Record South Whidbey
SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 40 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Clinton woman pleads guilty for aiding alleged killer
INSIDE: State bound, Sports, A8
ATlantis rising
Estranged husband main suspect in shooting death
at Langley, claimed Dunya was with her on Whidbey at A 41-year-old Clinton the time of the murder. As a result, Buchanan woman accused of being an accomplice in the shotgun pleaded guilty to rendering criminal assismurder of her tance in the boyfriend’s first degree. wife pleaded “I thought I could “We believe guilty to a do it. I thought this charge lesser charge more accuWednesday I could keep rately reflects in Whatcom my family, but the facts of C o u n t y the case,” the guilt got Superior McEachran Court. to me. ” said. Kara Jo Kara Jo Buchanan Under the Buchanan plea bargain, confessed in Buchanan will a phone mestestify against sage to shootDunya in a ing the Bellingham resident trial that starts Monday. last July. She attempted to kill herself by slitting Buchanan and Dunya were her wrists, but deputies originally co-defendants found her wandering the facing first-degree murder beach at Double Bluff on charges. Buchanan will be senthe west side of Whidbey tenced after the trial. near Freeland. She was transported to Harborview McEachran said he will Medical Center in Seattle recommend she receive 12 months in jail. for treatment. The evidence against But now investigators Dunya includes surveildon’t believe Buchanan was directly involved in the lance video near the vicJuly 3 murder of Kriston tim’s apartment on the day Peterson-Dunya, a 32-year- of the murder, according old writer and mother of a to the police report. The young boy. Her estranged video shows Buchanan’s husband, 39-year-old Keayn car parked near the apartDunya, is accused of shoot- ment, but a man matching Dunya’s appearance is ing her with a shotgun. Whatcom County shown getting out of the Prosecuting Attorney David car with a shotgun. He was McEachran said Buchanan wearing a jacket matching didn’t know about Dunya’s one later recovered from plans beforehand and she Buchanan’s car. The man disappeared wasn’t there when the shooting occurred. She did, from view for seven minhowever, assist Dunya in utes, then reappeared an attempt to escape jus- carrying the shotgun and tice after the fact by con- drove away. Dunya and the victim fessing to the crime and providing a false alibi for were going through a messy Dunya, according to the divorce and battling for prosecutor. Buchanan, formerly a massage specialist See Aiding, A9 at Spa Essencia at The Inn By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Team Atlantis, Inc. members Hannah McConnaughey, Steven Wilson and Haley McConnaughey work on their remotely operated vehicle before dropping it in the pool at Island Athletic Club during a recent practice. The underwater robot group was aided by mentors like Eric Wilson and Ashley McConnaughey.
Blown fuse bursts South End robotics team’s chances at international contest BY BEN WATANABE Staff reporter
FREELAND — Many hands make light work, and a PVC pipe frame with a remote motor helps, too. Those three ideas helped a group of five South Whidbey kids build a remotely operated vehicle for the Marine Advanced Technology Education’s ROV competition May 12 in Federal Way. Out of 15 teams, Team Atlantis, Inc. finished eighth. “That’s basically without being able to compete in the pool,” said team mentor Ashley McConnaughey. “Based on what they know they absolutely would’ve placed in the top three.” Kaj Olson, Chris Wilson, Steven Wilson, Hannah McConnaughey and Haley McConnaughey formed Team Atlantic, Inc. to build a ROV, which the team calls a “bot,” capable of maneuvering around simulated shipwrecks, lifting canisters and siphoning oil. At the Pacific Northwest regional, Team Atlantis was sunk by a blown fuse during its second mission. The
lost points may have cost the group its trip to Florida for the international competition. Nonetheless, not completing one of the major scoring categories is costly. “If we had perfectly completed our second mission, we would have gotten 175 points and that would’ve taken us to top five, or hopefully top two,” said Hannah McConnaughey, the team’s communications director. Ashley McConnaughey, who, in addition to being a mentor, is two of the team members’ mom, attended the competition at the Weyerhaeuser Aquatic Center last Saturday. She watched helplessly as the team tried to salvage the mission with a blown fuse. “They completely rallied, ditched the mentors and figured everything out,” McConnaughey said. “They were highly disappointed.” There was a silver lining to the disappointing finish, however. The team’s poster won first place. A matte black poster board was covered with the team’s mission statement, an abstract, company information about
the team, design specifications, a history of creating the ROV and the competition’s theme of “Shipwrecks,” and why it matters (oil in the oceans from shipwrecks is a bad thing, such as the Exxon Valdez and the Deepwater Horizon oil spills). A large, robotic octopus on the masthead, along with the bot’s name, ROV Botnica, helped the poster be a head turner. “It was really funny actually, people were walking by and taking pictures with their cameras and their phones,” said Hannah, 15. “The judges were impressed with how professional it was. The black poster really made it stand out.” The blown fuse seized the motor and caused steering problems. Loss of steering was a big hit because the bot needed precision piloting to puncture an inch-wide nozzle filled with petroleum jelly to extract the simulated oil, actually a dye-colored high saline solution. Removing the solution was difficult enough with See Robotics, A9