Dori: Wife of man who killed Pierce County deputy feared deadly outcome

In nearly any tragedy, the history of those involved is painful, but important to understand.

That’s why The Dori Monson Show started its first Wednesday hour sharing details about the two Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies who were shot Tuesday by nine-time felon Jeremy Dayton in Spanaway. Shortly after, Dori interviewed Dayton’s wife, Stacy Dayton.

Listen to Dori’s interview with the wife of Jeremy Dayton:

Deputy Dominque “Dom” Calata was with Sergeant Rich Scaniffe and other SWAT team officers while trying to serve a warrant to Jeremy Dayton when gunfire was exchanged. Dayton, 40, died at the scene. Calata died Wednesday afternoon from his injuries.

Calata, 35, was a Pacific Lutheran University graduate and a sheriff’s deputy for almost seven years. He served in the U.S. Army for five years, and for seven years with the National Guard.

In past interviews with Calata, the late deputy expressed why he went into law enforcement.

“It’s very rewarding, especially with a newborn kid,” Calata said. “It’s pretty awesome trying to keep the community safe – ultimately in a place where my child is going to grow up.”

He said he took great pride in talking to “people in crisis” – both in Pierce County and during his service patrolling the streets in Iraq when he was stationed there.

Scaniffe, 45, is a 21-year department veteran and commander of the SWAT team. He was popular in the community for his “Storytime with a Sheriff” sessions, where he tapped into entertaining voice impersonations while reading Dr. Seuss books to local kids. As of Wednesday, Scaniffe is out of surgery and remains in stable condition.

“They were wonderful public servants at a time when so many politicians and too many in the media demonize police at every single turn,” Dori told listeners. “They are exemplary public servants. This is absolutely heartbreaking.”

At the start of Dori’s show, both officers remained hospitalized, fighting for their lives. Calata passed away later on Wednesday. Both are husbands and fathers.

Listen to Dori share the service background of both Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies:

Jeremy Dayton, meanwhile, was a stepfather to estranged wife Stacy Dayton’s children.

During her interview with Dori, Stacy said she recently returned to the South Puget Sound region from Reno, Nevada, to give her 9-year-old daughter a chance to bond with the man she married in 2015 after meeting online in 2012. The two separated in 2017 when Jeremy was sentenced to five years in prison after he assaulted Stacy, breaking her jaw.

Despite the assault, Stacy told Dori, “I’m completely heartbroken,” with her voice cracking. “[My daughter] lost her father as well. I wish I could hug the wives. I warned [police] what they were getting themselves into.”

Stacy explained that she had alerted police to the “kind of weapons” Jeremy had in his possession. She also told Dori’s listeners that she urged “Jeremy to turn himself in and go to prison” over the most recent charges, which include Jeremy jumping bail and failing to appear for a March 7 trial involving a second-degree assault during a local bar fight.

Besides the 2017 attack on his wife and the recent bar assault, Jeremy has been imprisoned for selling cocaine, and robbery, among other convictions. His first conviction came at age 14.

Jeremy Dayton was labeled a “persistent offender,” which meant that if convicted as charged in the bar fight case, he could have faced life in prison without the possibility of parole. No stranger to the prison system, Stacy told Dori’s listeners that her own father also served time. Her children’s biological father, meanwhile, is currently incarcerated and he is “worse than Jeremy, way worse than Jeremy.”

“He used to be such a good man,” Stacy said of Jeremy.

Before their separation, she helped her husband get a union job in construction. Once employed, “he was making really good money, and was a 9-to-5, regular husband.”

In 2017, she continued, “something switched.”

“I don’t want to put any blame on anybody, but I blame his cousins,” she said, and what she called a “party life.”

During various times in the interview, Stacy also blamed the prison system, her husband’s probation officer, and the Pierce County Sheriff’s office for failing to sufficiently equip their officers with protective clothing to handle such gunfire.

In the aftermath of the shootings, as listeners pointed out to Dori, there was some surprise that Stacy’s 9-year-old daughter had posted to a Facebook account she shares with her mom: “My daddy was murdered by the police today.”

“Do you think that social media is appropriate for a child her age?,” Dori asked Stacy.

“She has her own feelings and her own opinions,” Stacy replied. “She’s very upset because she’s very smart, so very smart. I probably would have posted the same thing if I was her. I’m not going to control her emotions.”

“My daughter has every right to lash out about what happens,” she added. “Her dad was murdered. I’m not blaming the police.”

Upset with Dori’s questions, Stacy called him an [expletive] and hung up.

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.