The year 2019 brought wild weather, shocking crime and polarizing politics to Spokane.
KREM 2 staff and viewers helped us come up with this list of the top 10 stories from the past 12 months.
1. Spokane Valley AMBER Alert
On April 23, an AMBER Alert was issued when a father took his son after stabbing the boy’s mother at her Spokane Valley home.
The suspect was identified as Justin Robertson and he was considered armed and dangerous. He was later involved in a standoff with police at a home in St. John.
The stand off came to a resolution after Robertson released his son. Robertson was later found dead in the home with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound inside.
In May, the boy’s mother came forward to talk about the incident. She said the night before started normally, but she woke up to one of her hands being tied with a cell phone charging cable while her husband, Justin Robertson, attempted to tie her other hand with a cable.
"Over the course of the next two hours or so, there was a lot of physical altercations that happened as I tried to escape, or as my 5-year-old tried to leave the room to go open a door to set off my ADT alarm," Robertson said.
She said once she was out of the room, she positioned herself in the view of a security camera before her husband moved the camera. After this, Robertson said she grabbed a key fob from her purse that had a panic button on it.
Robertson said she then set off the panic alarm, which was audible in the house and led to a dispatcher calling the house. A recording was played of the call, in which Justin identified himself as Melissa but was unable to give the proper passcode.
"They asked for my passcode, which of course he did not know and I refused to tell him," Robertson said.
Her husband then ended the call with the dispatcher, which is when he began stabbing her, Robertson said.
"I received over 62 knife marks [and] cuts, 16 of which had to be stitched at the hospital," she said. "My lung was punctured, tendons in my arm from defensive wounds."
2. Sandpoint Fire
A fire destroyed three buildings in Downtown Sandpoint on the corner of First and Bridge Streets, causing between $4 and $7 million in damage on Feb. 11.
Two buildings were lost to the fire and have been condemned by city officials because they posed a public safety risk. They were later demolished.
The buildings held four active businesses: The Hound Pizza, Headlines Salon, Sandpoint Chocolate Bear and Sandpoint Tattoo & Body Piercing.
A third building sustained significant smoke and water damage, city leaders said. This has led to the temporary closure of Grace Sandpoint and Grace Sandpoint Bible College.
3. I-90 Pileup
A snowstorm on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving caught drivers and road crews off guard.
In total, Washington State Patrol said there were 35 crashes on Interstate 90 from Medical Lake to Geiger Boulevard, which is about a 10-mile stretch. Officials said 38 vehicles were involved in one crash near Geiger. In total, 127 vehicles were involved in 47 crashes that day.
The Washington State Department of Transportation said I-90 had not been pre-treated before the crash because the weather "wasn't predicted in this area at that time."
4. Hope Murder
The Bonner County Sheriff’s Office arrested a suspect in August in connection to the April 2017 murder of Shirley Ramey in Hope, Idaho.
Judith Carpenter was arrested at her home in Coeur d’Alene. She was charged with first degree murder.
The Bonner County Sheriff said the murder seemed to be random. Court documents said Carpenter was committing a burglary at the time Ramey was killed.
Officials said on the same day of Ramey’s killing, Carpenter was arrested in a road rage incident in Libby, Montana. It's believed that the gun she used during this road rage incident is the same gun she used to kill Ramey earlier that day.
Investigators were able to match the gun Carpenter had in the car to bullet casings found at the Ramey home.
5. Coeur d’Alene Fourth of July Shooting
An armed man was shot by police at Coeur d'Alene City Park during Fourth of July celebrations.
Coeur d’Alene police said the suspect, Tyler Rambo, was involved in an altercation at Independence Point where witnesses said he fired one round at a person.
Officers in the area of Independence Point heard the gunshot, police said. Several officers in the area saw Rambo running away and chased him into City Park.
Officials said officers told Rambo to drop his gun at least 15 times during the chase and he refused. At one point, Rambo stopped and officers used a Taser on him. Rambo then leveled his weapon horizontally, firing one shot then officers opened fire, officials said.
6. October snow/wind storm
A record-breaking amount of snow blanketed the Spokane area in early October.
The National Weather Service said four inches of snow fell at the Spokane International Airport by the morning of Oct. 9. The previous daily maximum snowfall record was a trace on Oct. 8, 1981.
Spokane police said the wet, heavy snow caused tree branches to break off and fall into the roads. Some also fell on power lines as more than 30,000 people were without power in Spokane County and North Idaho.
Spokane fire crews received 120 calls about damage, with many of them concentrated in the South Hill.
7. Spokane Mayor’s Race
Spokane elected former news anchor Nadine Woodward to be its next mayor in November.
Woodward, who ended her run as the anchor at KXLY on Feb. 28, announced on April 2 that she would be running for mayor during a press conference at Riverfront Park.
Woodward ran against City Council President Ben Stuckart.
Stuckart served as the Spokane City Council President for six years. He graduated from Gonzaga University before working in the ticketing industry, spending time with the Oakland Raiders and TicketsWest, as well as working for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The race for mayor was very close. On election night, Stuckart conceded after the first ballot count came out.
8. Vaping
Vaping illnesses and deaths made headlines across the U.S. in 2019.
Nearly 50 deaths have been confirmed in 25 states and in Washington D.C.
In Washington state, there have been 20 cases of vaping-associated lung injuries. No deaths have been reported. In Idaho, there have been 10 cases of vaping-related injuries but no deaths so far.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee issued a statewide ban of flavored vaping products in September. It was later approved by the Washington Board of Health.
Vaping shop owners spoke out about how the ban was impacting their businesses.
9. Dog Electrocuted
A Spokane man’s dog was electrocuted in downtown Spokane due to an apparent heated sidewalk malfunction in February.
Zach Harper was walking his dog, Hank, on a sidewalk outside of the Washington Trust Bank building’s parking garage on First Avenue when Hank appeared to suffer an electric shock. Hank died minutes later.
Hank’s death sparked a new city ordinance, adding more oversight to heated sidewalks.
Washington Trust Bank also made a large donation to the Spokane Humane Society in Hank’s name.
10. Pullman Fire Department fined by L&I
The City of Pullman was fined $2,700 in October for violations stemming from its rescue efforts during the city's historic April flood.
The fire department rescued 22 people, including an infant, during the flooding, according to Pullman Mayor and Fire Department spokesman Glenn Johnson.
The fines stem from safety violations while crews used a front-end loader to rescue people.
The front-end loader was used in multiple situations, including one where a group of firefighters used the vehicle to rescue eight people from a gas station, one of whom was having a diabetic emergency.
The Washington Department of Labor and Industries cited the city for three $900 violations that occurred during the flooding on April 9, totaling $2,700.
