Brandon Lee Kenny (Washington Department of Corrections)
A 25-year-old man in Washington state was arrested over the weekend for allegedly executing two people in the middle of the street, both of whom were suspects in the disappearance of woman who went missing last month and is presumed dead.
Brandon Lee Kenny was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the slayings of 23-year-old Kiara Morgan-Weiland and 37-year-old Colton Russell, court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Russell and Morgan-Weiland were both suspects in the November disappearance of 49-year-old Jannell Martensen, who was Russell’s ex-girlfriend, authorities said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers with the Spokane Police Department at about 11:16 p.m. on Dec. 8 responded to multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting at the intersection of Cleveland Avenue and Cuba Street in east Spokane, Washington. The callers all reported hearing multiple gunshots and several said that a female was lying in the street.
Upon arriving at the location, first responders found an adult male — later identified as Russell — in the driver’s seat of a silver minivan. He was bleeding from what appeared to be multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
A female victim — later identified as Morgan-Weiland — was found lying in the street just in front of the van suffering from what appeared to be multiple stab wounds. She was also pronounced dead at the scene.
An autopsy determined that Russell suffered six gunshot wounds while Morgan-Weiland suffered about 51 separate stab wounds with “11 – 12 of those penetrating the body cavity to include both lungs, heart, and liver,” the affidavit states.
Authorities said inside the van they found blue pills that were likely fentanyl as well as bags of McDonald’s that appeared “fairly fresh inside the relatively clean van.”
Surveillance from a nearby McDonald’s showed Russell behind the wheel at the drive-thru at about 9:15 that night with another male in the passenger seat and a woman believed to be Morgan-Weiland in the back. Surveillance from the Park Lane Motel where Russell had been staying showed Kenny getting into the van with Russell and Morgan-Weiland at about 9 p.m. that evening.
Police said that security camera footage from a nearby home showed that just before the shooting, at about 11:01 p.m., a man believed to be Kenny approached the van, opened the door, and opened fire toward the driver’s side of the vehicle. About two minutes later, Morgan-Weiland can be seen attempting to run away from Kenny before falling to the ground.
Investigators were able to identify and locate Kenny about a week later and placed him under arrest. During a subsequent interview with detectives, Kenny allegedly confessed to killing both Russell and Morgan-Weiland, claiming his actions were tied to Russell allegedly killing his ex-girlfriend and the fact that he was “intimidated by Russell’s size and by the situation with Martensen.”
Kenny allegedly said he shot Russell with a 9 mm handgun “until the gun was empty” and killed Morgan-Weiland by “stabbing her multiple times,” information that had not been made public at the time of the interview.
“The defendant said he had gone to Russell’s house the previous month and found Russell crying on the couch. Morgan-Weiland was also in the house at that time,” the affidavit states. “Russell told the defendant he had accidentally killed Martensen. The defendant said Russell then put a pistol in the defendant’s mouth and told him he had to help move Martensen’s body or he would be killed as well. The defendant helped carry Martensen’s body and put it in the back of Russell’s pickup truck.”
On the night of the shootings, Kenny allegedly said that he, Russell, Morgan-Weiland, and another man had parked in the area of Cleveland Ave and Cuba Street so Kenny could meet with his drug dealer. While they were parked, Kenny said that Russell “told him that he was worried (Kenny) was going to go to the police and talk to them about (Martensen),” police wrote.
“The defendant said that was when he decided that he was going to kill Russell,” the affidavit said.
Kenny said his drug dealer picked him up to purchase drugs and afterward, he walked back to the van, opened the door, emptied his gun on Russell and then stabbed Morgan-Weiland with his pocket knife.
“He said he needed to kill Morgan-Weiland because she was the only other person who knew anything about the situation (with Martensen) and she had made it clear that she would back Russell,” the document states. “The defendant said Morgan-Weiland then got out of the van and ran before falling. After she fell, the defendant said he ‘made sure she was dead.””
Kenny is currently being held in Spokane County Jail on bond of $1 million, records show. He is scheduled to make his first appearance before a judge on Tuesday.
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