By Al Camp
The Chronicle

     OMAK - Omak police arrested a 47-year-old man on suspicion of the rape and homicide of one woman and rape and attempted homicide of another woman in the south end of town.
     Kelly E. Small was brought to the police station for questioning around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, then taken to jail around 4:30 p.m. to be booked, Police Chief Larry Schreckengast said.
     Small allegedly raped and killed Sandy Bauer, 51, on March 6, 1998, and raped and attempted to kill a woman, now 78, Feb. 25, 2006.
     Small was booked on two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree burglary, first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder.
     He is to appear in a preliminary hearing to hear anticipated charges at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, in Okanogan County Superior Court.
     Detective Jeff Koplin, when he started his position April 1, 2009, set the unsolved cases as a priority.
     Koplin said he took a new tack in the investigation last month, re-interviewing all the male witnesses and asking for them to volunteer DNA samples.
     Small, who had built Bauer's apartment off Okoma Drive and also lives on the south end of town, was one of those interviewed and who gave a DNA sample.
     Small was found to have not returned home Jan. 19, a couple days after giving the DNA sample, Koplin said. He was reported as a missing person Jan. 26.
     Allegedly Small's DNA matched DNA from the crime scenes.DNA tests were received by Omak police on Monday, Feb. 1.
     Small was picked up by his wife in the Spokane area on Saturday, Jan. 30, Schreckengast said.
     "He cited financial and business problems and said he had to get away from it," Schreckengast said.
     Schreckengast said blood and hair samples were too small to test after the incidents. Improved testing led to the recent tests, he said.
     The crime-scene DNA helped eliminated several suspects in the cases, Schreckengast said. He said tests initially were attempted in 2001 from the Bauer residence but it was found not enough material was available.