January 2, 2012 in News, City

Death investigation ruled homicide

Thomas Clouse The Spokesman-Review

Friends have identified the homicide victim discovered Sunday in North Spokane as 34-year-old Kim Schmidt.

Spokane County Sheriff’s detectives today re-classified Schmidt’s death from suspicious to homicide. Authorities are not expected to officially identify her until after a Tuesday autopsy.

Deputies were called about 2:45 p.m. Sunday after a family member discovered Schmidt dead in a home in the 100 block of East Regina.

After first classifying the death as suspicious, major crimes detectives now believe someone killed the woman and the investigators gathered evidence overnight, sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan said in a news release.

“Some interviews have been conducted, but more remain to be accomplished,” he said.

Reagan did not indicate whether detectives have identified a suspect.

“Many of the detectives who are working this case were called out for the Zehm suicide in Coeur d’Alene the night before, so they will be resting today and will resume working this homicide on Tuesday,” Reagan said.

In that case, 52-year-old Daniel Joe Zehm fatally shot himself during a police chase in Kootenai County.

As for Schmidt, several friends have left condolences on the social media pages of her daughter and of the girl’s father, who also lives in Spokane.

Efforts to reach the girl’s father were not immediately successful.

13 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

smittysturn on January 02 at 1:32 p.m.
Any reason why the meat of this article had NOTHING to do with the title? Attention Deficit Disorder much? Geezus!
msterner on January 02 at 2:33 p.m.
smittysturn: Agreed. They should really run this stuff by an editor once in a while.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on January 02 at 2:49 p.m.
The SR’s early retirements and lay-offs are becoming very evident in their articles lately.
Shame whats happening to the newspaper industry…..but still, would be nice to see them hire someone who can stay on topic.
Kivaari on January 02 at 3:15 p.m.
There were two stories in one, and not crafted well at all.
lewis8457 on January 02 at 4:33 p.m.
they need to downplay the homicide of the young lady cause a unmarked police car was seen at the residence earlier in the day.
Shadedmuse on January 02 at 6:03 p.m.
Daniel Zehm shot him self because he didnt want to get beaten by Spokane Cops that were on the way.
Dazzeetrader11 on January 02 at 7:10 p.m.
What! Rest??? Columbo never took a day off;)
zelda on January 02 at 7:17 p.m.
Looks like Thomas Clouse drew the short straw today having to work on the holiday. Cut him some slack, folks. It’s been nothing but murder, mayhem, fires and car-crash fatalities since New Year’s Eve. Probably more incidents than one reporter and a reduced news staff can fully handle.
notaschmo on January 02 at 7:51 p.m.
I think it’s pronounced “DANYELL” and they got it backwards. The wife killed the husband, then committed suicide. Did you see the picture of him…..her???????
Shadedmuse on January 02 at 8:00 p.m.
The photo is of the wife.
YourMom on January 02 at 10:39 p.m.
Rest in Peace, Kim. You will be missed.
UvulaCrusher on January 03 at 2:44 a.m.
Lewis, your comments are inappropriate, AGAIN!
“lewis8457 on January 02 at 4:33 p.m.they need to downplay the homicide of the young lady cause a unmarked police car was seen at the residence earlier in the day.”
If you were a troll, your inflammatory statements would be ignored.
You bring up Otto and Pastor Creach consistently with little (if anything) in common with the topic.
I actually knew Otto quite well, and using his death for every issue doesn’t help him, his legacy, his friends or most importantly his family. Almost everyone, including the jury agrees the SPD and the two girls that falsely phoned in the ‘attempted robbery’ made monumental errors.
I didn’t know Pastor Creach. However, Pastor Creach had requested the Sheriff provide additional patrols. Pastor Creach went out to check on one of these patrols, armed.
Kim’s death has nothing to do with either!
You are the smallest of people. If this were the 70’s I’d point out you were an idiot, because calling you an imbecile or a moron would be a compliment.
Moron 50-69
Imbecile 20-49
Idiot below 20
If I were any closer to Kim than I am (she was the immediate supervisor to people I care about) I’d be a little more bold in my statements to you. I’ve spoke with 4 very concerned people about her tonight. Thankfully, they’ll have grief counselors tomorrow.
You obviously haven’t picked up any clues in life or grown a pair, bathing in your personal cesspool.
I’ll spell it out.
Your comments have no doubt hurt Kim’s mother, daughter and numerous co-workers!
??Riddler?? on January 03 at 5:53 a.m.
?? How long will it take an Otto-Pilot to post on any story involving a fatality ??