56-year-old sentenced to almost 20 years in prison for killing husband whose body was found buried in Stevens County

A 56-year-old woman was sentenced last month to 19½ years in prison for killing her husband who authorities found buried on his Stevens County property in 2021.

Brenda Rasmussen pleaded guilty on Aug. 21 to second-degree murder and tampering with a witness . Judge Lech Radzimski then sentenced her to 234 months in prison.

Brenda Rasmussen and her sons, Danny and Andrew Jones, were arrested in Arizona in February 2022 for their connection to Jerry Rasmussen’s death.

The Jones brothers pleaded guilty to charges, which were not revealed on the Washington Courts Odyssey Portal, in June 2022 and are set to be sentenced Sept. 26.

Daniel Tavaglione, Brenda Rasmussen’s father, was charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance, but the portal said his case was dismissed the day Brenda Rasmussen was sentenced.

In December 2021, law enforcement found Jerry Rasmussen’s body wrapped in a blanket and plastic wrap buried under a new shed on the Rasmussen couple’s property, 33427 Darrin Road, outside the unincorporated town of Valley. Jerry Rasmussen died from a gunshot wound to the head, according to court documents.

Brenda Rasmussen reported her husband missing to the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 27, 2021, documents say. She told a deputy that Jerry Rasmussen told her he had cabin fever, took $30,000 in cash and left on his motorcycle.

Brenda Rasmussen, who said she and her husband were fighting, told authorities he was missing for a couple weeks, she could not reach him by phone and she was getting worried. She said she did not try calling her husband until three or four days after he was reportedly missing, according to documents.

Eric Rasmussen, Jerry Rasmussen’s son, said he visited his father and Brenda Rasmussen in August 2021, and everything seemed fine between the two. He returned to his California home and communicated with his father by phone until Labor Day weekend, which started a period lasting a couple of weeks during which he could not reach his father, he said.

Eric Rasmussen said Brenda Rasmussen told him his father was busy the times he did call the house during that period, documents said.

Worried about his father’s welfare, Eric Rasmussen said he hopped on a plane and then drove to the couple’s Valley home and filed a missing person report.

A detective wrote in court documents that Brenda Rasmussen and Danny and Andrew Jones were very responsive via text message and phone calls from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, but the detective never heard from them after that.

Sentencing documents indicated Brenda Rasmussen has a substance use disorder that contributed to the killing. She must undergo an evaluation for treatment for substance use disorder. She will serve three years of community custody when she is released from prison.