Kathy Wilcox, 72, was found shot and the victim of an intentionally set fire in her Kennewick, Washington mobile home on April 25, 2022. Firefighters called to the Elm Street residence extinguished a blaze and discovered her body on the kitchen floor. An autopsy showed she had been shot before the fire was set, and investigators concluded the fire was arson meant to conceal a homicide.

Investigators focused on her husband, Brian Lynn Wilcox, 68, who disappeared after the fire along with his wife’s car and several firearms. Surveillance captured him withdrawing $5,000 from a bank. About a week later he was arrested without incident in a Walmart parking lot in Del City, Oklahoma, and authorities recovered the 9mm Glock used in the killing from his vehicle.

At trial prosecutors said he shot Kathy in the back of the head and later admitted in a call to his son that he had snapped during an argument, then set the house on fire. The defense said the shooting was accidental while cleaning the gun. In November 2023 the jury convicted him of second-degree murder and first-degree arson; he was later sentenced to more than 23 years in prison. An appeals court has since granted him a chance to ask for a new trial because a juror conducted outside research about the bullet type.

Did anyone who knew Kathy or the Wilcox household notice anything unusual in the weeks before April 25, 2022?