On the evening of December 11, 2019, a young man's life was cut short in the parking lot of the Quatama MAX station in Hillsboro, Oregon. Twenty-one-year-old Kevin Marshall was found inside a vehicle, suffering from a gunshot wound to his head. Emergency responders rushed him to a local hospital, but his injury proved fatal, and he was pronounced dead.
The incident left his family devastated and searching for answers.
Initially, a person of interest was detained at the scene but was later released without any charges being filed. For several months, the investigation into Kevin's death continued, leaving his family in a state of fear and uncertainty. The breakthrough in the case came on May 20, 2020, when detectives from the Hillsboro Police Department arrested 21-year-old Jason Bennekin at Union Station in Portland. A Washington County Grand Jury had indicted Bennekin on charges of second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon in connection with Marshall's death.
The arrest brought a new layer of pain for the Marshall family, as Jason Bennekin was not a stranger. He had once been a close friend of Kevin's, so much so that he had lived with the Marshall family for a period of time. However, in the time leading up to the fatal shooting, Kevin had started to distance himself from Bennekin.
During the subsequent trial, Bennekin claimed that he had acted in self-defense on the night of the shooting. After hearing the evidence presented, a Washington County jury convicted him of a lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter on October 18, 2024. He was later sentenced to 75 months in prison for his role in the death of his former friend.
