Death of Riverside man thought to be homicide

Teen suspects found in Oregon with stolen pickup

RIVERSIDE – The Okanogan County Sheriff’s office is investigating the death of a Riverside man and questioning two teenage suspects arrested in Oregon driving the dead man’s stolen pickup.

The sheriff’s office is investigating the death of Patrick M. Alltus, 39, Riverside, as a possible homicide. On the evening of Sunday, Oct. 5 county deputies responded to a call at 151 Hosheit Road in the Tunk area regarding a death. When they arrived on the scene they contacted a friend of Alltus who said he had found the victim in his residence, according to Sheriff Frank Rogers.

“At this time we are treating it as a murder investigation. We are not putting out what we found at the scene at this time so that investigators have time to process the scene. It is evident that there was a lot of violence at the scene but we are not sure of exact cause of death for Alltus,” said Sheriff Rogers on Monday.

Shalin E. Alltus
Shalin E. Alltus

The two 16-year-old teenagers living at the residence were not on the scene and Alltus’ pickup was missing, so authorities listed the pickup as stolen and put out an alert saying the teens were wanted for questioning. The sheriff’s office also warned that the two might be armed with a shotgun and pistol.

Parker M. Bachtold
Parker M. Bachtold

The teens were contacted by Oregon authorities on Oct. 1, but were not arrested at that time and it was still being determined where the teens were headed. Oregon authorities notified the Okanogan County Sheriff’s office on Monday, Oct. 6 that they had located the stolen 2004 Ford pickup from the homicide scene and had also located the two missing teenagers, Parker M. Bachtold and Shalin E. Alltus, in Douglas County, Oregon.

“Both of the teenagers have been taken into custody at this time for the stolen vehicle. Detectives from Okanogan Sheriff’s Office are en route to Oregon to make contact with law enforcement there. Bachtold and Alltus were located south of Eugene Oregon,” said Rogers.

Okanogan County Deputies and members of the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab went to the scene to investigate. The Crime Lab finished processing the crime scene late Monday night. The only information the sheriff’s office is releasing at this time regarding the scene is that the victim was shot several times, according to Rogers.

“Detectives believe that the two teenagers are the suspects in the homicide case and will be trying to determine what happened at the scene and a possible motive,” said Rogers, who added, an autopsy will be scheduled for Patrick Alltus.

Two teens found in Oregon with stolen pickup