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44 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, April 5, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 15, 2005 Jaffke pleads guilty in 1993 Ashland slaying By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune The 12-year-old homicide case of an Ashland train collector likely would have gone unsolved if the killer hadn’t confessed. Walter Earl Jaffke, 34, pleaded guilty Monday in Jackson County Circuit Court to a charge of first-degree manslaughter in the 1993 death of Ed Krahel. Circuit Court Judge Bill Purdy found Jaffke was insane and suffering from schizophrenia when he beat Krahel, 44, over the head with a wine bottle and set his Meade Street home ablaze. The plea brought to a close a case that many thought would never be solved. "I just think it’s incredible that someone would confess to something 12 years after the fact," said Ashland resident Liz Redler, a friend of Krahel. Jaffke was arrested in February 2004 only after offering information about Krahel’s murder. Beth Heckert, chief deputy district attorney for Jackson County, said a California Highway Patrol officer saw Jaffke walking alongside a freeway and stopped to talk to him. She discovered Jaffke had run away from his step-father, who was driving him from Oregon to California to place Jaffke in mental-health treatment. Advertisement When the officer asked Jaffke if he had ever been arrested, he told her details of Krahel’s murder and said he had never been caught, Heckert said. "Absent of him telling us that he had done this, we wouldn’t have ever focused on him," Heckert said. Jaffke was never a suspect because he had no known connection to Krahel, Heckert said. The two men met at a bar only hours before Krahel’s slaying on Jan. 25, 1993, Heckert said. Jaffke was a student at Southern Oregon University, but he left Ashland without finishing out the term after killing Krahel, the prosecutor added. He most recently had been living in Carlton with a girlfriend. Jaffke told police that Krahel invited him back to his house, where the two got into an argument and he hit Krahel several times over the head with a wine bottle. Jaffke then set curtains on fire with a piece of cardboard ignited on an electric kitchen stove burner, Heckert said. Neighbors reported the fire at 3:02 a.m. Krahel died of his head injuries before the fire broke out, Heckert said. Jaffke never explained what provoked him and said he didn’t even realize Krahel was dead, Heckert said. The charge was reduced to first-degree manslaughter based on Jaffke’s mental diagnosis and the fact that he didn’t intend to kill Krahel. Well-known in Ashland for his fondness of railroad memorabilia, Krahel ran for mayor of Ashland in 1980, losing to Gordon Medaris. Purdy ordered Jaffke’s commitment to the Oregon State Hospital in Salem. He will spend the next 20 years under the jurisdiction of the state’s Psychiatric Security Review Board. Unlike in prison, convicts receive treatment, medication and instruction on managing their illness. Many eventually are released back into their communities. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Fasa Advertisement s