Litigation preceded shooting

A Spokane hospital worker who shot her husband to death Thursday in southern Stevens County had joined him in a recent flurry of litigation against a former member of Sacred Heart Medical Center’s board of directors.

Robin Marie Jenkins, a 35-year-old lab assistant at the medical center, claimed in court documents that hospital board member George Albert Bombel, 66, coerced her into a motel room and raped her in December 2005 and then subsequently stalked her.

Bombel couldn’t be reached for comment, but court documents show he denied wrongdoing.

Although Jenkins claimed the rape occurred Dec. 20, Spokane police records show she made no report until June 16 – a week after she and her husband, 50-year-old Christopher Crayton Jenkins sought a no-contact order against Bombel, who had already petitioned for a restraining order against Christopher Jenkins.

Bombel was a member of the board of directors of Sacred Heart’s parent corporation, Providence Health Care, from 1999 until sometime this year. Sacred Heart spokeswoman Maureen Goins said Friday that details weren’t immediately available on when and how Bombel left the board.

Goins said Jenkins has been a lab assistant at the hospital since April 2000 but declined to comment further.

In court documents, Robin Jenkins and her husband accused Bombel of harassing behavior over a period of months, but Stevens County Sheriff Craig Thayer said Thursday that detectives were investigating what may have been a history of unreported domestic violence in the marriage.

Detectives also are investigating Robin Jenkins’ claim that she shot her husband in self-defense. She has not been arrested.

Thayer said Thursday it was “too early to tell” whether conflicts related to Bombel contributed to the homicide. However, the sheriff said financial difficulties did appear to have contributed to strife that led up to the shooting.

Court records show that Washington Mutual Bank foreclosed on the couple’s real estate Thursday.

Christopher Jenkins died shortly after noon Thursday of an apparent gunshot to the chest. His wife told deputies that an argument led to a confrontation involving a handgun and a knife, Thayer said.

Robin Jenkins reported the shooting, and authorities found her mortally wounded husband lying on the driveway of their rural Williams Valley home. Christopher Jenkins died at the scene.

The Jenkinses’ home and the home of George and Kathy Bombel are separated by the town of Clayton and about nine miles of winding road.

According to documents filed in Spokane County District Court, Robin Jenkins’ attorney, Dale L. Russell, told Bombel in a March 16 letter that he had “evidence that approaches ‘stalking’ ” and would seek a restraining order if Bombel had further contact with Jenkins. Such an order “should prove damaging to your public reputation,” the attorney wrote.

Robin Jenkins said in a June 9 Spokane County District Court affidavit that Bombel “kidnapped me, terrorized me and raped me brutally at the Apple Tree Inn” on Dec. 20 after a “business meeting” at a restaurant in Spokane.

In another affidavit filed in Stevens County District Court, Robin Jenkins said she met Bombel because he invited her to discuss union business over lunch. She said he asked her whether she liked her job and wanted to stay at Sacred Heart “a long time.”

As they were leaving, Robin Jenkins claimed, Bombel grabbed her arm, kissed her on the lips and told her to get into his truck so they could talk privately. She said she feared for her job and her safety, so she agreed to rent a room at the nearby Apple Tree Inn.

Jenkins claimed she undressed as ordered, but resisted unsuccessfully when Bombel forcefully raped her.

Bombel’s replies to these court affidavits said the only contact he’d had with Robin Jenkins since December 2005 had been initiated by her or her husband.

On one occasion, Bombel wrote, Robin Jenkins brought Christmas candy to his home and gave it to his wife while he was away.

Bombel described two encounters with the Jenkinses at the Rosauers grocery store at Spokane’s North Division “Y” in April and May.

On the first occasion, Bombel said, Christopher Jenkins threatened to kill him, and on the second Jenkins hit him twice in the chest and struck a man who intervened. Robin Jenkins said in an affidavit prepared by her attorney that her husband was keeping “stalker George” from approaching her when bystanders attacked her husband.

According to court documents, the last legal action taken on the matter was on Aug. 11 when Judge Pro Tem Virginia Rockwood issued a protection order on behalf of Robin Jenkins. Bombel did not appear in court.