Kitsap County prosecutors backed away from charges they filed in July alleging a woman conspired with her fiance — who was later shot and killed — to kidnap a Bremerton man who has been missing since March and is presumed dead.

Though authorities jailed Amber Lynn Ableman, 30, and charged her with being an accomplice to first-degree kidnapping in Kitsap County Superior Court for the death of Andre Coleman, 28, they switched gears on Aug. 20. Prosecutors dismissed the charge “for further investigation,” handing the case back to Bremerton police detectives.

Detectives had built a circumstantial case using social media and cellphone tower records they allege showed Ableman had lured Coleman in coordination with Steven Earl Kerr, 39. As for a motive, detectives wrote in court records that a source said the plot against Coleman was over “a theft of money and/or drugs.”

Further, sources told detectives that Kerr had attempted to recruit others to help lure a man named “Dre” to a property in Mason County to “capture, kill and dispose of the body,” according to Ableman’s charging documents.

“It appears Amber Ableman contacted Coleman with the purpose of delivering him to Steven Kerr, who intended to kill Coleman,” a detective wrote.

Coleman’s mother, Leslie Taganas, had hoped the case against Ableman would result in the discovery of Coleman’s body. When she got a call from prosecutors the day before a hearing, she assumed they were calling to prepare her for graphic testimony that might be shared in court. Instead, it was to tell her the kidnapping case against Ableman was dismissed.

She is holding out hope that she will be able to provide Coleman a proper funeral and that those involved in Coleman’s disappearance will be held responsible.

“As a mother I just want justice,” she said. The same day the charges were dismissed, Taganas set up a Gofundme account to raise money to reward those who might come forward to assist investigators.

“He struggled with addiction but under no circumstances did my son deserve this,” Taganas said. “It’s a disease, we needed to help him.”

Charging standards 

Kitsap County Prosecutor Chad Enright said attorneys learned new information about the case, leading them to toss the charges, and maintained the decision to charge Ableman was made in accordance with the office’s published standard.

“Even at the time it was charged the investigation was still ongoing,” Enright said, adding: “As new information comes in we have to factor that in, and we don’t feel like given what we now know it could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The office’s standards for charging, which are posted on its county web page, say:  “Charges should not be filed until the investigation is complete.”

Further, the standards say: “The prosecuting attorney should ensure through follow-up communication with the investigators that a thorough factual investigation has been conducted before a decision to prosecute is made. The prosecuting attorney may delay charging pending a complete and full investigation by law enforcement.”

Enright clarified that prosecutors believed the Bremerton police investigation was complete for Ableman’s part in the alleged plot, but not complete for others who may have been involved. He declined to elaborate on the new information and declined to say if he believed charges would be refiled against Ableman.

Ableman’s attorney, Jonathan Morrison of Port Orchard, declined to comment.

Records: Ableman said she kicked Coleman out of her car

During an instant message conversation in mid-April with an ex-girlfriend of Coleman's who was searching for him, Ableman admitted to meeting with Coleman the day he was last seen but said she kicked him out of her car.

“To put it simply, I didn’t like what he was asking so I told him to get out of my car and for once in my life, a man listened to me,” Ableman wrote in the messages, according to court documents. “The last I saw him was in my rear-view mirror.”

Police searched the Mason County property in June but did not locate Coleman. However, a man interviewed at the property told detectives that Kerr was an “enforcer” for the Free Souls motorcycle club. Bremerton police alleged in court documents other sources who knew Kerr said he had talked about killing people.

Kerr was never charged in Coleman’s death. A month after Coleman was last heard from, March 1 — when police allege social media records show he was planning to meet Ableman — Kerr was shot and killed at a property in South Kitsap.

On April 5, a woman at the property near Olalla called 911 to report hearing five gunshots and finding Kerr’s body. 

Prior to the shooting, a witness told Kitsap County sheriff's investigators they saw Kerr and Andrew Luke Wright, 51, working on a vehicle together and apparently getting along. After the shooting, Wright fled the property and shot at witnesses, according to court documents.

Wright turned himself in early the next morning after he was seen wearing clothing with Free Souls motorcycle club insignia, the same club for which a source told Bremerton police Kerr served as an “enforcer.”

Wright was charged with second-degree murder for Kerr’s death. His trial is scheduled for January.