Crewman Charged With Murder In Death of Fisherman in Ilwaco

Erin Reiman has been charged with murder of fisherman John Adkins. The crewmen were in Ilwaco aboard the F/V TIGER on July 5, 2009 when the murder is alleged to have taken place. According to information contained in the Court files, the murder happened as follows: Reiman and Adkins had recently become partners in the fishing vessel and brought the vessel to Ilwaco for repairs. Adkins and another crewman, Walter Bremmer, had been visiting bars in Ilwaco and thereafter, Adkins returned to the vessel. When Bremmer returned to the vessel, he witnessed Reiman and Adkins fighting. Reiman punched Adkins in the face and allegedly banged Adkins head into a window and threw him down the vessel’s stairs. Reiman continued to beat Adkins, he then wrapped an extension cord around Adkins’ neck and strangled him to death. Bremmer claims Reiman threatened to kill him too and ordered Bremmer to help him clean up the murder scene. The two men then put Adkins in a sleeping which they tied up with the extension cord. They stored Adkins’ body in the engine room and pretended to search for him the following day. The next day the men left port and about three miles off shore, dumped Adkins’ body overboard, weighed down with fishing gear. The murder was investigated by the Oregon State Police department and the Long Beach Police department. It appears that Adkins will stand trial on the second degree murder charges in Pacific County, Washington.