Shelton man, 43, charged with murder

Shelton resident Jerry T. Upson, 43, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Kenneth D. Simmons, 68, after Upson was seen on surveillance video with a handgun entering and leaving the victim’s home numerous times Oct. 27, according to the probable cause document filed by the Mason County Sheriff’s Office.

Simmons’ brother Martin called police Oct. 28 after driving to Simmons’ house at 990 E. Mikkelsen Road and finding him on the couch “cold to the touch, with an apparent gun shot wound to the head,” the document states.

Simmons was dying of colon cancer, according to his brother, who regularly looked in on him.

Sheriff patrol units did not find a gun or spent shell casings and called detectives out to investigate. Police obtained a search warrant for surveillance cameras at Simmons’ home and observed a man, later identified as Upson, arriving in a green Jeep Wrangler the morning of Oct. 27.

“He ascends the front steps and disappears out of sight for a few moments.

Jerry is then depicted exiting the front of the residence and returning to his vehicle to depart,” Detective D. Helser wrote in the probable cause document.

Upson returned that afternoon at 2:53 p.m., parked his Jeep next door at a house later identified as belonging to Upson’s brother, and walked over to “peer into Kenneth’s detached garage area,” according to the document.

Upson’s Jeep is seen leaving at 3:15 p.m. and Upson is then seen walking behind Simmons’ house a few minutes later.

“On his approach, he’s seen removing an object from his left jacket pocket. Based on my training and experience as a hunter and as a gun enthusiast, I recognized his movement as appearing to be cycling the slide on a semi-automatic handgun. This is a necessary action to load a cartridge from the magazine into the chamber prior to firing. Upson places the object back into his left jacket pocket,” Helser wrote.

Upson is seen on the front steps and a minute later exits the front door “holding a black semi-automatic pistol in his left hand,” walking away behind the house the same way he came, according to the document.

Upson told detectives prior to the discovery of the video surveillance footage that he knew Simmons was sick and was “checking on his welfare” when he visited throughout the day Oct. 27, the document states.

After detectives viewed the camera footage, they took Upson into custody.

Upson said Simmons was “fine” both times he checked on him.

“He described fine as not having a bullet hole in the head,” Helser wrote.

During the interview, Upson was adamant about not having any guns and said he was in Simmons’ house but did not pull the trigger. He also said Simmons had talked about suicide, according to police.

Detectives also interviewed Upson’s daughter Heaven Kinney, who told them she’d driven her father to Red Wind Casino in Yelm on Oct. 27 and Upson asked her to stop near the public boat launch at Lake St. Clair in Olympia on their way home to Shelton. Kinney said her father exited with a black nylon zipper bag and returned to the car without the bag, according to her statement.

“The same bag was described by Kenneth’s children as the storage location of his Springfield pistol. It was described as being stored in the living room near his chair but was not located during the execution of the search warrant,” Helser wrote.

Upson has also been charged with theft of a firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Upson is not allowed to possess firearms because he is a five-time convicted felon. Upson’s most recent conviction was in 2013 in Grays Harbor County for robbing the Anchor Bank in Elma in 2012.

Upson is being held without bail in the Mason County jail and arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 13 at Mason County Superior Court.