Verdict in Cordova murder signals end of ordeal

Avery Doutre has his ex-girlfriend’s name tattooed on his left arm. “Margaret Cordova. R.I.P. 2004.”

“She was the love of my life,” 21-year-old Doutre said of Cordova, whose bound remains were found alongside a pile of bark on Feb. 22, 2004. “I was going to marry her.”

Not until Thursday when a jury of eight men and four women found Brian W. Frawley guilty of first-degree murder did his personal nightmare of suspicion end. When Cordova first went missing the day after she fought with Doutre, the blame began.

“All it has been is me against the world,” Doutre said. “I knew from the get-go that I didn’t do anything to Margaret. But everybody thought something different than me.”

The investigation eventually led police to Frawley, 25, a convicted sex offender who has two more rape and kidnapping trials pending. He gave no response Thursday when the verdict against him was read. He will be sentenced to between 25 and 33 years sometime in the next 40 days.

Frawley acknowledged having sex with Cordova but denied tying her ankles, wrists and neck with her own pajama bottoms.

Cordova, 20, disappeared in the early hours of Jan. 17, 2004, as she was walking to a friend’s house. Based on statistics that show that the vast majority of violent crimes are committed by family members or someone known to the victim, detectives initially fixed their eyes on Doutre.

Testimony and receipts verified that Doutre was on a job out of town and didn’t return to Spokane until 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 17. He later called 911 to report Cordova missing when no friends or family could locate her.

After intense questioning and police work that found supporting evidence for Doutre’s alibi, detectives began to look elsewhere, according to court testimony.

A woodcutter eventually discovered partially eaten remains near the intersection of Freya Street and Fairview Road. Based on the tattoo on her hand, detectives immediately suspected they had found Cordova.

Although dogs and probably coyotes had eaten most of her body, Cordova’s lower extremities remained. Inside those remains, investigators found the DNA that six months later matched to Frawley.

“If they didn’t have that, they wouldn’t have had anywhere to look but me,” Doutre said. “It would just keep going on.”

Deputy Prosecutor Andi Jakkola said in her closing arguments that Cordova’s body somehow fought to preserve that evidence to point a “ghostly finger” at her killer.

Without the DNA, investigators would have had nothing to point to Frawley. “Within a couple more days or weeks, he probably would have gotten away,” she said.

Assistant Public Defender Richard Mathisen left the courtroom Thursday without offering comment. But on Wednesday, he claimed Doutre and another man were more likely than Frawley to have caused Cordova’s death.

Jakkola, who praised the teamwork by the city and county detectives, said Doutre had to relive his nightmare during the closing arguments.

“Even when police excluded him as a suspect … he had to listen to the defense argue it anyway,” she said. “All he got to hear was again having the finger pointed at him.”

When the verdict was read, it brought tears of joy to Cordova’s family members who were assembled in the courtroom.

“We got justice for her,” said Cordova’s mother, Vicki LaMere. “Now my baby can rest.”

Afterward, the crying family members hugged Jakkola and the jury members, who all declined to comment on the case.

The family played in the courtroom hallway with Cordova’s son, 5-year-old Avery Doutre Jr., who ran around with a coloring book and chased his cousin.

Doutre cried as he hugged Spokane County sheriff’s Detective Tim Hines, who had once called Doutre “a person of interest” in the investigation.

Doutre thanked Hines, who replied: “Take care of that little boy.”