Lights & Sirens

The News Tribune's Lights & Sirens blog provides breaking news, updates on on-going investigations and insights into other news from the Tacoma, Pierce County and South Puget Sound criminal justice community. It also gives The News Tribune an avenue to interact with readers, answer “What was that?” questions and provides a venue for readers to ask about on-going criminal justice issues and problems in their neighborhoods. The blog aims to inform, educate and, at times, entertain with weird or wacky crime news.
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Stacey Mulick covers Pierce County crime and safety issues for The News Tribune. She’s worked at The News Tribune since May 1998. Contact her at stacey.mulick@thenewstribune.com.

Adam Lynn covers courts as part of the Crime and Breaking News Team at The News Tribune, where he’s worked since 2003. Lynn has spent nearly half of his 21-year career chronicling criminal justice matters in Washington and won reporting awards for his coverage of serial killer Robert Yates. “The Corpse Had a Familiar Face” by renowned Miami Herald reporter Edna Buchanan is among his favorite books. You can contact him at adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com.

Brian Everstine is a night breaking news and general assignment reporter for The News Tribune. The Spokane native arrived in Tacoma in the summer of 2008 and still is adjusting to life on this side of the mountains. He has written for papers in the Tri-Cities and his hometown. Contact him at brian.everstine@thenewstribune.com.

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Database reporter Ian Demsky, ian.demsky@thenewstribune.com.

General assignment reporter Mike Archbold, mike.archbold@thenewstribune.com.

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Lights & Sirens
Go behind the yellow tape with the The News Tribune's Crime & Breaking News Team.
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008
Robbery suspect commits suicide in Pierce County Jail
Posted by Stacey Mulick @ 11:39:08 am

A man accused in an attempted robbery last week is believed to have committed suicide Tuesday night in the Pierce County Jail.

William Bessenbacher, 48, was found shortly after 7:22 p.m. in a shower area of the jail, Pierce County sheriff's detective Sgt. Jerry Bates said.

Corrections officers, a nurse and paramedics tried to revive Bessenbacher but those efforts were unsuccessful.

Detectives and forensic investigators responded to the jail to investigate.

He was in the general population and not under a suicide watch at the time of his death, Bates said.

Tacoma police arrested Bessenbacher Friday night after he allegedly tried to rob the M Street Market. He was booked into the jail and charged Monday with attempted first-degree robbery. He was being held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

UPDATE: Bessenbacher is a confirmed suspect in two other store robberies in Tacoma. He was picked out of lineups by witnesses in those incidents.

Those cases will be closed out with his death, a detective told Lights & Sirens.

Categories: All, Pierce County, Robbery • 14 comments

COMMENTS:

Norwester4life @ 15:25 - Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 Email
To bad they all don't do that.
okwa76 @ 15:54 - Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 Email
I can't believe you would say that. The man never hurt anyone physically, was using a pellet gun for intimidation instead of a real gun, & was apparently driving his own car. In other words, he was an amateur who was probably in a desperate situation financially, and made a terrible mistake in judgment. I don't think that warrants his death. I personally have never robbed anyone, or been put in jail, but I know what it's like to be desperate. Don't judge someone until you've walked a mile in their moccasins.
tankboss @ 16:13 - Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 Email
Re: okwa76 comments - Did the victims of the robbery know the gun was fake when their lives were being threatened? Are you saying that makes it okay if the gun wasn't high-powered? By calling him an amateur, are you trying to glorify "real robbers"? If we haven't walked in their shoes, then how can we judge any murderer, robber, or incarcerated person. In fact, why don't we just let them out and enroll them in a social program to analyze their choices.???
Guyute @ 16:58 - Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 Email
Re: okwa76 - If this guy would have pointed his pellet gun at a cop, the police officer would have shot him dead! He didn't want people to think the gun was fake and he was threatening them with their lives. Good riddance.
belkhaled67 @ 17:15 - Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 Email
Word!!!!!
baesparza @ 19:45 - Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 Email
Obviously his life had spun out of control somehow, the impulsiveness and sloppy execution. It would be interesting to hear what his life was like just previous to the arrest.
m9078jk3 @ 20:23 - Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 Email
Look at the bright side.He will never be convicted of those crimes so he is innocent of the charges.Who knows he might have a clean criminal record and he just wanted it to be that way.
okwa76 @ 22:07 - Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 Email
If he would have pointed that pellet gun at anyone with a "real" gun, yes, he would have been shot dead. That could have been his original plan. The most damage he could have done to somebody else would have been to scare the Holy-Hell out of them. I wasn't trying to justify what he did. As I said, he made a terrible mistake in judgment. Add that to his suicide, and you can obviously see that he was suffering from mental problems. Are you saying that it's too bad everyone with mental problems doesn't kill themselves?
drxtreme @ 00:56 - Thursday, August 21st, 2008 Email
to okwa76 -- Obviously You Bloody Idiot, You've never been shot by a modern pellet gun. In over 75% of these the only difference between a pellet gun and a .22 at 20 feet is the caliber (pellets are .177) you fool, Now shut the heck up and go away. All these bums need to be gone, Courts have hamstrung Law enforcement for to long, Crime figures are skewed to make politicians look good. Crime and especially gangs are everywhere and rowing fast.
sparrow @ 01:31 - Thursday, August 21st, 2008
This person was a confirmed suspect in three robberies that took place in the past month. I'd say that he was definitely desperate and chances are sooner or later someone would have been hurt of killed, besides the people left with the trauma of being robbed at gunpoint. He showed he was capable of killing when he took his own life, and his actions spoke louder than words when it came to a confession of these crimes.
getalifelosers @ 18:27 - Thursday, August 21st, 2008 Email
Its nice to have a comment about someone you don't even know. say something stupid and go on with your life. until you've walked a mile in his shoes you wouldn't know what was going on with his life. then why don't you take a walk in his children's shoes. yes due to the modern advancements of the internet his children are able to read the incredibly incensitive crap that is written on this page. so not only do they have to deal with the death of their father, they can read about people making light of it. no matter what he did in his life he was a human being and he had family that loved him. hopefully none of you will ever have to deal with a situation like this in your life.
steph19 @ 09:43 - Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 Email
Hopefully no oe will ever have to deal with a situation of having a gun pointed at them by a criminal at all or have to confront a burgular in thier home just as I did. It caused me a lot of sleepless nights after that happened. I wish I had owned a gun then myself. Insensitive comments? Yes. He should have been the one worried about his children reading them on the internet. Try walking a mile in the victems shoes.
getalifelosers @ 13:12 - Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 Email
steph 19-try taking a spelling class
BigMac @ 14:49 - Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 Email
Clean your own front porch first, getalifelosers

"incensitive" maybe insensitive???

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