PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A 21-year-old man faces a first-degree murder charge after his fiancée provided incriminating details to detectives investigating the February 27 slaying near Castle Rock.
Around 2 p.m. that day, Cowlitz County deputies were called to a home in the 100 block of Porcupine Lane. They found 63-year-old Randall Smith dead with gunshot wounds in his chest and back.
Smith shared the home with Morrigan Clymer and Duane Black. Clymer told detectives she and Smith had an argument. Black, she said, told her to take their toddler into their bedroom and lock the door.
Through her bedroom window she said she said Black walk back into the house with a rifle, stopped in front of the window and said, “I’m gonna get him.” Then she told detectives she heard 4 gunshots.
Black then came into the bedroom and told her to grab their toddler and get in their vehicle, she said, adding he put a rifle in the back seat. Clymer told detectives she then took Black to Kelso.
Authorities went to that location in Kelso and arrested Black. He’s being held in the Cowlitz County Jail.