Camas-Washougal, WA, Battalion Chief on Trial for Murdering Wife

Jan. 7—A prosecutor on Tuesday told jurors the wife of a Camas-Washougal Fire Department battalion chief died at her husband's hands, not of a seizure as initially believed.

"This case did not begin as a homicide investigation, but what matters is not how this case began, but how the truth ultimately emerged," Deputy Prosecutor Melinda McMahon said.

Kevin West, 50, is on trial for first-degree domestic violence murder and second-degree domestic violence murder in Clark County Superior Court.

In her opening statement, McMahon said West strangled his wife, Marcelle "Marcy" West, to death before calling 911 to report she was having a seizure.

McMahon recounted the details of Marcy West's death: At 4:27 a.m. Jan. 8, 2024, Camas-Washougal Fire and the Washougal Police Department responded to a medical emergency at a residence on 34th Street. Kevin West told first responders his wife was having a seizure, and she had stopped breathing. Medics unsuccessfully attempted to resuscitate her; she was declared dead at 5:11 a.m.

"The first responders trusted what they were told because it wasn't an unknown caller, it was a battalion chief," McMahon said. "Someone that was a friend, someone that they trusted and most importantly someone that was trained in lifesaving measures."

Kevin West later told investigators his wife had been dealing with a recurring headache and persistent vomiting, McMahon said. He told police that when he woke up to the sound of their family dog whimpering, he found his wife having a seizure.

But Marcy West had no history of seizures, McMahon said. The medical examiner's office did not immediately find anything suspicious in her autopsy, and the West family quickly ordered Marcy West's body be sent to a funeral home, McMahon said.

The medical examiner's office received tips from several sources that led to a second, more thorough examination focusing on the neck and head where injuries to the carotid sheath and the carotid artery and esophagus were found, McMahon told jurors. The office also found bruising behind the ears and between the skull and scalp.

McMahon said that the injuries were caused by vascular strangulation.

On March 20, 2024, the medical examiner declared the cause of death to be asphyxia with blunt trauma to the neck and the manner of death as homicide, although that ruling does not make any judgments about criminal culpability.

McMahon went on to explain that concerns about impropriety led the Clark County Sheriff's Office to take over the investigation. Investigators discovered that Kevin West had been having an affair with a woman named Cynthia and had plans to leave his wife. Investigators found text messages to Cynthia and her mother that were deleted from his phone along with their contact information.

Kevin West's defense attorney, Brian Walker, said although his client was having an affair, he did not kill his wife.

" Kevin West on the early morning of Jan. 8, 2024, tried to save her," Walker said. "To use his skills of 25 years of being a paramedic, his training, his passion to save her. But he couldn't."

Walker delved into details of Kevin West's marriage and later affair: The Wests met while they were both working in Eugene, Ore. Marcy West worked for PeaceHealth and Kevin West at Eugene Fire as the nonemergency transport, but his dream was to become a firefighter.

Marcy West lost interest in intimacy with her husband after the birth of their first child, Walker said. That's when Kevin West connected with Cynthia, but she eventually moved away. Walker said the connection renewed in late 2023 with a Facebook message that sparked the affair.

"It was a deteriorating marriage," Walker said. "It was one that had been crumbling for years ... but glued together by children and circumstances."

Walker said Marcy West had a history of headaches and persistent health issues, and Kevin West asked her to seek medical help. Walker said these health problems ultimately led to her death, and the blunt force trauma found in her autopsy was caused by a massage therapist she regularly saw.

Jurors heard a 10-minute recording of Kevin West's 911 call that day nearly two years ago. In the call, Kevin West is heard trying to perform lifesaving measures and arguing with the dispatcher about how best to perform CPR, noting his two decades as a paramedic.

Then, jurors watched 33 minutes of video footage from Washougal police Officer Jacob Klein as he responded that morning to the Wests' home. The video shows Kevin West with Marcy West lying on the floor in sweatpants and a bra as first responders use a defibrillator to apply repeated shocks to her chest and inject her with epinephrine.

As the video played, Kevin West's face appeared red as he fought back tears. The sound of sniffles and sighs filled the courtroom.

The trial will continue for the rest of the week.

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