Investigators say a confession-style note, a driver’s account and crime-scene details form the early public record against three suspects.
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The public case against three people charged in a fatal beating in Klamath Falls rests on a stark set of early records: a probable cause affidavit, a statement from one suspect and a letter police say another suspect wrote to his girlfriend describing the killing.
At this stage, the file is not a full trial narrative. It is a charging record, and that matters. It lays out what investigators say they can presently support: Kolton Esparza was found naked and badly beaten in a vacant house near the Eulolona Trailhead; his wrists were tied with rope; he later died from severe head trauma; and the people now charged include a man police say admitted in writing that he beat Esparza with a rock and his shoes. What it does not fully answer is motive, the precise role of each defendant during the fatal attack, and what happened in the minutes between the trailhead stop and the discovery of the victim.
The most arresting detail in the charging coverage is the letter attributed to Reggie L. Townsend Jr. According to the affidavit described in reporting, Townsend wrote to his girlfriend, “I beat Kolton with a rock and stomped him out with my shoes.” Investigators treated the note as evidence that directly linked Townsend to the fatal assault. It was not the only piece of evidence, but it gave the case a plain-spoken confession-style line that prosecutors are likely to revisit because it appears to match the injuries described by police. By the time the letter surfaced publicly, Townsend had already been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, tampering with evidence, unlawful use of a weapon and felon in possession of a firearm. Police also said a .22 caliber rifle was found with him when he was arrested, despite a felony record that barred gun possession.
A second major pillar of the public record is the account given by Jamie S. Harrington, Townsend’s sister. Harrington told investigators, according to the affidavit, that she picked up Townsend and two men from an address off Summers Lane in her 2006 Dodge Dakota. One of those men was Esparza. The filing says Esparza asked to be dropped off at another place, but Harrington refused and drove the group to the Eulolona Trailhead. Harrington then said the three men got out and walked east on Cypress Avenue. Roughly 10 minutes later, she said, she left the area and picked up two of the men walking on foot. The affidavit emphasizes that the vacant residence where Esparza was found was directly east of the trailhead and along the route described in that account, allowing detectives to align a suspect statement with the physical setting.
The third pillar is the crime scene itself. Officers were sent to a welfare check at 875 Cypress Ave. at about 10:52 a.m. on Feb. 26 after a caller reported that an unhoused man was inside and appeared to have been assaulted. They found Esparza naked and critically hurt. He was taken first to Sky Lakes Medical Center and then to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, where he later died. The affidavit says his body showed signs of torture and that his wrists were bound with rope. Those details raised the stakes of the case immediately and shaped the charging decisions that followed. They also gave investigators grounds to allege restraint and prolonged violence, not a sudden fight that ended in a single blow.
The arrests reflected an effort to separate alleged roles while still tying all three defendants to the same chain of events. Harrington, 49, was arrested first on Feb. 27. Townsend, 34, was arrested late Feb. 28. Wesley J. Powless, 39, was arrested March 2. Powless was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree assault and tampering with evidence. Harrington was reported charged with kidnapping and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Public reporting has not yet filled in every gap between those charge lists and the conduct prosecutors believe each person carried out. That is a common feature of early felony cases: arrest documents often identify a basic theory of participation long before every witness statement and forensic result becomes public.
The record also includes one fact that drew attention beyond the immediate killing allegations. Townsend had recently been released from prison after a manslaughter sentence, according to the reporting on his arrest. On Nov. 30, 2025, he posted on Facebook that he was “fresh outta prison” and “vibing” with family. By March, investigators were citing a very different set of allegations around him. That contrast became part of the public framing of the case, though it is not itself proof of the homicide allegations. What matters more in court will be whether prosecutors can connect the letter, Harrington’s account, the scene evidence, any forensic testing and the conduct of Powless into one coherent narrative that survives defense challenges.
For now, the public case remains a charging-stage record, with Townsend’s preliminary hearing publicly reported for March 9 and the larger unanswered questions likely to be tested as more documents, motions and hearing records emerge.
Author note: Last updated March 31, 2026.