Spokane woman found in toolbox died by homicide from blunt force injuries, medical examiner rules

A woman who went missing in November died by homicide, the Spokane County Medical Examiner ruled Tuesday.

Jannell Martensen, 49, was found in a truck bed toolbox in Valleyford in December, court documents say. Her cause of death was blunt force injuries, the medical examiner 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. Russell was shot to death and Morgan-Weiland was fatally stabbed near Minnehaha Park on Dec. 8.

Brandon Kenny, 25, is accused of killing them. He remains in the Spokane County Jail.

According to court documents, Kenny told police he went to Russell’s house 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.

Martensen’s friends and family received multiple texts from her before she went missing, in which she said about Russell, “please come get me I’m scared to death” and “I’m afraid he’s going to kill me,” documents say.

The last time Martensen was seen, she was leaving to go camping with both Russell and Morgan-Weiland. She never came home for Thanksgiving and stopped answering her phone.

Court documents say Russell’s former home in Spokane Valley was searched and showed traces of blood spatter on the walls, carpet and a sponge in an outside garbage can. Detectives found Morgan-Weiland was also making searches on YouTube that included “serial killer couples” and “how to dispose of dead bodies” around the time of Martensen’s disappearance, the documents say.

When detectives seized Russell’s phone, they were able to trace phone calls to his mother’s house in Valleyford. When they got there, they found Russell’s truck parked there and the toolbox on the side of the garage. His mother said it was there ever since Russell dropped it off, and that she thought there was concrete in it, court records say. When her husband opened it, he told her he only saw concrete. Police were able to seize the toolbox and discovered it held Martensen’s body.

Martensen’s daughter, Shelby Martensen-Wright, previously told The Spokesman-Review that her mother “loved deeply.”

Martensen-Wright said her mother always took care of her family, made sure her two children were OK and especially loved her three granddaughters.