'Potential suspect' in disappearance of Lacey grandmother captured in E. Washington

LACEY, Wash. -- Thurston County sheriff’s detectives say a "potential suspect" in the disappearance of Lacey grandmother Gail Doyle was taken into custody Thursday morning in Eastern Washington.

Detectives said James E. Stidd, a longtime family acquaintance of Doyle and a felon, was stopped by Washington State Patrol on Interstate 90 near Ritzville. He was then taken into custody and transferred to Thurston County sheriff's deputies.

Stidd is being booked on four counts of unlawful possession of a firearm at the Thurston County Jail.

Doyle hasn't been seen since last Thursday, at Devoe St. SE and Martin Way E. in Olympia.

According to a Thurston County sheriff's news release,  Doyle was last seen on June 2 in the presence of Stidd. At that event, Stidd and Doyle were at a local tavern and engaged in a verbal argument. They eventually left together in Stidd's Honda Civic.

The news release said Stidd told Olympic police detectives that he and and Doyle continued to argue as they drove away from the tavern and that she eventually asked to get out of the car. He said he let her out on Martin Way in the area of the Azteca Bowling Lanes and he didn't see her again.

Based on information, Olympia police conducted a search of Stidd's residence in unincorporated Thurston County on Wednesday and found "significant ... evidence" and asked the county sheriff's office to take the primary lead in the case.

The county sheriff "is currently seeking the location of James Stidd" and his car. "Mr. Stidd is a potential suspect in the current disappearance of Gail Doyle," the sheriff's news release said.