PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland police revealed Wednesday that they have arrested the wife of a Northeast Portland man found shot to death in a Cully neighborhood apartment over the weekend.
The victim, identified as 44-year-old William Robert Decker II, died of a single gunshot wound. The medical examiner's office confirmed that his death was a homicide, according to the Portland Police Bureau.
Decker's wife, 40-year-old Mariah Cole, aka Mariah Decker, has since been arrested in connection with her husband's murder. She was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges for second-degree domestic violence murder, unlawful use of a weapon and felon in possession of a firearm.
Police responded just after 2 a.m. on Saturday to a report of a shooting inside an apartment complex in the 6700 block of Northeast Killingsworth near Northeast Cully Boulevard. Officers found William Decker dead at the scene.
According to an affidavit filed by the first officer on the scene, Cole told police that she'd been reaching for a bag of chips in a cupboard when she found the gun and picked it up — then it spontaneously went off. The officer noted a Taurus G3 handgun lying on the couch.
"l shot my baby. I didn't know," Cole was quoted as saying. "I killed my baby. l didn't know it was loaded."
Another statement from a deputy district attorney for Multnomah County described how investigators decided that Cole's story didn't hold up based on other circumstances of the scene.
William Decker was found flat on his back with a single bullet hole in his forehead, his arms and legs straight. Cole told police that her husband had been sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, the affidavit said, when she picked up the gun and it accidentally discharged.
"I listened to detectives confront Mariah (Cole) Decker on how her version of events did not match what they viewed at the crime scene and how guns do not simply go off by themselves," the deputy district attorney wrote, "and how it would be nearly impossible for the bullet to strike Billy Decker squarely in the forehead based on the way in which Mariah Decker claimed to have been holding the gun. I heard Mariah Decker change her story and admit to pulling the trigger."
Though Mariah Cole had initially said that she hadn't known about the gun, investigators found ammunition in a nightstand near the bed and live rounds in her purse, the affidavit said.
"These items directly contradicted Mariah Decker's claim that she did not know there was a firearm in the home," the deputy district attorney continued. "Detective Pontius also informed me that through the course of the ongoing investigation, law enforcement learned that Billy Decker had stated that he feared his spouse was going to cause him harm when he was filling out paperwork only one week prior to the shooting."
Friends of William Decker's family have put up a GoFundMe page to support his sister, Chasity, in funeral costs. As of early Wednesday afternoon, it had raised $2,261 for an original goal of $2,000.
"We are trying to raise funds for our dear friend Chasity to bring her little brother home to be laid to rest," wrote organizer Rebecca Motter. "He passed away from a tragedy a few days ago and is in another state. Chasity and her families hearts are shattered ... Chasity desperately needs to get her bubba back home."
The apartment complex where the shooting occurred, Las Adelitas, is the latest project from Hacienda Community Development Corporation, a local nonprofit that builds affordable housing with supportive resources all over the Portland metro area. Las Adelitas opened in December.
Anyone with information about this shooting is asked to contact Detective Jeff Pontius at Jeffery.Pontius@police.portlandoregon.gov or call 503-823-0433, or Detective Steve Gandy at Stephen.Gandy@police.portlandoregon.gov or call (503) 823-0449, and reference case number 23-103860.
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