SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — A Medical Lake woman accused of shooting and killing her partner the day before Christmas Eve was back in court Tuesday, this time facing new charges for an incident when she was out on bond.
Court records show Cynthia Metsker was arrested in late March after failing to show up for court on the murder charge; detectives were able to find her living at Liberty Lake RV Campground and a confidential informant told them she carried a handgun in her waistband and had a gun safe in her RV.
A search of that RV turned up a sawed off shotgun.
"You were specifically ordered not to have firearms or ammunition. You had them in your RV," said Commissioner John Stine at Tuesday's hearing.
She's now charged with possession of a firearm along with the murder charge and several other charges from August 2022 on.
"You're here on four cases today," said Commissioner Stine. "All of them for what's called a failure to comply."
Metsker's court history shows she's failed to comply with bond conditions several times.
In fact, she was released on bond just days before Colin Bastow was shot and killed. She's charged with second-degree murder in that case.
Metsker posted the $700,000 bond in late January on the murder case. A bench warrant was issued in mid-March when she failed to show up to court. The warrant said her location was unknown.
Later that same month, detectives reported learning she had moved to the RV campground and arrested her. Another warrant issued in early April led to the new charges after law enforcement searched the RV and found a sawed off shotgun inside a purse. Commissioner Stine found probable cause the gun was Metsker's, even though her attorney argued other people had access to the RV.
During Tuesday's hearing, Bastow's brother Hamish urged the court to take Metsker's record into account when setting conditions of release.
"Just four months after December 23 when my brother was brutally murdered, the defendant was apprehended by federal marshals with a deadly weapon and driving without proper license," Hamish Bastow said.
He added that "associates of the defendant" had disrupted previous court proceedings and were hostile toward him outside the courthouse. He said Metsker was a threat to public safety.
"My family and I live in constant fear and we need assurances we'll be protected through this process," Bastow said.
Metsker's current criminal cases began in 2021 with motor vehicle theft, followed by a 2022 case where she was arrested riding a stolen motorcycle and had 110 grams of methamphetamine. She posted $5,000 bonds in both those cases.
The state asked Commissioner Stine to increase the bonds in all four cases.
"She does have, added up between misdemeanors and felonies, over 30 failures to appear. Eleven and four, respectively, with misdemeanors and felonies with failures to comply. The pretrial services folks indicate she had three active warrants at the time of their interview with her," the prosecutor said.
Commissioner Stine followed the state's recommendation, setting bond at $1.5 million on Metsker's murder case alone. He also increased bond for each of the other cases, including $50,000 on the new firearms offense based on the state's request.
"I thought they were gonna ask for twice that much and I probably would've imposed that," Commissioner Stine noted.
Metsker's second-degree murder trial is expected to start May 22.
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