2nd suspect charged in beating death
A second suspect was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the beating death of a man whose body was found in the basement of a Spokane Valley home.
Kory Joseph Bruno, 17, was transferred from juvenile detention to the Spokane County Jail and was charged in District Court as an adult. He remained in jail Wednesday night in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Bruno is accused of helping Kevin David Stevens, 18, beat 19-year-old Peter Michael Joseph to death about March 29 — the last day Joseph’s mother saw him alive. Stevens went straight to adult court and was charged earlier this week.
Court documents in Stevens’ case said he claimed to have been part of a conspiracy to rob one of his roommates, Joseph, of drugs and money. Stevens allegedly told detectives his role was to “distract” Joseph, but investigators said he refused to name any accomplices or to provide details of the crime.
Documents in Bruno’s case indicate Stevens may have initiated the murder and that he may have relented on his vow not to name any accomplices.
According to court documents, Bruno complained to a sheriff’s deputy who was transporting him to the juvenile detention center, “I didn’t do it, Kevin did. … Why did he rat me out?”
Detective Michael Ricketts states in Bruno’s charging documents that Bruno admitted helping Stevens in “the struggle” with Joseph, but Bruno claimed he left while Stevens completed the murder. Bruno said he returned and helped Stevens carry Joseph’s body to Bruno’s car, but they changed their minds and put the body in the basement of Stevens’ home at 7721 E. Trent Ave., according to Ricketts.
Stevens’ second roommate, 18-year-old Anthony Jacob Crosby, told investigators he came home and noticed Joseph was gone. Crosby allegedly told detectives Stevens admitted he had just killed Joseph.
Crosby said Stevens told him he hit Joseph in the head with a bat while Joseph was in Stevens’ bedroom, but the blow didn’t “do it.” So Stevens called Bruno into the room to help, according to court documents.
The documents say Crosby told investigators he watched Stevens and Bruno carry Joseph’s still-warm, tarp-wrapped body from Bruno’s car to the basement room where authorities found it last Thursday.
The dead man’s hands and feet were bound with duct tape, his head was covered with a plastic bag secured with tape, and a belt was wrapped loosely around his neck when investigators examined the body.
Crosby reportedly described Joseph as a marijuana dealer who was addicted to Oxycontin, and said Bruno had been a friend of Joseph’s.
Court documents say the murder was discovered after Stevens told several people he had a body in his basement. Also, documents say, Stevens told jail inmate Mitchell Houston he and Bruno planned and executed the crime.
Stevens allegedly told Houston he bashed Joseph’s head, and Bruno tossed him a belt to strangle Joseph.
Stevens said Crosby “freaked out” when he came home and learned of the murder but made a pact with Stevens and Bruno to keep silent, according to Houston.
Crosby has not been charged in the homicide.