A former fire chief accused of strangling his wife to death killed her so that he could be with his mistress, his murder trial heard.
Kevin West, 51, is accused of killing his wife Marcelle ‘Marcy’ West in their $723,000 home in Washington state on January 8, 2024.
A medical examiner determined Marcy, 47, died from asphyxiation caused by blunt neck trauma and ruled her death a homicide. West alleges his wife of 22 years died from a seizure that left her whole body ‘vibrating.’
Investigators found bruising on the back of Marcy’s head, behind her ears and hemorrhaging on a major neck vein, Oregon Live reported. The defense suggested the injuries were sustained during a massage given by Marcy’s son.
Prosecutors claim that West was planning to leave Marcy for his mistress Cynthia Ward, with whom he had been seeing since 2023. The pair are currently engaged.
West planned to move out of his marital home on January 8 and serve Marcy divorce papers the next day, prosecutors said, citing text messages he allegedly sent to Ward’s family members.
He also revealed his desire to buy a new home with Ward in Goldendale, a small town about 100 miles from the Portland suburb of Washougal where he lived with Marcy.
The Wests had been struggling to pay their $7,000 per month mortgage, despite the fire chief earning a $160,000 salary. Prosecutors also allege that he did not want to pay alimony to Marcy or be forced to split his pension, a likely outcome of divorce.
Former Camas-Washougal Fire chief Kevin West, 51, is accused of killing his wife Marcelle ‘Marcy’ West in their home in Washington state on January 8, 2024
Marcy, 47, died from asphyxiation caused by blunt neck trauma. A coroner ruled her death a homicide, but West alleges his wife of 22 years died from a seizure that left her ‘vibrating’
West’s ‘obsession’ with Ward led him to kill his wife, Clark County senior prosecutor Jessica E. Smith told the court.
She questioned whether it was a ‘coincidence’ that Marcy died of ‘natural causes’ on the exact day that West vowed to leave her.
‘His plan to replace Marcy with Cynthia without the financial ruin had been successful,’ she told the jury. ‘This is not grief — this is a man who could not be more ready to move on.’
West and Ward first met in 2004 when she was serving as a volunteer firefighter in Washougal, Ward testified during the trial last week.
The pair engaged in a sexual relationship at that time, but cut if off after just a few months, The Post-Record reported.
They reconnected in 2023 after West messaged her on Facebook, she recalled. They were both in relationships at the time, but stayed in touch via WhatsApp.
She said their relationship quickly evolved from messaging into a sexual affair that saw them meet up in hotels near the airport.
They also went on beach trips and travelled to Nevada together, where West met her mother, she told the court.
The Wests had been struggling to pay make the $7,000 per month mortgage payments on their Washougal home, which realtors estimate to be worth around $723,000
Investigators allege that West made contradicting statements to detectives and showed little sadness in the aftermath of Marcy’s passing
West proposed to his mistress Cynthia Ward, who testified during his trial, in September 2024. She told the court that she may have been at the West family home the day that Marcy died
Ward admitted that West said ‘he was going to leave Marcy, at some point,’ but told testified that she was not privy to the logistics of his anticipated split.
She added that she was at West’s home the day police arrived to interview him about Marcy’s death, but remained hidden from authorities during the interaction.
She also said she may have been at the West family home on the morning that Marcy died, the newspaper reported.
West proposed to Ward in September 2024. The couple now live in a newly constructed home in Estacada, Oregon with West’s 22-year-old son Ted.
West called 911 just before 4.30am on January 8, 2024 to report that Marcy was having a seizure. He said she stopped breathing and tried to perform CPR.
Police and medics from the Camas-Washougal Fire Department, where West was chief, arrived at the home and tried to save Marcy but were unsuccessful.
She was pronounced dead at 5.11am, the sheriff’s office said.
West told investigators Marcy had fallen ill the night before, alleging she had a headache and was vomiting.
West has pleaded not guilty to first and second-degree domestic violence murder
The defense argued that the bruising on Marcy’s body may have been caused by a massage she received from her son Ted West on January 7, 2024. Ted demonstrated the massage he gave to Marcy during his father’s trial
The certified EMT said he examined her and found nothing of concern. They then went to bed sometime between 9.30 and 11pm, he said.
West said he woke up around 4.30am the next morning to find Marcy ‘vibrating’ from a seizure. But his cellphone tracked hundreds of steps that he allegedly took throughout the night, including in the hour before he called 911.
His colleagues, who responded to the emergency dispatch, told the court that West showed little sadness in the immediate aftermath of Marcy’s passing.
He allegedly asked if it was ‘too soon’ to throw out her belongings and, just three hours after her death, said: ‘I feel bad for not feeling bad.’
He is also accused of making contradicting statements to detectives during the investigation.
Prosecutors allege West killed Marcy, but his attorneys contend that she died from medical complications.
Defense attorney Brian Walker even suggested that the coroner was misled by the bruising on Marcy’s body, claiming the injuries may have been the result of a ‘deep and firm’ massage that Ted gave her the day before.
Kevin and Marcy West with their son Ted in 2004
‘Could it have been Ted’s massage — I don’t know, nobody knows,’ Walker told the court. ‘Sometimes a bruise is just a bruise.’
West has pleaded not guilty to first and second-degree domestic violence murder. He remains out of custody on a $150,000 bond.
The jury will begin deliberations on Tuesday.
- If you or someone you know is in crisis, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800.799.7233 for 24-hour, confidential support.
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