Update | Mesa man found dead in trailer is ID’d. His sister is serving time for murder

A 54-year-old man was identified as the person found dead Wednesday inside a camp trailer on a vacant lot in Mesa about 25 miles north of Pasco.

Robert Chervenell, 54, is believed to have been dead for a less than a day when he was found by a friend, said Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary.

He had some health issues but the cause of his death is still under investigation, said officials.

An autopsy is scheduled for Friday with a pathologist in Cowlitz County.

His sister, Chiloe Chervenell is currently service a 25-year prison sentence for the August 2022 slaying of his sister-in-law Kathy Chervenell-Brinson.

After years of threats and domestic violence, Chervenell-Brinson was killed by Chiloe Chervenell and her body left under a pile of junk on the porch of her Mesa home.

According to reports, Robert Chervenell often watched the couple’s children and was at the house when his sister-in-law’s body was discovered.

Thursday, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate his death, after a friend discovered his body while checking on him, according to a report from the Franklin County Graphic.

The trailer was on the vacant lot on First Avenue across from the Mesa Post Office.

Detectives were in the early stages of the investigation Wednesday and no new details were released by Thursday morning.

Wednesday evening, sheriff’s officials said they were interviewing “persons of interest” in the area where the body was found.

Mesa is a small farming community of about 490 people.

This story was originally published September 27, 2023 at 6:39 PM.