Within weeks, the woman told investigators, Johnson asked her to return the poster so he could sell it on eBay, but she refused.

Then, on March 5, the woman said, her home was burglarized. Only the poster was taken, and Entel apparently saw Johnson and a friend of his driving away from the house. The woman said Johnson's friend later admitted to her that he helped Johnson take back the poster.

She said Entel suspected Johnson in two other burglaries, and Entel told her he was going to "take care of" Johnson.

Investigators discovered that a vehicle belonging to Johnson's friend was destroyed by fire on the evening of March 5. The friend suspected Entel of burning the vehicle, according to court documents.

On March 9, the woman told detectives, Entel and Smiley-Lyle â€" who displayed a large knife â€" told her they were "going to take care of things" and would be gone a few days.

The woman said they returned on Sunday, March 12, and told her they had gone into Johnson's apartment in the 1700 block of West Maxwell with a realistic BB pistol and a flashlight. She said they made a noise to cause Johnson to come downstairs, where they shined the flashlight in Johnson's eyes and claimed to be police officers.

According to court documents, the woman said Entel claimed he choked Johnson until he vomited. When Johnson was about to pass out, Entel showed his face and asked, "Do you remember me?"

Police say Entel is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds, while Johnson, a diabetic, was 5-foot-4 and weighed 140 pounds.

The woman said Smiley-Lyle told her Johnson was squirming despite having his hands bound behind his back, so Smiley-Lyle stabbed him in the buttocks. Detectives later found a "large drop" of blood on the kitchen floor.

The woman told officers she didn't believe Entel and Smiley-Lyle when they told her about driving Johnson to the Boulder Beach area of the Spokane River â€" swerving to make his head bang against the window of Entel's 2002 Hyundai â€" and drowning him. She said they also described going to a downtown McDonald's restaurant afterward, where they ate and they disposed of the key they used to enter Johnson's apartment.

Nor was she convinced when she told Entel not to eat her bacon and he complained, "I killed someone for you, and you won't let me eat."

But she began to worry when Entel gathered up some belongings, including a notebook he considered incriminating, and asked her to put the rest of his belongings into storage. She told police Entel left shortly after that with Smiley-Lyle, claiming he was going to Canada or California and didn't plan to return.

According to court documents, the woman tried unsuccessfully to call Johnson and got no answer when she went to his door. She said she found a Dean Koontz suspense novel on the porch and suspected Entel left it as a joke, so she called Entel on a cell phone. When she asked where Johnson was, Entel replied that he had already told her, the woman told a sheriff's detective last Tuesday.

Spokane Police Detective Sgt. Joe Peterson said in an interview that Entel and Smiley-Lyle are believed to have committed a robbery on their way out of town.

Police got a warrant to search "the persons" of Entel and Smiley-Lyle Thursday. Police in San Jose, Calif., narrowly missed catching the suspects in a hotel room, but discovered that Entel and Smiley-Lyle were armed with rifles and heading back north.

Peterson said they were armed when an Oregon State Police officer found them sleeping in Entel's car near Albany, Ore., on Sunday. The two were detained under the search warrant, but Smiley-Lyle was released because Spokane police still didn't have enough evidence for an arrest warrant. However, court documents say, Entel remained in Oregon and confessed to the killing.

Documents say Entel drew a map that helped divers find Johnson's body later Sunday. An arrest warrant was obtained while the search was under way, and Smiley-Lyle was arrested Sunday when he returned to Spokane by bus.

Entel apparently has no felony convictions in Spokane County, but Smiley-Lyle was convicted of stealing a firearm and second-degree burglary in April 2001 and of second-degree possession of stolen property last July.

Court documents say he stole a vintage sword from his stepfather in hopes of buying a ticket to a gun show.

Entel's statement to an Oregon State Police detective differed in some ways from the account his roommate gave. In particular, he said she wanted Johnson killed because of the dispute over the Beatles poster. Entel said the woman provided a key to Johnson's apartment.

She has not been charged.

Entel also shifted some blame to Smiley-Lyle, who he said repeatedly banged Johnson's head on the floor. Smiley-Lyle said Johnson's head sounded like a coconut, according a police account of Entel's statement. Entel said Smiley-Lyle pushed Johnson into the river because he had always wanted to "push someone off a cliff," according to police.

But Entel said he thought he had already killed Johnson by strangling him with a section of cord cut from Johnson's computer. Based on that information, detectives returned to Johnson's apartment and found part of a printer cable had been removed, court documents say.

According to the documents, Entel said he thought as he drove to the river with Johnson's body, "I killed someone who didn't deserve to die."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

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Source: The Spokesman-Review

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