Friday, May 15, 2009

Man who killed wife, shot daughter sentenced


By CASEY MCNERTHNEY
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

A Maple Valley man who beat and shot his wife in front of her 16-year-old daughter, who he also shot, was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison Friday.

Wesley Avans, who has criminal histories in three other states including felony larceny, was sentenced for second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the 2004 attacks.

The morning of Dec. 29, 2004, the unemployed Wesley was upset because his wife, Colleen, woke him for an appointment. After an argument, she tried to go to her Bellevue job at a lease and loan company, but couldn't because their two cars were out of gas.

She then called her mother and explained she couldn't come to work because her husband hadn't filled the gas tanks. Wesley Avans started screaming, his stepdaughter said.

Back inside, the 16-year-old heard him screaming about calling someone. She opened a sliding bathroom door to find her mother being beaten with a rifle, enclosed in a leather case.

Avans later admitted to police he hit his wife with the hunting rifle hard enough that the butt of the stock broke.

Colleen Avans fled to the bathroom in an attempt to protect herself. Her daughter reached to hug her when she was shot in the right hand.

Wesley Avans told police he removed the rifle from its case, loaded two bullets and shot one through the closed bathroom door.

When the door opened, he stood with the hunting rifle pressed on or near Colleen Avans' stomach and fired.

Avans daughter, with a towel wrapped around her bleeding hand, ran to a neighbors house to report her mom had been shot.

While Colleen Avans was being treated by aid crews, a police officer heard her say, "My husband Wesley Avans shot me."

She was pronounced dead more than an hour later at Harborview Medical Center.

Wesley Avans, 37, was sentenced to 220 months for her murder and 123 months for shooting his stepdaughter.

Casey McNerthney can be reached at 206-448-8220 orcaseymcnerthney@seattlepi.com.

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