Husband Arrested In Wife’s Stabbing Couple’s Five Daughters Present At The Valley Home When The Killing Occurred

Neighbors knew Rick and Cookie Birnel’s marriage was in bad shape. The couple separated about 18 months ago and although Rick often visited his estranged wife and their five daughters at the Birnels’ Spokane Valley home, there were signs of trouble.

But nobody expected the marriage to end the way it did early Thursday, when Cookie Birnel was stabbed to death in her living room.

Paramedics and sheriff’s deputies responding to a 911 call arrived at 4708 N. Haye at about 5 a.m. and found Mary Elizabeth “Cookie” Birnel, 36, dead inside her home.

Deputies also found Thomas “Rick” Birnel, 39, at the scene, according to Lt. David Wiyrick of the Sheriff’s Department. He was taken into custody for questioning and later was booked into Spokane County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder. Birnel, owner of a Valley carpet store, is being held without bond pending his first court appearance.

Sheriff’s deputies confiscated a knife at the scene they believe to be the murder weapon. They refused to describe the knife, say how many times the victim was stabbed or reveal who notified authorities.

The couple’s daughters, ranging in age from a toddler to a 17-year-old, were at home when the killing occurred. They were not harmed.

Police had been called to the house on domestic disputes before, said sheriff’s Lt. David Wiyrick. He would not say which person was the aggressor.

Neither has a criminal record in Spokane County.

News of Thursday’s killing spread quickly throughout the East Farms neighborhood. Neighbors gathered on the front lawn of the house across the street and talked somberly among themselves.

The Birnels had owned the splitlevel home with a back-yard swimming pool for about 10 years, neighbors said.

Rick Birnel frequently stopped by to visit his children and his estranged wife, neighbors said.

“Rick just acted like, this is my house, I’m going to be here,” said neighbor Chuck Stobie.

“It was never an ugly scene,” he said. “It was like, everything’s normal. This is really just a shock. I never heard them yelling.”

Neighbor Joe Hill said he believed Mary and Rick Birnel were trying to work things out.

Rick Birnel owns Rick’s Carpet, E8507 Trent. After the Birnels’ separation, he lived in a house behind his business and was moving into a new house on Maringo Drive, said Bob Jones, who works at the carpet store.

One of the Birnels’ children had a birthday Wednesday and when Hill, who lives across the street, returned home about 6:30 p.m., he saw Birnel’s van - with its Rick’s Carpet logo - parked in the driveway.

Most of the Birnels’ children attend East Valley schools.

“At school, these were happy children,” said Sigrid Brannan, principal of Otis Orchards Elementary, where one Birnel child is in second grade and another in fourth grade.