PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – DNA evidence was used to both exonerate a 26-year-old man who investigators thought detonated a small pipe bomb inside a Fred Meyer store earlier this summer and connect another man seen in surveillance video.
In June 2016, Joshua Hines was arrested and booked on charges of 1st-degree arson, manufacturing a destructive device and possession of a destructive device. The case was brought before a grand jury and an indictment was handed up.
Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Glen Banfield said Hines was indicted based on the “circumstantial evidence” investigators had developed. Evidence from the blast zone was turned over to the Oregon State Police crime lab.
The result came back which “excluded” Hines and identified Monte Robin Kaija Jr., according to Banfield.
Kaija was arrested in Southeast Portland on Wednesday and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on the exact charges leveled against Hines.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Kaija “ignited a small pipe bomb in the ‘travel size’ section of the Fred Meyer store located at 5253 Southeast 82nd Avenue.”
The incident was captured on video.
“The defendant is captured on video surveillance in the exact location where the bomb exploded moments before it exploded,” Banfield writes.
Kaija’s DNA was found on a piece of tape that he used to build the pipe bomb, Banfield writes.
“During an interview, [Kaija] admitted to making the bomb and detonating it at the Fred Meyer’s [store],” Banfield writes.
The district attorney’s office filed a motion to dismiss the case against Hines on Thursday morning. He was released from custody.
At the time of Hines’ arrest, the Portland Police Bureau sent out a press release that read, “Arson Investigators are now asking for the public’s help to identify a potential victim in the case. A surveillance image is being released to aid in the investigation.”
Banfield confirmed the individual in the surveillance image is Kaija.
Kaija appeared in court on Thursday and plead not guilty.
Filed under: Crime, Editor's Pick, Multnomah County, Portland
