Police: Group planned slaying

Unwilling to give back the $300 an ex-convict paid to stay in their West Mallon home, an unconventional group of friends, lovers and roommates spent a day talking about how to get rid of Kevin R. Boyle.

The plans ranged from killing Boyle while making it look like self-defense to shooting him in his pickup and then burning it, according to court records and a jailhouse interview.

Finally, witnesses recall, a decision was made to give a cheap, worn .25-caliber pistol to roommate Sheri “Stormy” Ramsey so she could shoot Boyle in the alley before running back home.

“It was a big old joke to everybody at first,” said 20-year-old Paul Livingston, who remains in the Spokane County Jail on a count of first-degree murder. “Then it became real. It’s extremely real for me now.”

Spokane police detectives continue to investigate the Oct. 28 slaying of Boyle, who was found in the alley not far from the 2307 W. Mallon home where he had been invited to live. So far, five people have been charged with planning, hiding evidence, providing the gun or carrying out the killing. All are being held at the county jail awaiting trial.

More puzzling than the otherwise unlikely collection of homicide suspects was Boyle’s apparent failure to realize his life was in danger even after two failed attempts to kill him.

“It’s just a bizarre situation. I don’t know how to explain it,” Detective Kip Hollenbeck said. “The bottom line is they pretty much executed the guy.”

Even friends seemed puzzled by the complex and intertwining relationships of those living in the house, Livingston said in his interview.

“It got me all confused every time I tried to figure it out,” he said.

Living in the home was 32-year-old Andre Ramsey, also known as Andre Hester, the partner of 33-year-old Sheri “Stormy” Ramsey. The women consider themselves married and have a child together, Livingston said.

However, Andre Ramsey apparently was having a sexual relationship with 35-year-old Brian K. Wilson, Livingston said. It was Brian Wilson who introduced Kevin Boyle to residents of the home. Boyle had a brief sexual relationship with Sheri Ramsey, Livingston said.

Livingston spent time at the house every day because his girlfriend, Megan Sinn, was living in the garage with the couple’s two daughters, ages 2 and 1. Also, Sinn’s sister, Amy Star Reopelle, lived nearby and spent a lot of time at the house.

When Boyle moved into the home, Andre Ramsey became jealous of his relationship with Sheri Ramsey, Livingston said.

At some point, Andre and Sheri Ramsey both learned that Boyle had spent 23 years in Washington prisons for convictions including first-degree robbery and assault before he was released last May. Once that was known, the couple told Boyle they wanted him to move out.

However, Boyle had already paid his rent and didn’t want to leave, Livingston said.

“They owed Kevin money, and that’s what pretty much what it was all about,” he said.

Livingston said he asked Andre Ramsey why she didn’t just give back the $300. “She figured it wouldn’t matter anymore,” he said.

According to Hollenbeck’s report, “Andre Ramsey and Sheri Ramsey decided that the only way to get rid of Boyle was to kill him.”

On Oct. 27, the group started talking, the report says.

Those in attendance were Andre and Stormy Ramsey, Reopelle, Sinn, Livingston and Wilson, Hollenbeck wrote.

Megan Sinn told investigators that Livingston and Andre Ramsey left early in the day to purchase the stolen pistol from a neighbor, which Andre later gave to Sheri Ramsey.

In the jailhouse interview, Livingston denied knowing details of the planning. But according to court records, he told Detective Hollenbeck the initial plan was for Sheri Ramsey to shoot Boyle but make it look like self-defense.

“This plan was abandoned when they realized that the gun they planned to use was stolen,” Hollenbeck wrote.

The group then discussed taking Boyle for a drive in his pickup. Sheri Ramsey would shoot Boyle and then Livingston would “incinerate the victim and the vehicle,” Hollenbeck wrote. “This plan was abandoned as it became too complicated.”

The final plan was to have Sheri Ramsey take Boyle on a walk down the alley. She would then shoot him and run home, Hollenbeck said.

Livingston said he thought all the planning was an act.

“I wasn’t sure what she wanted the gun for,” Livingston said. “I thought they were trying to play a joke on me, Megan and Amy.”

