‘I will kill you ...’ Mesa murder victim suffered years of threats and abuse, court records say

Five years ago Chiloe Chervenell tried to turn a corner on a troubled past when she opened a cafe in downtown Kennewick.

Pictures posted on Facebook at that time showed her with her longtime partner Kathleen “Kathy” Chervenell-Brinson and the two children they cared for as a happy family.

But a protection order petition filed four months ago, revealed their relationship was in ruins, fueled by Chervenell’s drug and gambling addictions and a series of felons invited into their home.

“She is a good person when those addiction demons are not on her back, but she needs help,” wrote Chervenell-Brinson. “She puts the children and me at risk every single day.”

Chervenell-Brinson, a Kamiakin High grad who taught briefly in the Othello School District and ran for mayor in Mesa, was granted the order and custody of her partner’s biological kids.

Then last Thursday evening, Franklin County sheriff’s deputies were alerted that Chervenell, 49, had sent an alarming text to a friend.

She said she’d gone to Mesa, about 25 miles north of the Tri-Cities, to talk to her wife and “didn’t know the power of her hands and killed her wife,” according to court records.

At the time, no one had heard from Chervenell-Brinson, 54, since 10 a.m. Wednesday.

As investigators were tracking Chervenell’s cellphone signal, a deputy discovered Chervenell-Brinson’s body underneath a pile of bicycles and other items on her Mesa porch.

The two children, both under 12, were missing.

They were found safe several hours later south of Tri-Cities in Oregon, sleeping in a car with Chervenell, said court documents.

Turbulent relationship

The protection order petition Chervenell-Brinson filed in April says the couple had a turbulent and violent relationship over the course of 10 years. It was not clear Monday if they were officially married.

In recent months the violence had only gotten worse as Chervenell turned back to drugs, said court records.

In an attempt to protect Chervenell’s children from her dangerous lifestyle, then-Court Commissioner Diana Ruff agree to the protection order.

Chervenell was to stay 300 feet away from their First Avenue home and could only meet with her kids twice a week for a couple hours with professional supervision.

Chervenell-Brinson hoped that would be enough motivation for Chervenell to get sober.

“Once Chiloe loses her kids, she immediately begins doing anything necessary to get clean, stop illegal activities and get legit employment,” Chervenell-Brinson said in her request.

12-step club

Just five years earlier, Chervenell appeared to be on the verge of turning a corner by opening a small cafe in the Tri-City Alano Club in downtown Kennewick, according to a Tri-City Herald story at the time.

The small restaurant space was attached to the social club, which supports recovery groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

The Mesa resident opened up Chiloe’s Corner 12 Step Cafe with the help of a $5,000 loan. She had hoped to turn the corner from her troubles, including drug addiction and several prison terms.

While she didn’t point to any particular 12-step program, she told the Herald at the time it was compatible with the life she was building for herself.

She opened the cafe because she said her past made it hard to find legitimate work.

At the time time, Chervenell-Brinson had left the Othello School District after teaching for a few months and ran for Mesa City Council.

Chervenell suffered some medical issues and eventually her plans fell apart. She announced plans to close the eatery in September 2018, according to a Facebook post.

Domestic violence

Chervenell-Brinson’s petition lays out a troubling 10-year relationship between the women. She said Chervenell would often choke her.

The most violent incident ended with her on the bathroom floor convulsing.

“I remember distinctly feeling at peace, warm and light,” Chervenell-Brinson wrote. “I came to with her standing over me yelling at me to stop faking it.”

The friend they were living with at the time heard the exchange and told her that “if she ever laid a finger on me again he would never give her another dime.”

That stopped the violence for seven years though she would still try to corner Chervenell-Brinson and scream as loud as she could in her ear. The screaming often included threats.

“Chiloe has always used my commitment to our children as a means to control me and if I crossed the line, she would always threaten to take them away from me, keep me from seeing them,” she wrote.

Then on Feb. 4, the violence started again, she said.

The day before Chervenell and her new girlfriend and a fellow felon, Samantha Tijerina, took the children on a drive to Pasco.

When Chervenell-Brinson looked through one of the children’s phones, it looked like they had brought the kids along as they were dealing drugs.

When Chervenell-Brinson confronted Chervenell about the trip, she started yelling and lunged at her., grabbing her by the throat and choked her while screaming.

“She made many threats against me, but the one that stood out the most is, ‘I will kill you if you ever say that again.’ She would kill me. She had already nearly accomplished that years earlier.”

On Feb. 7, she broke into Chervenell-Brinson’s room and found the spare key to her handgun safe. She said she took one of weapons for protection, but gave it back when Chervenell-Brinson challenged her.

Downward spiral

Chervenell-Brinson said Chervenell and Tijerina were in a downward spiral of drug use that was an imminent threat to the children.

Chervenell had crashed four cars after falling asleep behind the wheel. The most recent was on April 13.

Chervenell-Brinson’s main concern was for a series of felons who were invited into their home, including a registered sex offender, Jose Monzon.

She was advised to get a protection order against Monzon, because of his drug history, said her protection order request.

In addition, she said Chervenell often neglected the children, leaving them to fend for herself.

While the couple had previously filed to have Chervenell-Brinson become the children’s legal guardian, that had fallen apart.

“I have endured 10 years of trauma to be with and protect children I chose to accept as my own,” Chervenell-Brinson wrote.

“The last six years, I have been a champion in this regard but these last months brought me to my limit. I alone cannot protect them from how far down she has gone.”

Chervenell is being held on murder and kidnapping charges in Oregon, pending extradition to Washington.