Man accused of killing Cheney pot shop employee held on $1 million bond; appears to admit to second killing in police interview

Donovan Culps, the man accused of kidnapping and killing a Cheney marijuana shop employee last month, is being held on $1 million bond.

Culps appeared in Spokane County Superior Court on Friday, where he was charged with first degree murder, first degree kidnapping, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a stolen vehicle.

As recorded in court documents, Smith told law enforcement that he first approached Smith in the parking lot of the Lucid shop and asked him if he could purchase marijuana. Smith “said something he didn’t like and he felt was disrespectful,” according to the documents.

Culps tried to initiate a fight but was unsuccessful. He returned to his vehicle and retrieved a gun, telling the vehicle’s other occupants, Alisha Jackson and Violetta Culps, “You’re on your own.” He approached Smith, who was standing by his own vehicle with his back turned, shot him three times and pushed him into the vehicle.

Culps told police that he drove Smith’s vehicle out of town at a high rate of speed. Smith was still alive and was kicking, so he shot him in the face, killing him, he said.

He said he dumped Smith’s body and then abandoned the car in an empty lot near Airway Heights before heading back home to the Yakima area.

Also in the documents, Culps appears to indicate that he was responsible for a second killing.

After an FBI agent begins to describe a second, unrelated case involving a missing subject, “Mr. Culps hung his head and then looked at (the agent) and said ‘I killed him.’ He went on to describe what had transpired prior to him killing the subject.”

The interview then returns to the killing of Smith. It is not clear whether police returned to the subject of the unrelated case, or the identity of the missing person.