Snow held for murder, assault

Court documents say 23-year-old Ryan M. Snow told police he poured his grandfather a soft drink Saturday, then slashed his throat with a folding knife.

James R. Bittick, 65, was dead on the backyard patio of his home at 2711 N. Atlantic St. when police arrived.

Snow was charged Monday with first-degree murder. He also was charged with first-degree assault for allegedly hitting and choking a female inmate while being booked into jail.

Authorities said a medical examination showed the woman wasn’t seriously injured although Snow reportedly said he intended to break her neck.

Spokane County District Court Commissioner Robert M. Seines set Snow’s bail at $1 million on each count, and Snow remained in jail Monday night.

“We haven’t established a motive, and we may not,” Spokane police Cpl. Tom Lee said of the alleged murder.

However, detectives hope Snow recorded his thoughts or plans in his pocket computer, which can connect to the Internet, according to an affidavit used to charge Snow and obtain a search warrant.

The affidavit says Snow told officers both he and his grandfather were mentally ill, and his grandfather had been yelling at him and threatening to put him in a mental institution.

Snow reportedly said his grandfather asked for a soft drink, so he served the drink. Then, Snow allegedly admitted, he stood behind his grandfather, reached around his grandfather’s neck with a folding knife and cut his throat with one stroke.

Firefighters and ambulance paramedics found Bittick’s body when they were called to the Bittick home on a report that a delusional woman needed help. They also found Snow sitting nearby on a porch.

The fire and ambulance personnel escorted Snow to the front yard, patted him down and found a folding knife in his waistband, according to the police affidavit filed Monday.

Detective Mark Burbridge told Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza in the affidavit that Snow gave a confession, in which he said he called 911 about his grandmother, Constance Bittick, in the hope that she would be taken to a mental institution before she could see what had happened to her husband.

Snow said he checked on his grandmother, inside the house, after he killed his grandfather. Then he went to the nearby Kay Lon Garden Restaurant, 2819 N. Division St., for a glass of wine, according to Burbridge’s account of Snow’s statement.

Burbridge said Snow claimed at first that he simply went to get a drink because his “manic” grandfather was “very animated with him” – leaving out the part about cutting his grandfather’s throat. In that version, Snow reportedly found his grandfather on the ground when he returned and he hoped Bittick was still alive.

Detectives pointed out conflicts between the physical evidence and Snow’s account, and Snow admitted he committed the crime, according to Burbridge.

He said Snow told detectives both he and his grandfather suffer from bipolar disorder, a mental illness characterized by extreme mood swings. Among the items seized when detectives searched the Bittick home were a supply of Seroquel, a medicine used to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Court documents don’t say for whom the drug was prescribed.

Lee, the police spokesman, said in a press release that Snow had lived with his grandparents, but moved out of their home about three months ago.

Burbridge said in his affidavit that Snow had a handheld computer with him when he was detained. Snow reportedly spoke several times about the device and about working on computers, giving rise to the hope that Snow used his handheld computer as an electronic diary.