Chiloe Chervenell, charged with second-degree murder of her children's other mother and two counts of kidnapping, has requested to visit the kids, saying she is concerned for them.
After being accused of murdering her previous partner and kidnapping their children, a Washington State woman has requested to visit with her young kids.
During a hearing in Franklin County Superior Court, Chiloe Chervenell, 49, pleaded not guilty after being charged with second-degree murder of her previous partner and her children’s other parent, Kathleen “Kathy” Chervenell-Brinson, 54, according to the Tri-Cities Herald.
Chervenell was also charged with two counts of second-degree kidnapping for allegedly violating a court order by taking her two children and fleeing to Oregon, according to the local outlet.
Four months before her death in April, Chervenell-Brinson, a teacher, successfully convinced a judge that she and her kids were in danger due to her then-partner’s alleged destructive lifestyle, according to the Herald.
The petition filed for the protection order stated that Chervenell sold drugs and allowed addicts, sex offenders and fugitives to hide in their home, according to The Yakima Herald. Chervenell-Brinson then received a no-contact order against the 49-year-old, according to the outlet.
According to Oxygen, Chervenell was in recovery for a period of time, during which she started Chiloe’s Corner 12-Step Cafe in Kennewick, Washington State, a cafe catered towards people in recovery.
However, the small restaurant closed less than a year later in September 2018, according to a Facebook post from the restaurant.
Chervenell-Brinson said that Chervenell then relapsed in her addiction, during which time she was involved in four car accidents within the last year, Oxygen reported. Chervenell was also accused of neglecting their young children.
The late Chervenell-Brinson also alleged that Chervenell and her new girlfriend allegedly took the children with them during a drug deal in February. When Chervenell-Brinson confronted Chervenell about this alleged situation, Chervenell allegedly grabbed her by the throat and screamed at her, according to the outlet.
“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,’” Chervenell-Brinson wrote in the petition. “She would kill me. She had already nearly accomplished that years earlier."
Chervenell-Brinson was referring to a situation about seven years earlier, when Brinson strangled her to the point of unconsciousness, according to Oxygen.
“I remember distinctly feeling at peace, warm and light,” the petition about the previous incident read. “I came to with her standing over me, yelling at me to stop faking it.”
Court records said that the physical abuse ended when a roommate heard and threatened to stop giving Chervenell-Brinson money, according to the outlet.
Chervenell-Brinson reportedly alleged that the emotional abuse continued throughout their 10-year relationship. “Chiloe has always used my commitment to our children as a means to control me,” she wrote in the petition.
“And if I crossed the line, she would always threaten to take them away from me, keep me from seeing them," she wrote.
Chervenell-Brinson referred to her previous partner a good person “when those addiction demons are not on her back,” Oxygen reported. She said that Chervenell needed professional help because she and her children were put at risk “every single day.”
Chervenell-Brinson said she hoped not having access to her children would make Chervenell work to become sober, according to the Yakima Herald.
Shelley Ajax, the public defense attorney assigned to Chervenell’s case, said a dependency judge granted the no contact order, and the 7-year-old and 9-year-old children were under the late parent’s care and protection.
This order stated that Chervenell was not to be within 300-feet of the couples’ home in Mesa. She was, however, allowed to visit the children twice a week, either via video or with the supervision of an appointed party, according to the Yakima Herald and Oxygen.
However, Chervenell allegedly went to the home in Mesa, Washington State sometime between Aug. 3 and Aug. 4, authorities said.
Court records showed that Chervenell allegedly told a friend in a text message that she, “didn’t know the power of her hands and killed her wife.”
The friend alerted police of this text on the evening of Aug. 4. At the time, no one had heard from Chervenell-Brinson since 10 a.m. the day prior.
When deputies arrived at Chervenell-Brinson's home, they found Chervenell's brother there, apparently unaware of anything that had previously transpired, according to the Yakima Herald. During the police investigation, the brother received a text message from Chervenell-Brinson's cellphone, allegedly written in a way that was outside of character, according to the outlet.
According to the outlet, an investigator called Chervenell-Brinson’s phone, but no one answered. When he received a call back, he put the phone on speaker and the woman on the opposite end claimed to be Chervenell-Brinson, but Chervenell's brother said, "That is my sister," officials said.
By tracking the Chervenell-Brinson’s cellphone, local deputies in Oregon said they found that Chervenell had allegedly stolen her late partner’s Chevy Equinox, where her and the two children were found asleep on the side of the road, according to a press release from the Franklin County Sherriff’s Department.
Chervenell was arrested and the children were taken into child protective custody, according to local outlet KEPTV.
While authorities were tracking Chervenell-Brinson’s phone, another officer discovered Chervenell-Brinson’s body under a pile of bicycles and other junk on the porch of the home, officials said. She had been strangled to death.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Chervenell asked a judge to be allowed to talk with her children, saying she was worried about them, according to the local outlet.
“These are her biological children,” Ajax said at Tuesday’s hearing, arguing that Chervenell has a right to see them, the local outlet reported. Franklin County Deputy Prosecutor Daniel Stovern said it would be dangerous to let her see the kids before investigators are able to interview them this week.
“We don’t know if they witnessed the murder,” he said. “We don’t want any manipulation of the witnesses.”
Judge Norma Rodriguez said she did not feel comfortable letting Chervenell talk to the children before the investigators’ interview, and Rodriguez approved a no-contact order for a week.
She has scheduled an additional hearing for next week to reconsider Chervenell’s request to see her kids.
Chervenell’s trial has been set for Oct. 12. She is being held in the Franklin County jail on a $2 million bail.
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