A confrontation over money owed for fentanyl was apparently the impetus for the April 22 slaying of a Vancouver motorcyclist in a Sea Mar Clinic parking lot, court records show.
Investigators say Corey D. Shenkle swerved and hit 57-year-old Larry Hicks with his SUV, as Hicks was stopped on his motorcycle in the middle of the parking lot.
Shenkle, 33, of Vancouver, appeared Wednesday morning in Clark County Superior Court on an arrest warrant for first-degree murder. He is also being held on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle, hit-and-run resulting in death, driving under the influence and attempt to elude.
The hearing was set over to today to confirm Shenkle’s attorney and address bail. Judge Suzan Clark ordered a no-bail hold in the meantime.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Vancouver police responded at about 5:30 a.m. for a report of an injury crash at the Sea Mar Clinic, 7803 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd. Multiple 911 callers reported that a man on a motorcycle had been struck in the parking lot by a dark-colored SUV that fled.
Arriving officers found a man, identified as Hicks, bleeding and unresponsive on the ground in the parking lot next to a 2015 Kawasaki KX636 motorcycle. He was taken to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, where he died from his injuries, the affidavit says.
The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office said Hicks died from blunt force head injuries. His death was ruled a homicide, meaning it resulted from another person’s deliberate action. The ruling does not make any judgments about criminal culpability.
Investigators said they found a Honda fog light cover stuck around the kickstand of Hicks’ motorcycle.
Witnesses reported hearing Hicks arguing with the occupants of the SUV near the southeast corner of the lot before the crash, court records state. The manager also found a plastic container with a white crystalline rock substance inside and gave it to police.
A man who lives in an apartment above the clinic told investigators that his estranged wife, Rachel Wallace, is in a relationship with Shenkle and may have been also dating Hicks. He said she was picked up the night before and that Shenkle drives a black Honda Pilot, according to the affidavit.
Surveillance video captured a black Honda Pilot parked in the middle aisle of the lot around 4:30 a.m. About 10 minutes later, it moved to the southeast corner of the lot. Two people, a man and a woman, are seen entering the SUV at 5:18 a.m., the affidavit says.
Around 5:30 a.m., a red SUV is seen pulling directly in front of the parked Honda, blocking its path, followed by two motorcycles — Hicks’ and a Harley Davidson-style. An altercation between multiple people appeared to follow, court records state.
Minutes later, the red SUV and motorcycles started to leave, with the Honda rapidly approaching behind. Hicks stopped in the center of the lot, and the Honda swerved toward him and struck him with the passenger’s side. It continued to accelerate, driving over Hicks and his motorcycle and dragging him, the affidavit says. It said the Honda then sped out of the lot, jumping the raised cement barrier.
The driver of the red SUV, an unidentified woman, stopped near the entrance/exit of the parking lot and ran to Hicks. She then returned to the vehicle and sped off. C-Tran video captured the red SUV and other motorcycle fleeing east on Fourth Plain Boulevard, according to the affidavit.
Hicks’ niece told investigators she saw on a Clark County Facebook group a post claiming that a man named “Corey” and a woman named “Rachel” killed Hicks because he owed them money. That afternoon, someone from the Facebook group messaged the niece and said Wallace had returned home, court records state.
Detectives located Wallace at the apartment above the clinic. She allegedly admitted to being a passenger in Shenkle’s SUV. She said Hicks had previously given her pills containing fentanyl, and she intended to pay him back later. When she was unable to pay Hicks the full amount, he began threatening her, she said, according to the affidavit.
Wallace told detectives Hicks had been following them that morning and confronted them in the parking lot, where they all got into a fight. She said she was unsure why Shenkle swerved but claimed he may have been avoiding something; she believed he struck a parked vehicle and not Hicks, the affidavit says.
Wallace said she learned from a friend later that morning that Hicks was killed. She didn’t know if Shenkle knew he had hit Hicks, she said, and she didn’t know Shenkle’s whereabouts, court records state.
Police located Shenkle on Tuesday near Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard and Northeast Chkalov Drive. Officers arrested him without incident.
