Intersection of Rock Lake and Gene Webb Road.
EWAN - A Cheney area woman is being held on $500,000 bail in the slaying of her son. Christine Diane Catelli, 58, is charged with second-degree murder (intent to kill), Spokane County Jail records show.
She was booked into the jail at 4:59 a.m. Jan. 15 after deputies found the remains of her son wrapped in garbage bags off Gene Webb Road, in rural Whitman County.
The location near Ewan - a small community between Lamont and Saint John- was close to Rock Lake. According to Spokane County District Court documents, the remains are suspected to be those of Chase Catelli, 35, though the Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office has yet to confirm identification.
Spokane County Sheriff's Office investigators were led to the remains by Christine Catelli, records show. She told investigators she had shot and killed her son in June of 2022 in a residence owned by Thomas McKinlay at 1403 W. Jennings Road, Spangle. Court records don't explain the connection between the location and Chase Catelli and Christine Catelli.
After killing her son, Christine Catelli cut off his head, wrapped both the head and body separately in plastic bags and dumped the remains near Rock Lake, court documents show. The investigation began Jan. 14 when deputies responded to a caller who reported that his sister had allegedly confessed to killing her son in June of 2022, court records show. The name of the brother has yet to be released by the Sheriff's Office.
Both the caller and the suspect were contacted in the 4800 block of North Assembly Street in Spokane, near the Veteran's Medical Center, records show. Christine Catelli allegedly toldinvestigators she had shot and killed Chase Catelli, removed his head and disposed of the remains near Rock Lake, court documents said. She then told investigators the location of his remains.
Detective James Hall traveled to the location indicated by Christine and discovered a black plastic bag containing human remains, records show.
Lucas is a former Cheney Free Press managing editor. He is a nationally published author who contributes regularly to several publications across the country.
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