Kiara Morgan-Weiland

Kiara Morgan-Weiland, a 23-year-old White woman, was killed on a cold night in Spokane, Washington. Shortly after 11 p.m. on December 8, 2023, police responded to reports of gunshots near the intersection of East Cleveland Avenue and North Cuba Street. Officers arrived to find 37-year-old Colton Russell deceased in the driver's seat of a parked van. Nearby, on the ground, they found Kiara's body. An autopsy later determined that Russell had been shot six times, while Kiara had been stabbed more than 50 times.

Detectives with the Spokane Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit learned that the attack was not random and that the victims knew their killer. The investigation was aided by a home surveillance video that captured the brutal events. The footage reportedly showed a man, later identified as the suspect, near the van as gunfire shattered its windows. The video then showed Kiara running for her life before the man attacked her with a knife, appearing to slash at her throat.

The investigation quickly led to a suspect. On December 16, 2023, police arrested 25-year-old Brandon L. Kenny and charged him with two counts of first-degree murder. After his arrest, Kenny confessed to the killings and provided a motive tied to another homicide. He told investigators that Colton Russell and Kiara Morgan-Weiland were suspects in the November 2023 disappearance of Russell’s 49-year-old ex-girlfriend, Jannell Martensen. Kenny claimed Russell had confessed to accidentally killing Martensen and then threatened Kenny with a gun, forcing him to help move her body.

According to Kenny, the three were together on the night of December 8 to purchase drugs. When Russell parked his van, he expressed concern that Kenny would go to the police about Martensen’s death. Kenny told detectives that at that moment, he decided to kill them both. He admitted to shooting Russell until his 9mm handgun was empty, then chasing down Kiara as she fled and stabbing her repeatedly with a pocket knife to "make sure she was dead."

In July, Brandon L. Kenny pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Kiara Morgan-Weiland and the second-degree murder of Colton Russell. A Spokane County Superior Court judge sentenced Kenny to a total of 42 years in prison. The sentence consisted of 28 years for Kiara’s death, 10 years for Russell’s death, and an additional four years for deadly weapon enhancements. The judge noted Kenny’s young age, his drug use, and the fact that he took responsibility for the killings when imposing the sentence. The case was officially closed with Kenny’s sentencing in September 2026.