Grant County Jury Finds Defendant Killed Tim McNamara in Belize, Awards $3.3 Million

Timothy McNamara was 66 years old and operated a small farm in Soap Lake, Washington, when he began a relationship with his niece, Tracy Nessl, in 2012. Within months he had paid off her debts, transferred $30,000 to her, added her to his accounts, and deeded her the family farm. A handwritten will named her his sole beneficiary. The two held a wedding ceremony in December 2013 without disclosing their family relationship to officials.

On Christmas Day 2014, McNamara was shot in the back of the head at his home in Boston Village, Belize. Nessl told Belizean authorities the death was a suicide and left the country two days later, returning to the Soap Lake farm. Belizean investigators were skeptical from the start. A scene-of-crime specialist found no blood on the victim's hands and concluded the body position was inconsistent with self-infliction. A forensic analyst confirmed the entry wound trajectory made suicide extremely unlikely. Blood spatter on Nessl's blouse sleeve, documented by the National Forensic Service, placed her at close range when the shot was fired.

Belize pursued extradition but could not complete the process after Nessl relocated to Washington. McNamara's children, Caleb McNamara and Jennifer Ralston, brought a civil wrongful-death action in Grant County Superior Court in 2015. The case was litigated for roughly seven years before going to trial in March 2022 before Judge John Knodell. Lead attorney Karen Koehler, assisted by Furhad Sultani of Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore, presented the forensic record assembled by Belizean authorities alongside additional evidence developed for the civil proceeding.

The jury deliberated for three and a half hours. On March 25, 2022, it returned a verdict finding that Nessl committed battery against Timothy McNamara that proximately caused his death -- the civil standard for what amounted to a murder finding. The jury awarded $77,000 in economic damages to his estate, $1.8 million in personal damages for his own losses, and $725,000 to each of his two children as statutory beneficiaries, bringing the total to $3.327 million.

The verdict was reported as the highest civil jury award in Grant County history. No post-trial reduction was reported in coverage of the case.