Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spokane police arrest two in woman’s stabbing

Christopher Williams stands near the spot on the 2000 block of North Lincoln Street where he found his friend Crystal Holestine after she was stabbed. (Colin Mulvany)

A woman suffered stab wounds Sunday morning during a dispute with another woman outside a West Central fourplex related to what a friend described as a love triangle.

Spokane police reported that the victim and her husband responded to another apartment in the fourplex at 2010 N. Lincoln St. to complain about music at a party.

But friend Christopher Williams said loud music had nothing to do with the dispute between a woman police identified as Shanda F. White and the victim.

Williams said the stabbing occurred after the victim, whom he identified as Crystal Holestine, and White argued. White had a relationship with Crystal Holestine’s estranged husband, Shane Holestine.

“Crystal still loves her husband and was doing what she could to show him,” said Williams, who also lives in the fourplex and has been friends with the Holestines for more than a year.

Police arrested White on suspicion of first-degree assault.

Crystal Holestine was listed in satisfactory condition Monday at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center. At a court hearing for White on Monday, Superior Court Judge James Triplet said a stab wound penetrated Holestine’s liver.

White began yelling at about 3 a.m. Sunday, Williams said.

Police spokeswoman Monique Cotton said Crystal Holestine apparently said something that upset White.

“(White) pulled out a knife and stabs (Holestine) in the neck and the abdomen,” Cotton said.

Williams said that just before 6 a.m. he heard the argument end. He looked out his front window to see Shane Holestine standing over his wife, who appeared to be bleeding.

“She was saying that she was dying, that she loved Shane and loved” their son, Williams said. “I was the one who called dispatch.”

When officers arrived, Shane Holestine told them that an unknown woman stabbed his wife and fled on foot. But officers went door-to-door talking to witnesses and eventually learned that Holestine had hidden White in one of the fourplex apartments, Cotton said.

As a result, Holestine was charged with rendering criminal assistance.

Holestine appeared in court today and prosecutors asked for a $25,000 bond. But Triplet released Holestine – who has no previous criminal record – on his own recognizance.

Triplet set bond for White at $10,000. She was handcuffed and in tears when she appeared in court.

Staff writers Jennifer Pignolet and Jonathan Brunt contributed to this report.