Kevin West, pictured here in a 2019 promotion ceremony to battalion chief for the Camas-Washougal Fire Department, murdered his wife, Marcelle “Marcy” West” at this home, say deputies in Clark County, Washington. (Screenshot of home: KPTV; image of defendant West: City of Camas)
A firefighter called in his wife’s fatal medical emergency as a “seizure,” but people who knew them had concerns that the victim’s death was anything but natural, according to deputies in Clark County, Washington.
Kevin West, 49, is charged with first-degree murder.
Deputies say that he contacted 911 the early morning of Jan. 8 to say that his wife, Marcelle “Marcy” West, 48, was having a seizure.
“Within minutes, he advised the dispatcher that she had stopped breathing and that he was initiating CPR,” authorities wrote.
The Washougal Police Department and Kevin West’s own colleagues at the Camas-Washougal Fire Department responded at 4:27 a.m.
“Medics arrived and attempted life-saving measures, but resuscitation efforts were not successful,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “Marcy West’s time of death was pronounced at 5:11 am.”
Cops and the county medical examiner’s office started a death investigation.
In the following days, several people reached out to authorities with concerns about the couple’s relationship. They feared Marcelle West did not die a natural death.
The autopsy found trauma to her neck, deputies said. From there, investigators started a criminal investigation.
Police passed the case to their Clark County Sheriff’s Office counterpart in order to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.
“Through their investigation, Detectives learned that Kevin and Marcy were experiencing marital and financial problems,” authorities wrote. “Based on a comparison of interviews with Kevin and the evidence found at the house and contained in Kevin and Marcy’s cellphones, it appears that Kevin had given detectives contradictory statements.”
The medical examiner on Wednesday determined that Marcelle West died of asphyxia with blunt trauma to her neck. It was homicide.
Sheriff’s office detectives arrested her husband on Friday and booked him into the Clark County Jail.
Kevin West is scheduled for court to take place Monday.
