On February 4, 2017, Jason Emery, 37, was found unresponsive in his Tacoma home on the 4700 block of 64th Street East with a single gunshot wound to his abdomen. Deputies arrived around 5 a.m.; he was pronounced dead at 5:46 a.m. The shooting followed a dispute over personal belongings between Emery and a former roommate, Scott Allen Wheeler, who had gone to the house with Allen Vintora Maae to retrieve possessions.

Both Wheeler and Maae were arrested and initially charged with first-degree murder; Maae faced an additional unlawful possession of a firearm charge. Both later accepted plea deals: Maae pleaded to first-degree manslaughter and received 17 years and six months, and Wheeler pleaded to second-degree manslaughter and received eight years and one month. Prosecutors and defense presented differing accounts at sentencing, including a defense claim that Emery struck Wheeler with a hammer, and noted drugs were a pervasive factor for many connected to the case.

Emery had studied at Washington State University, worked in the computer field, was a father to a young daughter, and had cared for his mother after her stroke. Does anyone have information about the dispute or the events that night?