Thursday, October 1, 2026
A man was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for setting another person on fire with what was described as “homemade napalm” at The Jungle homeless encampment in Olympia.
Kevin James Hinzpeter, 32, received a 171.5 month sentence plus mental health treatment for his role in the incident on Oct. 8, 2024. He pleaded guilty to second degree murder in the case, the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.
Hinzpeter was one of two men involved in the attack that later killed Zebediah “Donkey” Schoening.
The other man, Christopher Edward Snyder, was convicted by a jury of multiple charges stemming from the attack, including murder in the first degree with a deadly weapon plus arson. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 26 in Thurston County Superior Court.
An investigation determined that Hinzpeter and Snyder walked toward Schoening’s camp at The Jungle shortly before 1 a.m. on Oct. 8. At some point, they encountered Schoening.
“Several reporting parties called in and provided various bits of information, to include that a male was severely burned and bleeding after being covered in ‘homemade napalm,’” stated Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Elizabeth A. McMullen in a Declaration of Prosecutor Supporting Probable Cause filed with Superior Court on Oct. 18.
“Another caller told dispatch that two subjects threw something that was on fire onto the victim. Further it was believed someone threw something on the subject and he had pulled whatever it was off of him.”
Law enforcement personnel responded to the scene after receiving calls about the incident. When a responding officer encountered Schoening, he “was barely conscious with blood all over him and he’d had burns all over him,” the probable cause document states.
The crime scene was littered with evidence from the incident, including a plastic Mountain Dew bottle that smelled like gasoline, blood and a burnt T-shirt on the ground.
“Once collected the smell of gasoline from (the) Mountain Dew bottle became stronger and law enforcement observed that (there) was a clear liquid substance within the bottle, that was not consistent with the color of Mountain Dew,” the probable cause document states.
Schoening was later escorted by a police officer to a nearby parking lot for treatment. On the way, he identified one of his attackers as “No Shirt Kevin,’ the nickname of Hinzpeter.
“Schoening said Kevin believed he had killed his ex-girlfriend’s brother and that Kevin had thrown gasoline on him,” the probable cause document states.
Schoening was later transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia for treatment. He was intubated and sedated before being transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle due to the severity of his injuries.
Schoening, 47, died in Seattle on Oct. 25, 2024.
4 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
JW
Par for the course in the forested Thunder Dome that is the Jungle, aided and abetted by bleeding heart Olympia leftists that, through decades of inept attempts at compassion, have helped create a city-wide tax revenue black hole homelessness disaster.
Wednesday, November 19, 2025 Report this
Boatyarddog
@JW uncaring ass is your full name
Wednesday, November 19, 2025 Report this
gypsydjango
Boatyard, I so agree.
Wednesday, November 19, 2025 Report this
Boatyarddog
@ Gypsydjango, These fools think their "comments" would change things.... Hell No... they perpetuate the Problem. No Compassion, for had they ANY of That we'd have more help than Stagnacy. Asses!!!
Thursday, November 20, 2025 Report this