Sometimes the answer really is blowing in the wind.

Detective Kip Hollenbeck had just arrived to the scene of a homicide Friday morning in downtown Spokane when he noticed a piece of paper in the street.

Nearby was the body of 26-year-old Aaren Tyrone Cole, who had been shot once in the back. He died on Division Street, between Spokane Falls Boulevard and Main Avenue.

"Blowing in the street was a traffic ticket with a name on it," Police Chief Roger Bragdon said. "That ticket was the clue that got us to the victim's name."

The traffic ticket had been written Thursday by a Washington State Patrol trooper. Cole, who was driving a rental car from California, was pulled over for a traffic infraction and cited for driving with a suspended license. The car was impounded.

The trooper made a note that 21-year-old Alyssa C. Knight was in the car with Cole, Bragdon said.

Knight "turned out to be one of the suspects who set this entire thing up," Bragdon said.

Knight and three other suspects have been charged with first- degree murder in connection with what police say was a robbery for drugs and money that turned deadly.

Spokane District Court Commissioner Brad Chinn ordered that the suspects be held on bonds of $500,000 each. The suspects are Knight of Coeur d'Alene; Terrance L. Davis, 21, of Spokane and California; Peter C. Knypstra, 19, of Spokane; and Dione J. Williams, 23.

Detectives arrested Knight and Davis on Friday night. They arrested Knypstra on Saturday night.

On Sunday afternoon, Williams, whom police believe is the shooter, called police from the Safeway Store on North Hamilton.

"He got tired of all his friends calling him," Capt. Glenn Winkey said. "So he called us to come pick him up."

Bragdon said investigators believe the four suspects were waiting in a parking lot Friday morning off Division to set up Cole for a robbery. Cole ran away and he was shot in the back, police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a release.

Cole often traveled back and forth from his home in Long Beach, Calif., to sell drugs in Spokane, Bragdon said.

"I'm ashamed to say that Spokane is a great drug market," Bragdon said. "South California people learned this ... and they are selling a lot of drugs in Spokane."

Dealers can get twice the money for cocaine in Spokane that they can in Los Angeles, Bragdon said.

"We can't even begin to slow it down," he said.

However, Bragdon praised the detectives for quickly breaking the case.

After obtaining Knight's name, the detectives used some "skilled" interviewing to obtain the other three suspects' names, Bragdon said.

Winkey praised Hollenbeck's attention to detail.

"Picking up that piece of paper, that's just flat good detective work," he said.

Bragdon added: "That little innocuous piece could be a solution to a major crime."

In court on Monday, private defense attorney Tracy Collins asked for reasonable bond for Knypstra.

Collins argued that Knypstra has a limited criminal history, has lived in Spokane for two years with his father and stepmother and has been gainfully employed the entire time.

"He's not a person who's a major player in this," Collins said.

Defense attorney Frank Cikutovich made a similar request on behalf of Knight, who has no criminal history other than a misdemeanor theft charge from earlier this year.

Cikutovich said Knight is a lifelong resident of Coeur d'Alene. She's also a full-time student with a 3-year-old daughter.

In a later interview, Cikutovich said Knight has five siblings, all of whom he described as "contributing members of society."

"She has one brother who is a police officer and another who is a federal agent," Cikutovich said.

Kevin Davis had just arrived from Houston on Monday for his son's court hearing. He said his son told him that he was at a friend's house at the time the shooting occurred.

"This whole thing appears to be built on what (Knight) told police," Davis said. "I wonder what makes them think that she holds the key to the case."

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