The prosecution dismissed every count against Loretta Tye. Rene’ Layton — the alleged complaining witness, a Wallowa County DA employee, and the personal representative of their father’s estate — had already filed a motion asking to resign. On September 16 the court accepted that resignation, effective October 1. The estate fight is what remains.

By Michael Quiel, Investigative Reporter

The US~Observer received a complaint alleging that Rene’ Layton used her position inside the Wallowa County District Attorney’s Office to turn a family fight over her dying father into a crime against her sister Loretta Tye.

The father is Ronald Theodore J. Tye. The case against Loretta Tye consisted of four false Class B telephonic-harassment criminal charges built from private family-chat messages about Ronald Tye’s care and his estate. Layton was the complaining witness. She also held power of attorney for her father and later personal representative.

Wallowa County District Attorney Rebecca Frolander’s office sent the case to Union County, Oregon because Rene’ Layton worked in Frolander’s office, creating an obvious conflict of interest. Union County District Attorney Kelsie McDaniel pursued the false charges for two years.

The State of Idaho, where Loretta Tye resides, had already refused to file the same false charges. Lewiston police information recorded that Layton asked for a criminal-libel charge under a house bill that never became law. The Lewiston prosecutor called it civil. Oregon charged it criminally anyway.

On September 4, 2026, after the US~Observer exposed the truth regarding the false charges, Union County Deputy District Attorney Madison Correia offered Loretta a deal: six months of diversion, no contact with Rene’ Layton, and an online “respecting boundaries” course. Loretta refused.

After subsequent US~Observer pressure, McDaniel moved to dismiss on September 14, and Judge Jared D. Boyd signed the Judgment to Dismiss. Every count is dismissed. Bail is exonerated. The September 21, 2026, pre-trial and October 2, 2026, jury trial came off the court calendar.

Two days later, the same judge ruled in the estate case.

On September 16, Boyd accepted Rene’ Layton’s resignation as personal representative of the Estate of Ronald Tye, effective October 1, 2026. J. Glenn Null was appointed successor. Layton is ordered to turn over the estate’s property, funds, accounts, records, keys, titles, and documents by October 1, 2026, and to file her accounting by October 31.

The Allegations against Layton

The complaint alleges Layton steered estate land to her daughter, Mishelle Williams; put a long ranch lease and option on the Century Lane property for John R. Tye and Terri Tye; retitled accounts onto survivorship cards that named herself and Randall J. Tye; and then filed a personal claim against the estate she controlled.

On September 22, 2026, Loretta, acting for herself, filed a motion to compel surveillance records from her father’s room at Wallowa Valley Senior Living and Facebook material collected about her. On September 23, 2026, a subpoena bearing Boyd’s signature and the court seal commands Community Connections to produce Ronald Tye’s care records to the court, under seal, by October 7.

“The criminal file is closed, and now Loretta Tye is committed to holding her sister, Rene’ Layton, accountable.”

Editor’s Note: Tip line: submissions@usobserver.net or 602-960-4609.