By Al Camp
The Chronicle

     OMAK - An Omak man arrested Feb. 2 for a 12-year-old homicide heard anticipated charges Feb. 3 that included an aggravating factor of having been done with sexual motivations.
     The aggravating factors were part of two anticipated first-degree burglary charges, a first-degree murder charge and a first-degree attempted murder charge heard by Kelly E. Small, 47.
     Small also heard anticipated charges of two counts of first-degree rape.
     He is suspected of raping and killing Sandy Bauer, 51, on March 6, 1998, and raping and attempting to kill an elderly Omak woman, now 78, on Feb. 25, 2006. Both incidents occurred in Omak.
     Okanogan County Superior Court Judge Jack Burchard set bail at $1 million.
     Family members of the deceased, along with the defendant's son and daughter, were in court.
     County Prosecutor Karl Sloan said he was not sure if the state would charge as a capital offense, which carries the death penalth and bail is not allowed.
     Public defense attorney Michael Haas, who represented Small at the hearing, asked for bail of $250,000, citing Small’s limited criminal history, marriage of almost 26 years and being unemployed.
     Sloan said Small had given his DNA to Omak investigators Jan. 15 and disappeared Jan. 19 after selling a four-wheeler for cash and then leaving the state for California, Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nev., before returning to the area around Jan. 30.
     The judge agreed that the higher bail was appropriate to assure Small's appearance for his next hearing, an arraignment on Feb. 11.
     Sloan outlined how Small came to be arrested, starting with helping remodeling Bauer's apartment. Small allegedly had been with a close friend of Bauer's at the Cariboo Motor Inn, Okanogan, on the night of Bauer's death.
     Sloan said reports had Small allegedly coming home around 4 a.m. but that Small told investigators that he was home several hours earlier.
     During the construction Small allegedly had a key to Bauer's apartment. Bauer's son, Nick Adams, said he never got the key back, though Small told investigators he returned the key, Sloan said.
     In the other incident, Sloan alleged Small, a carpenter, entered through an air conditioner window to beat and strangle the elderly woman while also raping her.
     DNA, which included semen from the Bauer residence and blood at the elderly woman's residence on Juniper, allegedly matched DNA voluntarily given by Small Jan. 15 to Omak police, Sloan said.
     The evidence from Bauer's residence, which allegedly included a single pubic hair, was too scant to test 10 years ago. Recent improvements allowed the hair to be tested two years ago, Omak police Chief Larry Schreckengast said.