Tri-Cities woman accused of strangling her partner returned to WA on murder warrant

An accused murderer is back in Washington state after being arrested in Oregon for killing her long-time partner.

Chiloe Chervenell was booked Thursday afternoon into the Franklin County jail with bail set at $2 million.

It’s been just over a week since Kathleen “Kathy” Chervenell-Brinson’s body was found under a pile of bicycles and other junk on the porch of her Mesa home.

Chervenell, 49, is charged with second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree kidnapping for taking her two children against a court order.

An autopsy determined that Chervenell-Brinson, a 54-year-old teacher who grew up in the Tri-Cities, was strangled to death.

She had a obtained a no contact protection order against Chervenell, saying in court documents that she and the kids, ages 7 and 9, were in danger because of Chervenell’s destructive lifestyle involving drug abuse.

Franklin County investigators say Chervenell killed the woman and then drove south into Oregon with the victim’s cellphone and car.

Deputies tracked the phone to Irrigon, where Morrow County sheriff’s deputies found her and the kids asleep in the car along the highway.

The children were unharmed and turned over or Oregon officials until relatives could be reached.

Chervenell, who has previously served time in prison, was held in the Umatilla County jail until she could be extradited back to Washington.

History of abuse

This isn’t the first time Chervenell has been accused of strangling her partner of 10 years. Chervenell-Brinson’s request for a protection order said one attack by Chervenell left her convulsing on the floor.

She told then-Court Commissioner Diana Ruff that Chervenell was in a downward spiral of illegal drug use.

While the two children are Chervenell’s biologically, Chervenell-Brinson provided most of the parenting, said the documents.

Investigators believe Chervenell-Brinson was killed on Wednesday, Aug. 3.

Chervenell had sent a text message to a friend on Aug. 4 saying she went to Mesa to talk and “didn’t know the power of her hands and killed her wife,” according to court records.

The friend alerted police just before 7:30 p.m. Deputies discovered the children missing and began trying to track Chervenell-Brinson’s cellphone. Then, they found her body.