On the morning of November 9, 2017, 61-year-old Robert Bossard was found dead in the main floor bathroom of his north Spokane home, face-up in the bathtub with a gunshot wound to his forehead. A caregiver who arrived to assist Robert’s wife, Karen, forced entry after neither answered the door; she reportedly told the caregiver he was dead. The scene was described with blood on the floor and walls and investigators later ruled the death a homicide from a gunshot wound to the head.

Suspicion centered on Robert’s 35-year-old son, Matthew C. Bossard, who was in the house that morning. Matthew told detectives he had heard a loud bang, found his father slumped against a wall, moved him into the tub and tried to clean the blood with decorative sand. Investigators noted a 9 mm handgun in pristine condition inside a plastic bag on the bathroom vanity was inconsistent with a self-inflicted wound. Matthew was described in interviews as extremely paranoid and gave inconsistent statements; he was arrested that day and charged with first-degree murder. A shovel and a large plastic bag resembling a body bag were found in the backyard during a warrant search, and bond was set at $1 million.

Did anyone in north Spokane know the Bossard family or have information about tensions in the household that could help explain what happened?