Suspect in murder will be extradited

NICHOLAS LEDDEN/Daily Inter Lake

A man arrested in Kalispell after a police pursuit through Evergreen and wanted in Cleveland for the murder of a 12-year-old girl waived his right to an extradition hearing, Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan said Thursday.

Eric Romel "Big Willie" Wilson, 35, should be returned to Ohio in the next few weeks, Corrigan said.

After he is extradited, criminal endangerment charges filed in Flathead County for the accident Wilson allegedly caused while fleeing police will be dismissed without prejudice, said Corrigan.

Wilson's arraignment on those charges was vacated and not rescheduled Thursday in anticipation of his impending departure.

"In our opinion, the more pressing charge is the homicide back in Ohio," Corrigan said.

The decision to dismiss the criminal endangerment charges was reached after consultation with the two women Wilson hit nearly head on, Corrigan said.

Wilson will continue to be held at the Flathead County Detention Center in lieu of $1.25 million bail until authorities from Cleveland arrive to pick him up.

He is wanted there for the Sept. 1 shooting death of 12-year-old Asteve' "Cookie" Thomas. He also faces drug and weapons charges.

Wilson fled after Thomas was killed in the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland during a gun battle between himself and another man.

An innocent bystander, Thomas was shot in the neck and killed.

He was arrested in Kalispell on Sept. 11 following a 10-day manhunt that stretched across six states after crashing the van in which he was fleeing from police into two other cars near the intersection of East Idaho Street and Fourth Avenue East North.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com