Man stabbed, killed on South Hill was ‘funny guy’ who loved to fish, act

It was no surprise to Kevin Christensen’s loved ones that he was trying to help someone before he was stabbed to death last month at his South Hill apartment complex.

“He never, ever backed off taking care of people,” said Nancy Christopher, Christensen’s friend. “I mean, that’s just exactly who he is. He would not be the person that turned around and pretended like he didn’t see it.”

Police believe 61-year-old David McFarland attacked a woman with a knife and then stabbed Christensen in the neck and abdomen before another man shot and killed the knife-wielding McFarland in self-defense in the early evening of May 13 at the Hart Terrace complex, 3308 E. 11th Ave.

Christensen’s 24-year-old son, Skye Christensen, said police and apartment residents, including the woman who was attacked and the shooter, recounted to him the events leading up to his father’s death.

Skye Christensen said McFarland, who was living at one of the apartment buildings, was walking at the complex and carrying a large knife when he encountered the woman. He said McFarland told the woman he was going to kill her. At some point, McFarland attacked her with the knife.

The woman was uninjured as another tenant came to her aid and pulled her into an apartment, separating her from McFarland, police said.

Skye Christensen said McFarland then went outside and encountered Kevin Christensen, who had heard someone yelling for help and went to see what was going on. McFarland stabbed and killed Christensen near a stairwell, police said.

“Knowing my dad, I know he didn’t go down easy,” Skye Christensen said. “There would have been a fight there.”

McFarland, who still had a knife, started walking through the complex before encountering a man walking a dog, police said. McFarland ran at the man, who drew a gun and shot McFarland, killing him in what appeared to be self-defense, according to police.

Skye Christensen said his father, who had been living at the complex for a couple weeks, yelled that he had been stabbed. He said an apartment resident kept pressure on his father’s wounds. Police also said the man with the gun tried to aid the elder Christensen before police arrived.

“I got confirmation from a lot of the other residents that there are a lot of people that are grateful for what he did and that there are a lot of people that are alive and safe because of what he did as well,” Skye Christensen said.

He said the woman who was attacked told him McFarland’s goal was to kill people. McFarland didn’t know the woman nor Kevin Christensen, his son said.

“That was all he was looking for,” Skye Christensen said. “He had no rhyme or reason for it. He wanted to hurt people.”

An actor, fisherman and ‘funny guy’

Kevin Christensen was born in Brooklyn, New York, and lived in several states before settling in Washington before Skye Christensen, his only child, was born. He lived in Chewelah for several years before moving to Spokane about 1½ years ago, according to his son.

Kevin Christensen was married to Effie Lucinda “Cindy” Christensen, Skye Christensen’s mother, before her death about 11 years ago when Skye Christensen was 13.

An ex-Marine, the elder Christensen held several jobs over the years and most recently worked for Grand Event Management as a security guard, his son said.

He was a big, strong man, standing about 6-foot-3, Skye Christensen said. He said one of his father’s friends recently told him that he called Kevin Christensen whenever he needed something heavy moved.

The younger Christensen said some of the items he recently moved out of his father’s apartment were extremely heavy, but his dad managed to get them inside by himself.

Skye Christensen, who lives in Chewelah, described his father as an avid fisherman who always cracked jokes.

“He was a funny guy,” he said. “He was extremely sociable.”

He said he sometimes joined him on his father’s fishing expeditions but, as a child, he didn’t share the enthusiasm his father had for it.

“Every chance he could get to get out of the house and go fishing, he would take it,” he said.

The most fond memory Skye Christensen has of his father is when they went pheasant hunting together. Skye was 3 or 4 years old and was allowed to fire a shotgun.

Kevin Christensen was covering his son’s ears with his hands to protect them from the loud gunfire when he realized his son wasn’t big enough to put the stock on his shoulder, Skye Christensen said. He said he had the gun tucked under his arm instead.

“He went to put his hand behind the stock to kind of catch it, but I had already pulled the trigger, and the shotgun flew, like, 10 feet behind us,” Skye Christensen said.

No one was hurt.

The younger Christensen said his dad also “loved being on stage,” performing in plays at theaters in Kettle Falls and Chewelah. He played a small role in the 2016 movie “Rum Runners,” which was filmed in Stevens County and follows two friends running illegal rum over the Canadian border during Prohibition.

Christopher, operational manager at Woodland Theatre in Kettle Falls, said she met Kevin Christensen in 2014 when he first performed at the theater in the musical “The Secret Garden.” She said she acted alongside him in several performances and directed some of the shows he performed. He was also an excellent singer with the Woodland choir, she said.

Christopher said Kevin Christensen was an excellent actor who could play an array of characters.

“He was very, very funny, quick-witted and kind,” Christopher said.

Kevin Christensen wrote about his love for acting in a short biography for a Woodland show. He wrote that he played a role in “Free to Be … You and Me” in the fifth grade.

“It took a couple of years and one summer camp for the bug bite to take hold,” Kevin Christensen wrote. “I auditioned for, and got the part of Danny Zuko in Grease in 1980 and never looked back.”

She said he was always willing to lend a hand, like mopping the stage or cleaning toilets, before heading home from the theater. He also made sure she and others were OK.

“It was all about how he could serve,” Christopher said. “… He was just a delight to be around.”

She recalled her friend “perfectly” playing his part in “Seussical,” the musical play based on Dr. Seuss’s characters and stories. She also recounted a “costume malfunction” he had in “Escanaba in da Moonlight” in Chewelah. She said she and others never let him live that down.

“It’s gone down in history as one of the great membrances about Kevin,” Christopher said.

Christopher said Kevin Christensen was supposed to remove his clothing in one scene, so that he only had his long johns underneath. But he forgot to put on his long johns beforehand and only had his underwear on after he took off his clothes.

He continued playing the part and climbed into a bunk bed in just his underwear.

“The humor was not lost on the audience,” Christopher said. “Everyone thought that he was terribly embarrassed and not comfortable with what was going on. He managed to pull off the scene and then sneak off stage and put some clothes on.”

Christopher estimated Kevin Christensen performed at Woodland from 2014 to 2018. She said she will miss him, and even before his death, she had already missed his talented acting skills on the Woodland stage.

“You can always count on him, you know?” she said. “He’d never let you down.”

Kevin Christopher’s friend and fellow actor, GianCarlo DeStefano, said he met him during an Addams Family musical audition in 2015. They became “fast friends” and connected over the fact they were both former Marines and raised in the New York City area.

“He was a jovial person,” DeStefano said. “If you got around him, let’s say you weren’t in a good mood, you would be within a short period of time.”

He said Kevin Christensen was also extremely animated and wore his heart on his sleeve.

“He was a big guy, but he had a very soft face about him,” DeStefano said. “So, his aura and his energy were very nice. Not what you would really equate to a Marine recon.”

The two actors fished together, and DeStefano would have him over to his Colville home when he cooked Italian food. DeStefano said he left messages almost daily trying to contact his friend before he learned from Christopher that he had been killed. He said he will most remember his friend’s face and smile.

“He’ll be sorely missed,” DeStefano said.

Skye Christensen said he’s doing OK in the wake of his father’s death, noting his dad wouldn’t want him to stay down.

“He wouldn’t want me to stay broken about it, so I’m just doing my best to stay up and stay strong,” he said. “I know that’s what he would have wanted.”