STEVENS COUNTY, Wash. — A detective with the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office recovered 27 of 29 guns stolen from Kettle Falls Police Chief Chris Courchene.
A man who read news reports about the stolen guns contacted the sheriff’s office to report having them. The man said a woman named Alayna Smith approached him needing a loan because her aunt was sick and provided Courchene’s guns as collateral.
According to the sheriff’s office, the man connected Smith’s request to Courchene’s guns when he saw news stories about the incident. Smith was the suspect in the reported crime from the start of the investigation.
On Wednesday, a detective met with the man and helped return 27 firearms to Courchene. The detective has put hundreds of hours into actively investigating the case since April 2018.
Several search warrants, interviews and investigative footwork helped solve the case and recover the guns, according to the sheriff’s office.
