Tri-Cities woman admits to killing her partner then hiding her body under a pile of junk
A Kennewick woman admitted Tuesday to strangling to death her longtime partner last year, then fleeing with their two children to Oregon.
Chiloe Chervenell, 49, was emotional on Tuesday as she pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for killing her Kathy Chervenell-Brinson.
Franklin County deputies discovered the 54-year-old teacher’s body underneath junk on the porch of Chervenell-Brinson’s home, hidden under some bicycles and other items.
Prosecutors have said at least one of the children saw the attack. Later, Chervenell loaded the two children, ages 7 and 9 at the time, into her partner’s car and drove to Oregon.
The murder followed years of abuse and a protection order that was supposed to keep her away from Chervenell-Brinson and the children.
At the time, Chervenell-Brinson convinced a judge that she and the kids were in danger because of Chervenell’s destructive lifestyle involving drug use.
Prosecutors dropped kidnapping, burglary and assault charges that she was facing.
Her sentencing range is about 22 to 30 years in prison. Prosecutors plan to ask for a 25-year term.
The judge isn’t required to follow the recommendation when she is sentenced later this week.
The plea agreement wraps up one of the four Tri-Cities-area domestic violence murders last year.
Mesa murder
Franklin County deputies were first tipped off that something bad had happened on Aug. 4 when one of Chervenell’s friends called to report she had admitting to killing her wife.
When investigators arrived at Chervenell-Brinson’s home, they couldn’t find her, the children or her Chevy Equinox. Deputies learned that Chervenell had her partner’s phone.
As they were searching the phone’s signal, deputies discovered Chervenell-Brinson’s body underneath some bicycles and other junk on the porch of her Mesa home.
Police tracked the phone into Oregon and Morrow County sheriff’s deputies discovered her with the two children in Irrigon. She was arrested and returned to Washington.
At the time, Chervenell-Brinson had a protection order that was supposed to keep the other woman away from her and limit the amount of time she could spend with the children.
While Chervenell-Brinson treated the children like they were her own, they were biologically Chervenell’s.
According to court documents, Chervenell often used the other woman’s love for the children against her and threatened to keep her away from them.
