Second suspect charged in murder

The second suspect in a homicide this month at a north Spokane apartment appeared in court on a first-degree murder charge Tuesday.

Michael A. Quinones, 28, is now in the Spokane County Jail on $1 million bail.

A judge doubled his bail Tuesday to match that of suspect Matthew T. Shope, 17.

Quinones was transported Monday to Spokane from Missoula, where he was arrested at a homeless shelter Oct. 10 in connection with the Oct. 6 beating and strangulation death of Jennifer L. Siria. Police say Quinones and Shope were panhandling in north Spokane and paid Siria $20 to stay at her apartment but killed her after they decided to leave and couldn’t find the money.

A Spokane County sheriff’s deputy picked up Shope and Quinones while they were walking in the area of Siria’s apartment at 537 E. Hawthorne Ave. about 3 a.m. Oct. 6, shortly after authorities believe they killed Siria.

Deputy Sam Palmer drove the two to Garland Avenue and Division Street, as Quinones had requested, and let Quinones go. But Shope refused to exit the car and said he’d run away from Daybreak, a teen drug rehabilitation center, and had a warrant in Kootenai County.

After dispatchers failed to find an arrest warrant, Palmer drove the boy to Daybreak, where Shope told caseworker La Von Partridge he’d told Palmer about the warrant because Quinones had threatened to kill him and he feared him, according to court records.

As Shope began to wash his bloody clothes, he told his caseworker “he had been involved in something that could send him to prison for a long time,” according to court documents. “Matthew stated that he did not do the act he was talking about but that he did nothing to stop it and had been going through the victim’s belongings when the act was committed.”

Shope later took authorities to Siria’s apartment and then, in an interview with sheriff’s Detective Doug Marskey, said he and Quinones had arrived at Siria’s home Oct. 5 “and soon discovered that she was strange.”

Shope told police he’d agreed to help Quinones beat the woman and take back the money.

The boy’s description of the killing matched Siria’s injuries, according to police. He will be tried as an adult.

Quinones recently moved to Spokane from the Eastern U.S. and has a criminal history, according to the Sheriff’s Office.