Murder Was ‘For The Fun Of It’ Prosecutor Describes ‘Thrill’ Killing Of Prostitute Last Year

Two Toby Stackhouses were presented to a jury Thursday: One beat and stabbed a Spokane prostitute to death. The other was so loyal he took the blame for a murder his friend committed.

“He did it just for the thrill of it, just for the fun of it,” Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Pat Thompson said in her opening statement Thursday in Spokane County Superior Court.

The 18-year-old defendant, on trial for first-degree murder, sat still with his hands clasped as Thompson detailed Linda Guillen’s brutal murder Dec. 1 near Playfair Race Track.

Thompson told the jury of eight women and four men how Guillen, 21, was kicked in the face with steel-toed boots until she was almost unrecognizable.

Stackhouse showed no emotion when Thompson accused him of repeatedly stabbing Guillen in the chest and attempting to slash her throat.

He killed the prostitute, the prosecutor said, because she refused to perform oral sex for $9.

Stackhouse used a knife with a 6-inch blade that was tossed to him by accomplice Jason Kukrall, Thompson said. She said Kukrall, 22, told authorities he could hear “gurgling noises” coming from the dying Guillen.

Afterward, Stackhouse washed his bloody hands in a mud puddle. Then he and Kukrall smoked cigarettes they bought at a nearby convenience store with a couple of dollars Stackhouse took from Guillen, Thompson said.

Kukrall, identified by a fingerprint he left on a beer bottle at the murder scene, has confessed his role and fingered Stackhouse as the primary culprit, Thompson said.

Kukrall led police to the spot where Stackhouse discarded his bloody boots, but Thompson said searchers were unable to find the knife that Kukrall said was thrown from the Wandermere Bridge north of Spokane.

Confronted with Kukrall’s confession, Stackhouse also confessed, Thompson said.

She promised jurors they’ll hear a tape recording of Stackhouse providing a detailed account of the killing, including how he couldn’t get the knife to cut through Guillen’s throat and how the whole thing gave him “a rush.”

“Listen to the calmness in his voice,” Thompson urged.

But Assistant Public Defender Greg Sypolt said Stackhouse is innocent.

“It’s a bizarre situation that this young man would accept the majority of the responsibility for something he did not do,” Sypolt said.

He said Stackhouse was intimidated by his new friend Kukrall, who is 6-foot-4 and weighs 280 pounds.

There is little physical evidence linking Stackhouse to the crime, the defense lawyer added.

Sypolt said jurors shouldn’t trust “jailhouse snitch” Ryan Bliss, “a three-time felon” who is expected to testify that Stackhouse confessed to the killing while they were both in the Pend Oreille County Jail.

Thompson said Bliss was able to draw an accurate diagram of the stab wounds.

But Sypolt said Bliss may have gotten the information from news reports or from Kukrall, who also was in the Pend Oreille jail.

Sypolt said he plans to call Stackhouse as a witness so jurors can decide whether he is more believable than Kukrall and Bliss.

Kukrall and Stackhouse are both charged with first-degree murder in Guillen’s death, but Kukrall has cut a deal in exchange for his testimony against Stackhouse.

Thompson declined to spell out the deal, but Sypolt said Kukrall will be rewarded with a much shorter sentence.

“That’s his 30 pieces of silver,” Sypolt said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo