SEATTLE -- It has been almost three years since Ron Whitehead was fatally shot on his way to work.
At first, it looked like a deadly carjacking. But prosecutors say his murder was planned by his wife and step-son, and a teenager pulled the trigger.
Wilson Sayachack, now 19, walked into King County Superior Court on Thursday as the lead defendant in a case that investigators said involved a million dollars, a love triangle, and a hired gun.
After her husband was killed, Velma Whitehead spent months pleading for her killer to come forward, even inviting reporters into her home for interviews.
"We have to live with the fact that he's gone every day. But that person has to live with the fact that he murdered someone everyday," Velma said in an interview after the murder. "So who is worse off?"
Then, in June 2006, her son and Sayachak were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Detectives said it took that long to unravel cell-phone records, forensic evidence, and a trail of money.
King County Deputy Prosecutor Craig Peterson told jurors that the Whiteheads were deep in debt and that Velma, who was having an affair, collected more than $1 million in insurance, property and investments when Ron was killed.
Sayachak, Velma, and John Ogden, her son from a previous marriage, have all pleaded not guilty.
According to charging papers, Ogden and Sayachak were in Ron Whitehead's car when the murder happened. Prosecutors say Sayachack was in the trunk, then pushed the back seat forward and shot Whitehead in the back of the head.
"The bullets used to kill Ron Whitehead and the bullets found in his bedroom had been in the same gun," Peterson said.
Then after the two pushed Whitehead out of the car into the intersection, it was the stepson John Ogden who allegedly shot Whitehead three more times while he was on the ground, court documents say.
Sayachak's lawyer said the teen had nothing to do with the killing.
"The detectives when they investigated the case, jumped to a conclusion," said defense attorney Veronica Freitas. "And their conclusion is wrong, and the evidence just doesn't support it.
"I think that clearly Mrs. Ogden-Whitehead and her son were involved in some way. But who else may have been involved, we don't know. But it wasn't Mr. Sayachak."
Velma and her son are scheduled to go on trial this spring.
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