Tumalo murder victim ‘s husband held in new wife’s killing

Fifteen years after Wade Phillips’ wife and two other people were brutally murdered at a Tumalo home and the killer was sentenced to life in prison without parole, Phillips faces murder and attempted murder charges, accused of fatally shooting his current wife and trying to kill three other people, including their child.

Phillips was arraigned Wednesday by video hookup from the Jackson County Jail to a Medford courtroom, appearing calm while handcuffed and wearing a protective vest, the Medford Mail Tribune reported.

Phillips, 42, is charged with murder in the death of his wife, Cynthia Michelle Phillips, 37, and three counts of attempted murder involving their child, as well as two other people, the paper reported.

He is being held without bail, under Measure 11 guidelines, and due back in court next Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.

Sheriff’s deputies found his wife’s body Tuesday morning after 911 dispatchers got a call reporting shots fired and a woman injured at a home on Truax Road, in an unincorporated area of Central Point. Soon, a SWAT team and an Oregon State Police robot were called in for a door-to-door search of the neighborhood, eventually finding him in the couple’s attic.

Cynthia Phillips has family in Bend. They reached out to NewsChannel 21, and while not wishing to talk on camera, they said they were horrified to hear the tragic news about her killing.

In July of 1999, Phillips’ estranged wife, Dawn Rene Phillips, 22, was one of three people killed by Robert Staudinger after a domestic dispute at a trailer in Tumalo. Officials said the woman had been stabbed with a kitchen knife about three dozen times.

Staudinger later admitted shooting roommate and fellow Bulletin mailroom employee Sharon Morris during an argument, then killing Michael Morton, 27, and his friend, Dawn Phillips, after they arrived at the home, fearing they would discover what he’d done.

In the fall of 2001, Staudinger accepted a plea agreement, apologizing in court for the killings, and received a life sentence without parole, which he is serving at the Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla. The Oregonian reported then that the couple had filed for divorce the previous fall, but it was not clear if it had been finalized.

Authorities have provided no indication of any connection between the Tumalo and Central Point crimes 15 years apart — except Wade Phillips was a victim’s husband in the first case, and the alleged killer in the second, 15 years later.

Speaking at Staudinger’s sentencing in 2001, Wade Phillips said Staudinger’s apologies “didn’t mean a thing to me – wasted words.” He and other family members said the death penalty was warranted in the case and, as he put it, “I think he got the easy way out.”

He said the plea deal will “never bring closure to what happened. Me and the girls go to the grave site every week. Hopefully, with time, it’ll get easier.”