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April 1, 2026
A guilty plea has been entered in the murder case of Cesar Reyes from November 2024 in Ariel.
The Cowlitz County Prosecutor’s Office says Joseph Klimas pleaded guilty to First-Degree Murder and Tampering with a Witness. As part of the plea, Klimas acknowledged there was enough evidence for a jury to find he committed the premeditated murder of Reyes by shooting him in the head with a .45-caliber pistol off a logging road near Lewis River Road.
The Tampering with a Witness charge stems from Klimas admitting he told another man to write a letter falsely claiming someone else had committed the murder and to send it to his attorney.
In accepting the plea, Klimas allowed the court to consider evidence including messages he sent on November 10, 2024, arranging to meet Reyes; phone location data showing he traveled to the location where Reyes was shot the next day; and a jail video from Clark County Jail where Klimas referenced a shooting, said he “had done the same thing,” and referred to the victim taking a “vacation.”
Sentencing is scheduled for April 15.
