Son suspected in mother’s fatal stabbing in Garland

Police suspect matricide in a Garland neighborhood stabbing late Sunday night.

Officers arrived at the woman’s apartment unit at 811 W. Walton Ave. near the Garland Business District at about 11:30 p.m., where they found the victim with apparent stab wounds. She was transported to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, Spokane police said in a news release.

Elizabeth Scherette, a student at Eastern Washington University and neighbor of the woman, said she arrived home Sunday evening to the sounds of a woman screaming next door. Along with several other neighbors, she said she broke down the front door just as the suspect escaped out the back, and found the woman bleeding from her neck.

“I ran in and put my hands on her throat,” she said. “I sat there with her until they got the ambulance here.”

Monday morning at about 9:45, police arrested the woman’s son, identified in a news release as 41-year-old Marquis R. Smith. Smith’s family spells his first name Marques.

He was taken into custody at Wall Street and Greta Avenue near Holy Cross Cemetery, according to a news release. He’s facing a charge of first-degree murder.

A search of Smith’s criminal history shows two felony convictions, one from 1999. In that case, Smith hit his then-girlfriend in the face with a closed fist after an argument on the Fourth of July. A jury found him guilty months later, and he was sentenced to 38 months in prison.

Police have not released the identity of the woman killed in Sunday’s stabbing. But James Smith, Marques Smith’s father, said Monday the victim is Marques Smith’s mom, Sandra Anderson, who is also James Smith’s ex-wife.

James Smith, 72, who used to allow Marques Smith to stay with him and his wife in their north Spokane home near Salk Middle School, said his son had been living with his mother, who was close to retirement.

He said he awoke to a phone call at about 2 a.m. from police alerting him of the stabbing.

“I don’t know much more than what police told me,” he said. “I don’t really know much of anything, other than it must have been some kind of argument going on.”

Ever since Marques Smith’s brother died in 1997, James Smith said his son has struggled with drugs and alcohol, along with a short temper.

“I know it was nothing that was planned.” James Smith said. “He really has a problem with anger.”