Bradley "Brad" Wren

James Bradley "Brad" Wren, 35, of Preston, formerly of Malaga, died Aug. 10, 1996, at Preston.

He was born on March 4, 1961, to Rex and Shirley (Bradley) Wren at Aurora, Mo. At a young age he moved with his family to the Wenatchee Valley, attending schools in Wenatchee and graduating from Wenatchee High School in 1979.

On Aug. 17, 1979, he joined the U.S. Air Force. Following his honorable discharge on Aug. 2, 1983, he returned to the Wenatchee Valley where he worked as a machinist. In 1989, he moved to Preston. He was working as a semi truck driver from the Kent area.

While in Preston, Brad was a flight instructor for remote controlled airplanes. He was a member of the Marion Moor Plane Club. Brad also restored old cars and loved his dogs.

Survivors include his parents, Rex and Shirley Wren, Malaga; one brother, Terry Wren, Everett; a grandfather, James L. Wren, Wenatchee; a grandmother, Virginia Bradley, Aurora, Mo.; and two nephews, Christopher Rex Wren and Arthur Del Wren, both of Everett. He was preceded in death by his grandmother in 1982, and a grandfather in 1987.

Arrangements are by Telford's Chapel of the Valley, East Wenatchee.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Mar 6 2019, 6:44:11 UTC

POLICEMAN ACCUSED OF KILLING MAN TO COVER UP HIS HOUSE FIRE

Associated Press Published: November 17, 1996 12:00 am

A veteran police officer set his home on fire to collect insurance then killed a man he had set up to take the blame, prosecutors say. The officer is now charged with first-degree murder.

Mathias Bachmeier, a King County officer for 25 years, was charged Friday in a case prosecutors called "a complicated web of deceit.""It is a case that began as an arson for profit and ended as an aggravated murder to conceal the identity of the arsonist," prosecutor Norm Maleng said.

Aggravated murder is punishable by either death or life in prison without parole.

Investigators say Bachmeier set his home on fire July 9 to collect insurance but set out to find someone to blame when police began looking at him as the prime suspect.

Prosecutors say he found James Wren, 35, who was last seen Aug. 10 as Bachmeier drove him away in his squad car.

Wren had called 911 to complain about a neighbor. And though a dispatcher sent two other officers to respond, prosecutors said, Bachmeier announced over the radio that he would handle it by himself.

Bachmeier told neighbors he was going to take Wren to a nearby police substation to take a written statement, court documents say. That was the last anyone heard from Wren; his bank account has had no activity and his pet dogs were abandoned and ultimately destroyed by county authorities.

Prosecutors say Bachmeier extracted a false written confession from Wren about the fire, then killed him and dumped his body at an unknown location.

Police and prosecutors don't believe Bachmeier had met Wren before.