Argument that led to Whatcom County stabbing death detailed in court record
A Bellingham woman and her friend went to her father’s house east of Bellingham for painkillers Wednesday night. Once there, a fight over a cigarette ended when the woman allegedly stabbed her father to death, according to charging papers filed in the case. The entire incident took less than 10 minutes.
Kali Marie McConnell, 33, is accused of first-degree murder for the death of her 57-year-old father. His name has not yet been released by the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office. McConnell is also accused of second-degree assault for beating a 53-year-old woman who also lived at the home, according to Whatcom County Superior Court records.
McConnell was arrested shortly before 9 p.m. on Thursday, April 23. Formal charges are expected to be filed early next week, and her arraignment is scheduled for May 1. She is being held at the Whatcom County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.
McConnell’s friend, Zachary Ivan Tellez, 29, of Ferndale, is alleged to have been with her when she allegedly stabbed her father, according to court records. He was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary at 5:15 p.m. Friday, April 24.
Court records show that McConnell and Tellez arrived at her father’s house in the 4700 block of Mission Road at 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22. They were there to get painkillers for Tellez from McConnell’s father.
A woman who lived at the home arrived at the house two minutes after McConnell and Tellez and heard yelling from inside the house, court records state.
The argument began when Tellez told McConnell to get a cigarette out of her mouth, according to court records. McConnell’s father didn’t like the way Tellez talked to his daughter, and Tellez and McConnell’s father began to argue. McConnell’s father told his daughter and Tellez to leave, but the pair refused.
Tellez was armed with a baton and allegedly hit the man while he attempted to push the pair out of a sliding glass door, court records state.
While Tellez and her father were fighting, McConnell went into the kitchen and punched the woman in the face, according to court records. The woman fell to the ground with a bloody nose. McConnell’s father came into the kitchen and pulled his daughter off the woman. McConnell and her father then got into a fight in the living room, the records state.
McConnell returned to the kitchen and attacked the woman again by hitting, kicking and pulling her hair, according to court records. At some point during the fight, the woman lost a tooth, court records state. McConnell then dragged the woman out of the house by her hair. McConnell continued to assault the woman outside before telling her to leave, the records state.
The woman was able to get in her car, back down the driveway and call 911.
An audio/surveillance system set up by a neighbor who lives in a separate residence on the property captured audio from much of the incident and visuals of the encounter outside between McConnell and the woman, the records show.
At 9:54 p.m., the surveillance system captured Tellez getting into a car with McConnell. McConnell can be heard saying, “Get ... in, I stabbed him,” before the pair drove off at a high rate of speed, according to court records.
The woman went back inside the house after Tellez and McConnell left. She found McConnell’s father sitting on a bed in a bedroom. He told the woman McConnell had stabbed him once in the back below his shoulder blade, court records state.
The entire encounter took nine minutes, court records show.
On Thursday, Tellez was interviewed by the sheriff’s office. Tellez admitted he was at the residence when McConnell stabbed her father. He said he didn’t see McConnell stab her father, but that she confessed to him afterward, according to court records. He said McConnell said her father physically abused her throughout her life, but “at that moment he seemed week (sic) and it was her opportunity to get back at him,” court records state.
Tellez told detectives McConnell showed no remorse or emotion and is known to carry a small folding knife in her purse.
No knife has been recovered, court records state.
McConnell was found at a residence in Arlington Thursday afternoon and was taken into custody without incident. During an interview with the sheriff’s office, McConnell said that while Tellez was hitting her father with a baton, she pulled a knife out of her back pocket and stabbed her father, court records state.
McConnell’s father was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph hospital. The knife entered his back and punctured his lung, requiring emergency surgery, according to court records.
He died around 5:40 p.m. Thursday after succumbing to his injuries, according to court records.
The woman who was assaulted sustained bruising to her face and a bloody nose. The woman told medics she had pain in her face and ribs, and had lost one tooth, court records state. The woman was treated by medics but refused to go to the hospital, according to court records.
At the time of the alleged murder, McConnell was out on $5,000 bail for a mid-March case in which she allegedly went to her ex-boyfriend’s home and assaulted him and a female friend, court records show.
