A married couple and a woman have been linked to the disappearance and killing of 62-year-old Robert Abbott, who was reported missing by his wife in early April, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities arrested 51-year-old Richard L. Trower and his wife, 52-year-old Teri L. Trower, early Wednesday morning at the Northern Quest Resort & Casino parking lot in Airway Heights, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
Richard Trower was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder, residential burglary, second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission, second-degree theft and trafficking in stolen property. Teri Trower was arrested for first-degree rendering criminal assistance and trafficking in stolen property.
Later on Wednesday morning, detectives arrested a third suspect, 43-year-old Heather L. Lewis, at a residence east of Cheney, according to the sheriff’s office. She was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder, residential burglary, second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission and second-degree theft.
Abbott’s remains have not been located, the release said.
Robert Abbott’s wife, Starr Abbott, reported her husband missing April 5 after she went to his residence, 12325 S. Hatch Road, to check on his welfare, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday in Spokane County District Court.
She said she last saw her husband, who filed to divorce her April 1, on March 31. She did not stay at his house the night of April 1 because they had been arguing, she said in documents. A friend of her husband’s told her that calls to Robert Abbott’s phone were going straight to voicemail, so the two agreed to meet at the Hatch Road house to check on him.
Robert Abbott’s call records indicated his last outgoing call was the morning of April 2.
When she arrived at the home, Starr Abbott found his dogs had not been fed or let out, so she filed a missing person report. She and a friend of her husband broke into the locked shop on his property and she found a pool of blood on the shop floor. She noticed several of her husband’s tools missing in the shop and noticed many car stereo components missing from his home.
Robert Abbott’s 2018 BMW was also stolen, she told the sheriff’s office.
Detectives collected two fired cartridge cases – one found outside the shop and the other inside the shop, according to documents. They also collected blood from the shop floor, a folder and a couch cushion in the shop.
The sheriff’s office seized the BMW for evidence April 6 at Takesa Village mobile home park in Mead. Investigators found enough blood in the trunk that would be consistent with a body being stored, detectives wrote.
A Washington State Patrol forensic scientist identified Robert Abbott’s DNA on the blood in the BMW and the victim’s shop, court records show.
Deputies stopped a Chevrolet Suburban, driven by Richard Trower, on April 6 in Mead. Teri Trower was also in the car.
Richard Trower told a detective he visits his aunt at Takesa Village but had no knowledge of the BMW or how it came to be parked there. He said he knew Robert Abbott and last saw him at his Hatch Road home about eight months earlier.
“Last time I saw him, he shot at me,” Richard Trower said in documents.
A woman reported April 2 that she saw a woman wiping down the interior and exterior of a BMW in a cemetery trailhead parking lot on Government Way, according to documents. The woman then walked away from the BMW and got picked up by the driver of another car.
The BMW’s location data indicated the car had traveled at noon April 2 from the Hatch Road home to South Mullan Hill Road, back to Hatch Road and then to the trailhead. It was then taken from there to Northern Quest Casino that night. It traveled to a remote Pend Oreille County location April 4.
The Kalispel Tribal Gaming Agency indicated Richard Trower parked a BMW matching the description of the victim’s BMW at or near the Northern Quest RV Resort the evening of April 2 and left the next morning in the car.
Detectives tracked Richard Trower’s cellphone at or near the cemetery trailhead April 2, then the casino and Abbott’s home.
Richard Trower told detectives in May that he and Lewis went to Abbott’s home April 1 to get his belongings as he previously lived at the property in a camper. He admitted he and Lewis took the BMW from Abbott’s property and stopped at the trailhead where Lewis wiped off the door handles.
He drove the BMW back to Abbott’s the next day to return it but no one was home. He also admitted to selling chainsaws that were in the BMW.
He told detectives he was looking for a place to “stash” the BMW in Pend Oreille County.
Richard Trower and Lewis exchanged messages April 3 indicating Trower had returned to Abbott’s residence and was worried about someone coming down the driveway as he sat in the car. He messaged her saying he needed a place to unload the car and clean it, documents say. He also told her in a message to be careful about a gun in the backseat. Lewis messaged him April 4, asking Trower if he got rid of the saws and she needed photos of the items they were selling.
She wrote, “These are the only ones I would be 100 percent that I trust to sell and nothing would come back ya know.”
Detectives interviewed Lewis in late April.
Lewis told them she’s known Richard Trower for years and they went to Abbott’s house because Trower told her someone owed him money. She said Richard Trower talked her into stealing the BMW from Abbott’s home. She admitted to driving the car to a cemetery where she stopped to wipe down the car “for my safety,” documents say.
Phone call conversations in 2022 between Richard Trower and Starr Abbott’s ex-husband revealed the two had a mutual dislike of Robert Abbott and discussed plans to burglarize Abbott’s shop, court records say.
Trower has seven felony convictions, including burglary and possession of stolen property.
Detectives continue to investigate and additional charges and arrests are possible, the release said.
Anyone with information that can assist detectives or help locate Robert Abbott’s remains is urged to call Det. Nate Bohanek at (509) 477-3223 and reference case No. 10046777.
