SEATTLE — A federal grand jury has indicted an Everett woman for making false statements before a grand jury in connection to the 2001 murder of a Seattle attorney.
Shawna Reid, 34, made false statements to the grand jury and as a result, obstructed justice in the investigation into the murder of federal prosecutor Thomas Wales.
The indictment said Reid told FBI agents in 2017 that a suspect in the Wales murder “bragged about involvement in the murder of a judge or attorney.” Although the indictment did not reference the Wales case, a federal source confirmed to KING 5 that the investigation is related to the prosecutor’s murder.
Read the full indictment below:
The charging documents said that in 2018, six months after Reid spoke with agents, she told a grand jury she never made the statements.
The documents do not identify the suspect or explain Reid’s relationship to that suspect.
Reid did not answer calls and messages left by reporters.
Her lawyer, Kevin Peck, did not shed any light on Reid's connection to the case but said she did not commit the crime for which she is charged.
“She has pled ‘not guilty.' We look forward to demonstrating in court that she is not guilty,” Peck said in a brief interview with KING 5.
The FBI’s investigation has long focused on a former Bellevue pilot, who Wales prosecuted in a failed fraud case in 2000. Agents theorized that the pilot held a grudge.
Wales lived in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood and was murdered in 2001. He was working in the basement office when someone shot him through a window.
In February of last year, federal officials increased the reward for information about Wales's murder to over $1.5 million.
The reward and plea for information were not aimed at one person, but "a group of people" who the FBI thought might have had information.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan even contributed $10,000 of her personal money to the reward. She urged anyone who knew something to come forward and help provide closure for Wales's family.
"It is human nature to talk. Everybody talks to somebody," Durkan said. "The person who did this talked to somebody."
Wales's murder remains unsolved.
