Isaiah Joshua Thomas: Moses Lake Man Receives 244-Month Sentence For Slashing Grandfather's Throat and Burying His Body in a Shallow Grave in Cascade Valley
MOSES LAKE, Wash. — A Grant County judge has ordered Isaiah Joshua Thomas to serve more than two decades in prison.
This sentence was his punishment for slashing his grandfather’s throat and burying the body in a shallow grave behind a shop in Cascade Valley.
It all happened in October, 2024, when the victim, 75-year-old Richard Andrews, mysteriously disappeared, after he told a daughter he was going for a hunting trip.
No one heard from him after that, so concerned relatives gathered at his home in the 400 block of North Dale Road to check on him. But their concerns deepened when they found his eyeglasses, wallet, and cell phone still inside the residence — items he would not have left behind had he departed voluntarily.
When police arrived at the scene, family members told investigators that Thomas, had been staying at the victims home and that they were sure he was involved in Richard Andrews disappearance.
They also added that he had permission to drive Andrews’ pickup truck, and he always exhibited increasingly erratic behavior due to mental health issues he suffered from, as per GCJ News
After preliminary investigations, deputies and officers located Andrews’ remains on November 3, 2024 buried behind his shop on a property situated in the 7600 block of Stanley Drive NE.
An autopsy determined that the elderly man’s throat had been cut and that he had endured a physical beating before his death. After the chilling discovery, law enforcement officials obtained a search warrant for the victims home and when they searched his residence, they uncovered some troubling evidence.
They found blood on the back door, an axe and a shovel lying in the bed of the pickup truck Thomas had been operating, and a sheathed knife stained with blood which sat in plain view on a coffee table inside the house.
After the overwhelming evidence against Thomas accumulated, he was taken into custody and booked into the Grant County Jail, as seen in the video documentary below.
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| Richard Andrews |
28-year-old Isaiah Joshua Thomas didn't cooperate with authorities initially and he even pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
But on February 9, 2026, he pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon enhancement, charged as an act of domestic violence, and a separate count of unlawful disposal of human remains.
The plea agreement came two days before the start of his trial and it subsequently brought a swift resolution to the case.
On March 10, 2026, Judge Anna Gigliotti handed down the maximum sentence allowed under the law, confining Thomas to 244 months in the custody of the Washington State Department of Corrections.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Gigliotti imposed a requirement that Thomas undergo mental health treatment while incarcerated and then serve 36 months on community custody following his release.
The court also barred him from contacting several family members who had cooperated with authorities and supplied critical information during the criminal investigation.
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