Couple charged with killing woman found outside middle school in Mead

A couple has been arrested on suspicion of killing a woman whose naked body was found on a roadway in Mead early Tuesday.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said deputies arrested Journey N. O’Donnal, 23, and Robert F. Mead, 27, on Wednesday evening. Each was booked into Spokane County Jail on charges of first-degree robbery and second-degree murder.

The victim, Grace A. Wiggins, 24, was last seen alive the day before her death at Franklin Park Shopping Center.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide by strangulation.

An ambulance crew came upon Wiggins’ body on Farwell Road, just east of Pittsburgh Street, at about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday, according to the sheriff’s office.

The crew immediately believed Wiggins to be dead after finding her with a plastic bag over her head and fishing line around her neck, court documents say.

The discovery prompted authorities to close Farwell between Pittsburgh and U.S. Highway 2 and delayed classes in the Mead School District for two hours. The spot where Wiggins was found is just outside Northwood Middle School. The middle school’s security cameras showed a vehicle driving down the road just after 3 a.m. and what appears to be the victim’s body being deposited on the road, court documents show.

Wiggins was last seen at the shopping center by a friend and her ex-fiance, court records show. Security video shows Wiggins getting into a 2008 Honda Ridgeline, belonging to O’Donnal, at about 3 p.m. the day before her body was discovered.

Mead told police that the couple picked up “some homeless chick” and took her to an apartment he shared with O’Donnal, according to court records.

Documents do not indicate whether police believe Wiggins was homeless.

At about midnight, Wiggins was taking a shower in the apartment, Mead told police, and overdosed on heroin.

Mead told investigators he dragged Wiggins’ body into his bedroom, placed a plastic bag over her head and bound her wrists with fishing line.

He then wrapped her body in a sheet and, with the help of O’Donnal, moved her body to the truck, Mead told police. O’Donnal drove while Mead sat in the back with the body and eventually dumped it on the road, he told police.

When police told Mead the medical examiner determined Wiggins was strangled, he said that he may have placed his hands on her neck while moving the body.

When interviewed by police, O’Donnal said she was unaware that Wiggins was dead until Mead woke her up and asked her to help him move the body, according to court documents.

O’Donnal said she agreed to do so because she was worried if they called the police her landlord would find out Mead was living in her apartment but not on the lease.

After returning to their apartment, the couple disposed of Wiggins’ belongings in multiple nearby dumpsters, got rid of the sheet previously wrapped around her body and put her cellphone in a kiosk inside Northtown Mall, according to documents.

O’Donnal told police that she and Mead have, on multiple occasions, invited strangers to have sex with them and that Mead participates in “light strangulation” during sex, according to court records.

Deputies seized the truck Wednesday evening and searched an apartment in the 200 block of East Lincoln Road. The jail roster shows O’Donnal and Mead were booked around 6 p.m.

The sheriff’s office said anyone with information about Wiggins’ death should call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233. The reference number for the case is 10031924.