Jury declares guilt in drug-money killing

A Spokane County Superior Court jury has convicted 39-year- old Theodore M. Kosewicz of aggravated first-degree murder and kidnapping for an execution-style killing in a 2005 drug deal gone bad.

The jury returned its verdict Tuesday in the courtroom of Spokane County Superior Court Judge Michael P. Price.

A family cutting firewood in a slash pile near Fairfield in January 2006 found a body under the woodpile, later identified as 25-year old Sebastian L. Esquibel, of Spokane. His feet were bound with jumper cables.

Spokane County sheriff’s investigators identified several witnesses and informants who said Esquibel was severely beaten because he stole $800 that was supposed to be used to buy methamphetamine.

Kosewicz, Levoy Goff Burnham and Carlton J. Hritsco were accused of beating Esquivel in a travel trailer on Spokane’s North Side and then driving to a field in southern Spokane County where Esquibel was shot in the head. Court documents say the murder occurred sometime in June 2005.

Witness Amber Johnson told investigators she drove the suspects and a bound Esquibel to the remote area where he was killed, court documents say.

Kosewicz and Burnham were both being held in other correctional facilities for other crimes at the time they were charged. They were transferred to the Spokane County Jail, where they were held on $1 million bond each.