Over the years, he also branched out into trucking and construction businesses. Carlile, who was 63 at the time of his murder, filed for bankruptcy in 1999 after Washington state’s labor department secured nearly $100,000 in judgments against him. For years, he sought approval to subdivide his property for housing. When he finally got permission, the Great Recession hit.
“Doug was always kind of a big dreamer,” said contractor Pamp Maiers, who helped with the housing proposal. “He was good at everything except paying his bills.”
Henrikson was a different type -- a young charmer with a bodybuilder’s physique, a pearly smile and a long rap sheet. Now 35, he grew up in central Oregon and over a decade was convicted there of crimes including theft, burglary, attempted assault, attempting to elude police and unlawful manufacture of marijuana.
Pattern Emerges
Henrikson moved to central Washington at age 22, setting himself up with help from his parents as a mason contractor. He worked on large commercial projects and began a pattern of failing to pay into union benefits funds on behalf of his workers and running limited liability companies set up by his second wife, Stacey. She couldn’t be located for comment.
“There were always payroll problems,” said Tim Thompson, business manager for a bricklayers union in Washington. “It was always kind of a chase with this guy. He lies to people’s faces and smiles at them, and people buy it.”
Carlile’s widow, Elberta, told Spokane police that her husband met Henrikson about two years before the murder through Tim Scott, a building contractor in Ephrata, Washington. Scott knew both men through construction projects over the years and said he considered them good friends until, he said, Henrikson cheated him in a North Dakota trucking venture.
Burned Bridges
“James had a habit of burning every bridge he touched,” Scott said. “I told Doug, ’Do not get involved with James.’ He said, ‘It’s my destiny, North Dakota’s my destiny.’ And it sure was.”
Henrikson and Carlile went in on two business ventures, a trucking company called Bridgewater Energy and an oilfield development firm, Kingdom Dynamics Enterprises. Henrikson helped Carlile and other partners buy an oil lease on 640 acres located within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation for $2 million.