On April 7, 2018, 50-year-old Keli Jo Weber-Lovitt was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head in a bedroom of a Spokane home on East 8th Avenue. A roommate, Marvin Smith, reported hearing a heated argument from the bedroom followed by a single gunshot. Howard Lacey, 49, the woman’s boyfriend, emerged holding a .40 caliber handgun with a skull-and-crossbones handle and told Smith he thought he had shot her, then prevented Smith from entering the room.

Smith left and called 911. Lacey went to another woman’s home, told her he had shot Keli, and was later stopped and taken into custody. Investigators believed the scene had been staged to look like a suicide. Lacey, a convicted felon with prior violent-offender-related convictions, was charged with second-degree murder; defense counsel indicated they would argue accident or self-defense.

The case profile includes witness statements, the weapon, and alleged scene tampering; the circumstances of how the shooting began remain a central question.