‘Nobody won’: Missing woman found dead south of Spokane Valley listed as motive in Minnehaha double homicide

Jannell Martensen, a mother, grandmother and beloved friend, left for a camping trip last month and never came back.

Her daughter, Shelby Martensen-Wright, has continued to grapple with her disappearance – and now, her death.

Martensen, 49, was found off a remote road in Valleyford on Thursday, according to the Spokane County Medical Examiner. Her cause and manner of death have not been released.

“She was the most loving human being,” Martensen-Wright said.

Her death has been linked to the double homicide of 37-year-old Colton Russell, who is Martensen’s former boyfriend, and 22-year-old Kiara Morgan-Weiland, Russell’s girlfriend at the time.

Martensen-Wright said her mom was scared of Russell – the two had been on and off for eight years, and “he’d done things that weren’t pretty to her.” But she kept going back.

Leading up to Martensen’s death, her daughter was concerned about text messages that indicated she was growing more afraid of Russell. The last time anyone saw her, she was out the door for a camping trip with him and Morgan-Weiland on Nov. 19.

“My mother left with Colton and Kiara. That was the last she was seen,” Martensen-Wright said.

The family filed a missing persons report when they hadn’t heard from her.

Less than a month later, Russell and Morgan-Weiland were both found dead near East Cleveland Avenue and North Cuba Street in northeast Spokane. Brandon Kenny, 25, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of killing them.

According to court documents, Kenny told police he went to Russell’s house last month and found him crying on the couch. Russell told Kenny he “accidentally killed” Martensen, court records said. Kenny told police that Russell threatened him with a gun and told him he “had to move her body” or he would be killed, too.

The two put her body in the back of Russell’s pickup truck, and Kenny left. During a search of Russell’s home, police found blood on the walls and carpet, court records said.

On Dec. 8, the three all drove to a home to pick up drugs, court documents said. When Russell parked his van, he told Kenny he was worried the police would find out. That’s when Kenny allegedly said he decided to kill Russell.

Kenny left the van to go inside and buy the drugs. When he came out, he allegedly shot Russell six times with a 9mm handgun and stabbed Morgan-Weiland 51 times with a pocket knife as she tried to run away.

Kenny “made sure she was dead,” he told police.

The homicides were also caught on home security footage near the scene, court documents said. Surveillance video showed Kenny and an unknown person near the van as gunfire shattered the windows. Morgan-Weiland was seen running before Kenny attacked her with his knife and “appears to slash at her throat,” records said.

Police also spoke to a friend of Kenny’s who said Russell, Morgan-Weiland and Kenny were “having problems” about stolen money. He recognized Kenny from the security footage, he said, but didn’t recognize the other person.

Martensen-Wright said she has never heard of Kenny. But she is adamant that “this is all because of drugs.”

“Nobody won. Not a single person won here. Every family lost in this situation. Just get help if you need it,” Martensen-Wright said. Her mother was an addict too, she said. But she always took care of her family, made sure her two children were OK and loved her three granddaughters deeply.

“There’s lots of people in this world that think because they’re drug addicts that they’re inhuman. That’s not the case,” she said. “She wore her heart on her sleeve.”

Everybody who loses a family member always believes that family member is the most loving person on Earth, Martensen-Wright said, but it was especially true with her mom.

“She loved so deeply,” she said.

Kenny was booked into the Spokane County Jail on Saturday at 9:18 p.m. on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder.

A judge set his bond at $1 million during his first court appearance on Monday.

He appeared in a green jumpsuit instead of a standard yellow in the jail, which is indicative of an incarcerated person on suicide watch, according to county spokesperson Pat Bell.