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Woman pleads guilty, sentenced to 10 years in prison for murdering man at Bellingham homeless encampment

Woman pleads guilty, sentenced to 10 years in prison for murdering man at Bellingham homeless encampment

Photo: Saga Communications/Sam Kristofferson


BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A woman has pleaded guilty to murdering a man at a Bellingham homeless encampment last year.

36-year-old Coleen Clark was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years prison for the murder of Zachariah Janusiewicz at an encampment near Tull Road in April 2024.

Court documents state Janusiewicz was planning to sell fentanyl at the encampment when Clark and another person accused him of stealing from them. Clark began chasing him, but she tripped and fired a gun shot that hit him in the torso.

Janusiewicz was wheeled out of the encampment and sent to the hospital, where he later died.

Clark and her alleged accomplice, 34-year-old Gale Jefferson, were arrested just over two weeks after the incident.

Jefferson has pleaded not guilty and has a jury trial set to begin on July 14.

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