Police say Whatcom County woman fatally stabbed father

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — A fight over a cigarette resulted in a woman allegedly stabbing her father to death, court documents said.

Kali Marie McConnell, 33, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of her 57-year-old father, whose name was not immediately released by the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, The Bellingham Herald reports.

McConnell was also accused of second-degree assault for allegedly beating a 53-year-old woman at a home east of Bellingham, Whatcom County Superior Court records said.

The Bellingham woman went to her father’s house to obtain painkillers. She was accompanied by 29-year-old Zachary Ivan Tellez of Ferndale, who was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary, records said.

A fight erupted between the pair and the victim after Tellez told McConnell to take a cigarette out of her mouth and McConnell’s father did not like the way Tellez spoke to his daughter, records said.

McConnell told sheriff’s office investigators she pulled a knife from her back pocket and stabbed her father during the fight, records said.

Formal charges are expected to be filed next week and an arraignment is scheduled for May 1. McConnell is being held at the Whatcom County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.