As the evening continued, Sheri Ramsey and Boyle began drinking alcohol and using methamphetamine. About 11 p.m., Ramsey took Boyle for a walk. But they both returned about 45 minutes later and Ramsey went to Livingston with a problem.

Ramsey “said she pulled the trigger and the gun went ‘click,’ ” Hollenbeck wrote in his report. “Boyle laughed at her when she convinced him it was a joke.”

Livingston, in the jailhouse interview, said Ramsey told him that Boyle had seen the gun on the first attempt. “But she convinced him it was a toy.”

When she returned to the home, Livingston checked the pistol and saw it had five bullets in the magazine but none in the chamber. He told Ramsey it wasn’t properly loaded and handed it back to her.

Sometime later, Ramsey then walked Boyle out in the alley a second time. They were gone about 30 minutes. Ramsey told Livingston the gun failed to fire a second time.

Ramsey took the gun back and practiced unloading and loading the gun several times as Boyle talked with others in the kitchen, Hollenbeck wrote.

After midnight, Ramsey grabbed an explicit, adult-oriented DVD to entice Boyle to walk with her a third time, Hollenbeck wrote in court documents. They had been gone for about five minutes when the group heard a shot and Ramsey came running back into the house, Livingston said in the interview.

“She said, ‘I shot him. I did it. I did it,’ ” Livingston said.

“I said, ‘Well. Is he dead?’ She said, ‘I’m not sure.’ I said, ‘Somebody needs to go check.’ She said, ‘Somebody needs to go with me …,’ ” Livingston said.

Livingston then walked with Ramsey down the alley.

Boyle “was lying on his back. She said he had rolled over. It looked like he was still kind of breathing a little bit,” Livingston said.

He said Sheri Ramsey then handed him the gun asked him to shoot Boyle a second time. “I pushed it back at her and said, ‘No. You started it, you finish it,’ and I turned around and started to walk off,” Livingston said in the interview.

He glanced over his shoulder just as Sheri Ramsey shot Boyle again in the face near the chin. They both ran back to the house, he said.

Livingston refused to comment about his next actions, but Hollenbeck wrote in his report that Livingston admitted to taking Sheri Ramsey”s clothes, which he placed in a garbage bag along with the gun.

Cpl. Jim Muzatko was driving past the area and discovered Boyle about 7 a.m. Boyle was still breathing but died a short time later at Deaconess Medical Center. Officer Joe Fausti responded to the area and stopped a 1989 Ford Escort driven by Livingston. But Fausti released Livingston, not realizing he might be connected to the crime.

During a series of interviews, witnesses cooperated with police.

“Ramsey claimed that Boyle had grabbed her by the arm and was attempting to drag her to Reopelle’s house in order to force sex on her,” Hollenbeck wrote.

Based on those interviews, detectives charged Sheri Ramsey with first-degree murder.

They also charged Andre Ramsey with first-degree murder because “she purchased the murder weapon, encouraged Sheri Ramsey to carry out the act of murder and assisted in the planning of the murder,” Hollenbeck wrote.

Livingston was charged with first-degree murder because “he had knowledge and took part in the planning of the murder, witnessed Sheri Ramsey shooting the victim, then took steps to conceal and destroy evidence,” Hollenbeck said in his report.

Investigators also charged Brian K. Wilson with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder because he took part in the planning, lied to investigators and “acted as an alibi for Andre Ramsey.”

A fifth suspect, next-door neighbor Curtis B. Kellerman, was charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Investigators believe he sold the gun used in the slaying for $75 to Andre Ramsey.

Andre Ramsey, Sheri Ramsey and Wilson all declined requests to be interviewed.

In his interview earlier this month, Livingston said he grew up in Loon Lake and attended two years of high school at Deer Park High School.

Prosecutors have already asked him to testify against the others. He said he hopes a judge or a jury will realize that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I’m going to do my time, I know that,” Livingston said.

Lt. Scott Stephens doesn’t buy Livingston’s explanation and said he could have prevented the killing.

“There’s a legal term called an opportunity to terminate your criminal complicity,” Stephens said. “They all had an opportunity to do that. You would think a reasonable person would say, ‘Hey they’re not kidding.’ “