Lower South Hill homicide victim identified

The Spokane County medical examiner Wednesday identified the man killed in his home Sunday as Damien L. Stewart, 33. Stewart was found dead in his apartment in the 500 block of South Hatch Street. The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide and said he died from asphyxia due to mechanical compression of his neck. The house his apartment is located in is well known to police, with about 111 calls for service in 2014. Many of the police responses to the address were for drug-related activity, police spokeswoman Monique Cotton said. Police have not yet identified a suspect in the homicide, and the investigation is ongoing.