Man jailed on suspicion of murdering woman in Hillyard apartment

Spokane police said they found a murder suspect “covered in blood” Thursday morning, a block from the Hillyard apartment building where a woman was shot and killed.

Officers responded at about 5:30 a.m. to a report of shots fired at a four-unit apartment building at 2928 E. Diamond Ave. In one unit, they found a dead woman and an infant who appeared unharmed, police said.

Within minutes of receiving the shots-fired call, officers were dispatched to a second report of a man “covered in blood” near Queen Avenue and Haven Street, police said.

Officers detained the man, identified as Joshua M. Forrester, and booked him into the Spokane County Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder at about 10:30 a.m.

Detectives from the department’s major crimes unit were investigating. Police did not disclose the name of the victim or describe her relationship with Forrester.

“There is still investigative work being done on the case,” Sgt. Terry Preuninger, a department spokesman, said Thursday evening.

Property records list Joshua M. C. Forrester as the owner of the apartment building, and court records from an unrelated civil case show a Joshua Forrester resided there as recently as September 2018.

In the civil case, a credit union sued Forrester after he fell behind on car payments and garnished his wages from a Safeway store until he stopped working there in January.

Forrester appears to have no prior criminal record in Washington or Idaho. Voter records show he is 27 years old.

Spokesman-Review reporter Kip Hill contributed to this story.