These Tri-City women were killed by people they loved. Vigil remembers their lives

Kathy Brinson loved helping people.

One person she helped was a young lady who left a bag stuffed with clothes, cash and other items at the Connell Dollar General Store, said Brinson’s sister Becky Marty.

“It occurred to my sister that this was probably this young lady’s ‘go bag,’” Marty told a crowd at a candlelight vigil this week. “So she kept it there, just in case she ever returned and needed it.”

Brinson never learned why the woman had left the bag there. Before the young woman could return, Brinson’s wife, Chiloe Chervenell, allegedly strangled her.

She was one of the four domestic violence deaths this year remembered at the Domestic Violence Services of Benton and Franklin Counties annual candlelight vigil.

The others were:

• Kathy Wilcox, 72, who was allegedly shot and killed by her husband, Brian, in April before he set their home on fire and fled the Tri-Cities, say investigators.
• Bethany J. Lowe, 47, was stabbed to death in July by her son, David, after he broke into her Richland home, say court documents.
• Brandy Ebanez, 34, of Kennewick, was found dead in September in the Columbia River.Her boyfriend Richard Jacobson is a suspect in her death.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and Angie Pacheco, the nonprofit’s executive director said people are concerned that there have been four deaths linked to domestic violence already this year.

The nonprofit provides help to women and men caught in abusive relationships that need legal or financial help.

The organization is trying to increase its visibility with the aim of preventing others from dying. In all, the lives of 49 victims were honored this week.

“We still have a lot of people calling in. Our average is 300 calls a month,” she said. “We service over 3,000 families a year.”

The nonprofit’s 24-hour crisis line is 509-582-9841 or 800-648-1277. The office at 3311 W. Clearwater Ave. in Kennewick is open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Resources are available there for anyone who knows someone who is stuck in an abusive relationship.

Years of problems

Brinson kept the full extent of her problems with Chervenell away from her sister Marty, she told the Herald. She learned the whole story when her sister approached her for help in filing for a protection order in April.

She was shocked when she learned about the abuse her sister had suffered.

The protection order petition that Brinson filed showed a relationship in ruins, fueled by Chervenell’s drug and gambling addictions and a series of felons who were invited into their home.

At the time, Brinson said her wife was a good woman when she wasn’t in the throes of addiction. But she had been putting her and their two children in danger every day.

Marty said her sister loved the children, ages 7 and 9, but since they were Chervenell’s biologic kids, the other woman used them as way to control her wife.

A judge agreed to the court order, and gave her custody of the kids, but it didn’t stop Chervenell from going to the Mesa home on Aug. 3.

“Instead of trying to escape her situation, my sister stayed because of her nature as a helper,” Marty said. “If she escaped that abusive situation there, her wife would be able to keep her away from the children and they would be left to grow up in what was basically a drug den.”

Investigators say Brinson was strangled in front of their 7-year-old son, and then Chervenell hid her body on the porch of the home. She loaded the kids into Brinson’s car and drove to Oregon.

They were found in Morrow County sleeping in the car by the side of the road. The kids are now with a foster family.

Chervenell is being held in the Franklin County jail on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree burglary, violating a protection order and theft of a vehicle.

This week, Marty asked the community to remember her sister by helping others.

“I feel like the best way that we can do our part is to try to put love into our communities. And one way to do that is to help other people,” she said.

Brandy Ebanez

A close friend of Brandy Ebanez also spoke at the vigil about her friend, who was discovered Sept. 27 naked and wrapped in black plastic in the Columbia River.

Her boyfriend, Richard Jacobson, 34, was found with their two children in Oregon. He is being held in the Multnomah County jail on a fugitive warrant related to charges of violating a protection order.

He was previously convicted of assaulting her but is not charged in her death.

Her friend Melrae Smith said her boyfriend was supposed to love and protect her, but instead he controlled her.

“He would beat her, degrade her and make her feel worthless,” she said at the vigil.

Even after his assault conviction, he continued to victimize her, Smith said.

“He didn’t care about the consequences of his actions,” she said. “Because of what he continued to do, her life and the life inside of her, her son, her unborn son, was ripped away too soon.”

Now, her friends and family are fighting for justice for Ebanez, she said. She urged people to join the struggle against domestic violence for anyone who may be caught in an abusive situation.