‘My mom was my life’: Deer Park man convicted of killing wife

Shannon Ayers’ family members shed tears of joy and relief, and later embraced each other, after Spokane County Superior Court Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren read a jury’s murder verdict for the Deer Park woman Thursday.

After a 2½-week trial and several hours of deliberation, jurors convicted Dean Ayers of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his wife, 58-year-old Shannon Ayers, nearly three years ago at their home.

“This is one step closer for us, for our family, to move on,” Shannon Ayers’ daughter, Brandi Campbell, said outside the courthouse.

According to court documents, Dean Ayers, now 58, called 911 the night of Jan. 18, 2022, to report his wife had shot herself.

Deputies responded to the couple’s home at 28903 N. Perry Road to find Dean Ayers in a bedroom standing next to his wife.

Shannon Ayers was holding a 9mm semiautomatic pistol in her right hand, court records say. The prosecution said Dean Ayers placed the gun in her hand.

She was still breathing when medical crews began treating her, but she died at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center early the next morning, documents say.

Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Tom Treppiedi asked the jury during closing arguments Wednesday to convict Dean Ayers based on his inconsistent statements to law enforcement and consistent science in the case.

Dean Ayers told deputies he and his wife had been arguing just before she shot herself with the pistol he keeps under his pillow, according to documents. Dean Ayers said he was in bed when she shot herself, then he got out of bed and went around to his wife’s side. He told deputies he did not move the gun.

The morning after the shooting, police said another detective interviewed Dean Ayers, who said his wife shot herself as he was returning to bed from a trip to the bathroom. He said he removed the gun from his wife’s hand but didn’t remember where he put it, a different story than the one he told police the night before, according to documents.

“He got upset himself and he shot his wife in the head,” Treppiedi said Wednesday.

Treppiedi said Dean Ayers called 911 at least two minutes after the shooting. During that period, he spoke with his mother for about a minute.

Dean Ayers told police he called his parents before calling 911 because he didn’t know what to do and couldn’t find 911 on his phone.

Treppiedi said Shannon Ayers was right-handed, but the bullet entrance wound was to the left side of her head, meaning she would’ve had to reach her arm across her body and turn the pistol toward her from about a foot away before shooting herself in the head – an impossible maneuver, he said.

Spokane County deputy medical examiner Makinzie Mott testified during the trial that Shannon Ayers died from a gunshot wound to the head and ruled the death a homicide.

She testified the wounds “would have been extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible” to be self-inflicted.

Dean Ayers’ defense attorney, Douglas Phelps, claimed Shannon Ayers shot herself, and the case was based primarily on innuendo and supposition.

Phelps said his client’s varying statements were made during a traumatic event while Dean Ayers was frantic.

Phelps claimed there was a lack of evidence to convict, and investigators failed to submit certain physical evidence, like DNA and gunpowder residue, to be analyzed.

“If he had intent to kill her, why would he be trying to save her?” said Phelps, who noted his client performed life-saving measures.

Treppiedi said the Ayers couple, married almost nine years, “had a bit of a rocky relationship.” He said Shannon Ayers made plans to leave her husband before she was shot in the head.

“Ms. Ayers was making plans to get out,” Treppiedi said. “She was not making plans to kill herself.”

Kandi Kambitsch, Shannon Ayers’ younger sister, said she had mixed emotions after the verdict.

“On January 18, 2022, both sides of our families’ lives changed,” she said.

Kambitsch said she and her family knew Shannon Ayers would never end her life.

“She loved her family so much,” Kambitsch said. “She loved her kids. She loved her grandkids. She loved God.”

She said her sister was happy and confident during her last few years of life.

“She was just a bright, shining star in our lives,” Kambitsch said.

She said she hoped Dean Ayers receives a long prison sentence.

Dean Ayers was escorted Thursday from the courtroom in handcuffs and will await his Nov. 20 sentencing in the Spokane County Jail. Treppiedi said Dean Ayers’ standard sentence range is 15 to 23 years in prison.

“His family is losing him too, but at least he’s still living and breathing,” Kambitsch said. “We don’t get that with Sis.”

Mary Kambitsch, Shannon Ayers’ mother, said she and her daughter were close.

“I’m just glad it’s all over and it went the way that we knew it had to go, because we knew that Shannon would not have committed suicide,” she said.

Campbell said the verdict brought closure, but she still wonders why Dean Ayers, who did not testify, killed her mother.

Campbell said she and her mom were also extremely close and spoke almost daily.

“My mom was my life,” she said.