Four suspects arrested in university faculty member assault case

Pullman police on April 10 arrested two suspects in the case involving the assault of WSU faculty member David Warner in the early morning hours of March 30. Pullman Chief Gary Jenkins reported Madeline A. Fouts, 21, was arrested at 12:30 p.m. on a probable charge of rendering criminal assistance and providing false statements.

At about 7:30 p.m., officers arrested Joshua Nantz on a probable charge of first degree assault. He was later booked in the county jail in Colfax. A probable charge report filed in court on April 10 said Nantz turned himself into Pullman police and was accompanied by his father.

Fouts was released from custody in Pullman.

Warner sustained extensive head injuries in the assault and has been at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.

The investigation report said Pullman police received an unsigned letter, which had no return address, which led to the identification and arrest of Fouts. The anonymous letter advised police to contact her.

It said officers learned the identification of Nantz from Fouts and her boyfriend. The report said Nantz was listed as a friend on Fouts’ Facebook account.

Nantz appeared in court in Colfax April 11 and was allowed release on his own recognizance. He was represented in court by Mark Prothero of Spokane.

Fouts and Nantz are WSU students.

Arrested early Friday were John (Matt) Cabanos-Soriano, 22, Everett, and Robert D. Bean, 22, Mukilteo, as suspects in the assault. Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins said the two suspects failed to show up Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. at the police station in Mulkiteo where they had earlier agreed to meet Pullman police officers.

Cabanos-Soriano turned himself into the Pullman Police Department at 2:30 a.m. Friday and was arrested on a probable charge of first degree assault.

Bean turned himself into the sheriff’s office in Colfax at 9:20 a.m. Both made a first appearance in court Friday and were allowed pre-trial release on their own recognizance.

A Pullman police report on April 11 said Bean and Cabanos-Soriano are friends of Fouts and Nantz.

Police earlier released surveillance tapes of three males and a female walking near the Adams Mall area on College Hill where David Warner was assaulted in the early morning hours of March 30.

The arrest report said Warner appeared to be attempting to halt an altercation in the early morning hours at the parking lot at Adams Mall when he was struck by one of the male suspects. It said the other two males tackled Warner and Lawrence McDonald who was standing with Warner prior to the conflict.

The report said surveillance tapes indicated McDonald appeared to be extremely intoxicated and was making comments to pedestrians that were “not pleasant in nature.”

Surveillance tapes showed some sort of interaction between the suspects and Warner and McDonald. He said all four suspects then watched Warner and McDonald in the north parking lot for a few minutes and Fouts had some type of exchange of words and walked toward Warner and McDonald. The other three followed and witnesses reported yelling before Warner was punched.