SPOKANE, Wash. — The man accused of killing two people near the intersection of Cuba Street and Cleveland Avenue in Spokane’s Minnehaha neighborhood admitted to doing so to detectives, according to court documents.
An affidavit of facts produced to justify holding 25-year-old Brandon Kenny in jail states that he told investigators he killed 23-year-old Kiara Morgan-Weiland and 37-year-old Colton Russell in connection to the disappearance of Jannell Martensen.
Martensen disappeared in November and was previously on the City of Spokane’s missing persons list but her name was later removed. Russell and Morgan-Weiland were found dead on Dec. 8.
Kenny told investigators that Russel had admitted to him that he accidentally killed Martensen in November, and then put a gun in Kenny’s mouth to threaten him to help move the body. Kenny said Russell was dating Jannell at the time.
According to Kenny’s testimony to detectives, Russell said he was worried about Kenny talking to police about Jannell on Dec. 8 while Russell, Kenny, Morgan-Weiland and a fourth person were parked in the area of Cleveland and Cuban to buy drugs.
Kenny said that’s when he decided to kill Russell. According to an autopsy cited in the affidavit, Russell was shot six times.
He told investigators he then “needed” to kill Morgan-Weiland because “she was the only other person who knew anything about the situation” and he thought she would back Russell, per the affidavit.
An autopsy cited in the affidavit said Morgan-Weiland was stabbed about 51 times.
Kenny said he then threw the knife and gun into the Spokane River near Upriver Drive.
The affidavit notes Kenny repeatedly expressed how he was “intimidated” by Russell. A man detectives interviewed who knows Kenny told them he “made an elaborate show about how scared he was of Russell.” The man also told detectives he knew Kenny had a gun.
When detectives arrived at the scene of the homicides, they found blue pills that appeared to be fentanyl.
Detectives initially connected Kenny to the murders with security video from a neighboring house. According to the affidavit, that video shows Kenny killing the victims.
Kenny was scheduled for a first appearance in front of a Spokane County District Court judge on Monday but missed it due to illness. His first appearance was rescheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
