Alvie Kiles was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the murders of a mother and her two children
According to court document Alvie Kiles would get into an argument with Valerie Gunnell which ended with him beating her to death with a bumper jack. Alvie would then murder her two children 9-month-old Lecresha and 5-year-old Shemaeah.
Alvie Kiles would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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ASPC-E Rynning D/Row
ALVIE C. KILES 058243
PO Box 3400
Florence, AZ 85132
United States
Alvie Kiles Case
¶ 4 Alvie Kiles moved in with Valerie Gunnell and her two daughters in January 1989. Valerie and Kiles soon began arguing about Kiles stealing her food stamps to support his cocaine habit. On February 9, 1989, Deirdre Johnson, who lived next door to Valerie, saw Kiles outside the apartment working on his car. Early the next day, Johnson saw Kiles back his car into a parking space at the apartment. Later that morning Valerie’s mother knocked on the door of the apartment, but got no answer.
¶ 5 Larry Hawkins saw Alvie Kiles outside Hawkins’ apartment that morning in Valerie’s car. Valerie’s step-father also saw Kiles driving her car that day. Later, Deirdre Johnson noticed Kiles struggling to lift a trash bag over the fence behind the apartment. He dropped the bag, which emitted a “loud thud sound” when it landed.
¶ 6 That afternoon, Kale Johnson saw Kiles sitting in Valerie’s car at a Yuma park. Referring to Valerie, Kiles told Johnson, “I killed that girl.” Kiles admitted to Johnson that “I killed the kids too” because they were “crying and hollering and screaming.” He told Johnson that he had used something he took from the car to commit the murders. Kiles also told Johnson that he had disposed of the children’s bodies in the Colorado River.
¶ 7 Johnson did not believe Kiles, so Kiles took Johnson to Valerie’s apartment. Johnson saw Valerie’s body lying on the floor. There was a puddle of blood on the floor and blood “all over the walls and the ceilings.” Johnson attempted to leave the apartment, but Kiles hit him with a broom handle.
¶ 8 Kiles admitted killing Valerie and the children to others. Kiles told Larry Hawkins that he had killed Valerie and her children. He explained that he and Valerie had argued over food stamps that Kiles had taken to buy cocaine. Kiles told Hawkins that Valerie had slapped him twice, once after he had told her not to. Kiles then went to his car and retrieved a tire jack, which he used to strike Valerie at least twice. Hawkins stated that Kiles told him that Valerie “regained consciousness” after the initial blow and asked Kiles, “[W]hy did [you] do this?” Kiles told Hawkins that he had killed the children “because ․ they had seen him.” Hawkins wrote a letter to Yuma Silent Witness describing Kiles’ admissions.
¶ 9 Kiles also admitted to Jesse Solomon, a family friend, and to his mother, Imojean Kiles, that he had killed Valerie with the jack. He further told his mother that he had “taken care of” the children “because they could talk,” and had “dumped” the children’s bodies in a canal.
¶ 10 The Yuma police went to Valerie’s apartment on February 11, 1989. The police found the apartment in “disarray,” with cartons of eggs on the floor and a lamp overturned. An officer saw blood spatters in a bedroom, signs of a struggle, blood on the bed, and something “wrapped up in a blanket” in the hall. It was Valerie’s body.
¶ 11 Further investigation at the apartment revealed blood smeared on the bathroom floor “as if somebody had tried to wipe [it up].” The bathroom smelled of cleanser and police found a pile of bloody towels.
¶ 12 In Valerie’s bedroom, the bed was covered in papers and money and there was clothing all over the floor. A blood-soaked pillow and a piece of a car jack with her hair and blood on it were also found. In the children’s bedroom, two “very large pools of blood” were found on the bed. Blood spatter was found on the walls, drapes, ceiling, and door of the west bedroom. A blood spatter expert testified that at least fourteen blows were delivered in the children’s room. In the northwest corner of the living room, a blood-stained ottoman and a bone fragment were also found. Blood had soaked into the carpeting. Blood spatter and blood stains were found in the living room. A chair in the living room had stains that indicated someone had lost a lot of blood. A large bone fragment and blood spatter were found near the south wall. In addition, blood smears were found on the front door of the apartment. Blood spatter and smears were found in the kitchen-dining area as well.
¶ 13 Valerie died from multiple blunt force trauma to the head with multiple scalp lacerations, skull fractures, and a brain laceration. She had a broken arm, which medical testimony identified as a defensive wound. The body of Valerie’s younger child was later found in a canal in Mexico. She died of blunt force trauma to the skull with extensive skull fractures and a brain laceration. The older child was never found. Her blood, however, was detected on the mattress cover in the apartment.
¶ 14 In his 2000 guilt-phase trial, Alvie Kiles admitted murdering Valerie.6
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/az-supreme-court/1379690.html
