RICHLAND, Wash. – The man who carried out James Henrikson’s alleged murder-for-hire plots testified in federal court Friday as the trail began. Timothy Suckow took the stand Friday just four months after pleading guilty to the the murder of Doug Carlile.
Suckow pleaded guilty to two counts of murder-for-hire charges in September 2015. His charges including murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-of-hire for the deaths of Spokane businessman Doug Carlile and KC Clarke, who vanished in North Dakota in 2012.
Authorities believe Henrikson ordered Suckow to kill the two men.
During his testimony on Friday, Suckow began by apologizing for being nervous as he answered questions in federal court.
Prosecuting attorney Aine Ahmed asked Suckow if he was given a plea agreement for his testimony. He said, “Yes.”
Suckow was offered a plea agreement to testify. As a result, he could be sentenced to 30 years in prison instead of life.
During questioning, Suckow was asked to describe the vans he used while working for IRS Environmental.
Suckow said he met Robert “Mugsie” Delao in 2007 or 2008 while working for the company. Delao also pleaded guilty for his role in the murder-for-hire plot.
Suckow said he went to Delao’s house to talk to him about someone in North Dakota who “needed a big brother.” He said Delao told him he might get a couple thousand dollars to beat someone up.
Delao called Henrikson and said he had someone to talk to about a big brother and Delao handed him the phone, Suckow testified.
Suckow said Henrikson told him he could get him a job in North Dakota. He said he took the train from Spokane to North Dakota.
Suckow testified that he was under the impression he was going to North Dakota to “intimidate someone.” Henrikson told Suckow he had a problem with somebody and wanted him to beat him up. Suckow said he was talking about Steve Kelly.
During trial, the prosecution said Henrikson would get trucking jobs on the reservation through Kelly.
Then, Suckow began to talk about what happened the day KC Clarke was murdered.
Suckow said Henrikson told him, “I want you to kill the guy.” Suckow said he didn’t take Henrikson seriously when he first asked him to kill Clarke.
Suckow said that Henrikson’s shop in North Dakota was the place where Clarke was to be murdered.
The defense objected to photos of Henrikson’s shop that the prosecution wanted to admit as evidence.
“James was rather insistent, I guess you could say, on the murder,” said Suckow. He explained Henrikson’s idea was to lure Clarke into the garage area and draw his attention to the far end of the shop.
Suckow said Henrikson told him to kill Clarke by choking him.
Judge Mendonza interrupted Suckow’s testimony at 12:00 p.m. as court was only scheduled to go until noon.
Court is in recess until Monday morning. The trial is expected to last seven weeks. KREM 2's Lindsay Nadrich is in court live tweeting all of the latest details: