On a spring evening in Port Orchard, Washington, the life of 39-year-old Steven Earl Kerr, a White male, came to a violent end. On April 5, 2021, deputies were dispatched to a property in South Kitsap after a woman reported hearing gunshots and discovering Kerr's body in the yard. What initially appeared to be a straightforward homicide investigation would soon unravel a complex web of alleged criminal activity.
Witnesses at the scene told investigators that Kerr had been working on a
vehicle with 51-year-old Andrew Luke Wright just before the shooting. By all accounts, there was no apparent conflict between the two men leading up to the fatal encounter. Following the gunshots, Wright allegedly fled the scene, even firing at another witness who was not injured. The next morning, Wright turned himself into the Kitsap County Jail. He was subsequently charged with second-degree murder for Kerr's death and first-degree assault. Despite his surrender, Wright did not confess to the crime and pleaded not guilty at his court appearance, where his bail was set at $1.5 million. The motive for the shooting remained a mystery to investigators and those who knew the men.
As detectives delved deeper into the lives of both the victim and the suspect, a darker picture began to emerge. Both Kerr and Wright were reportedly associated with the Free Souls motorcycle club. Sources within the investigation described Kerr as an "enforcer" for the group. This revelation connected Kerr's death to another ongoing investigation: the disappearance of a former Bremerton High School basketball standout, Andre Coleman, who had been missing since March 1, 2021, and was presumed dead.
Investigators uncovered an alleged plot where Kerr was a suspect in a plan to kidnap and kill Coleman. It was believed that the motive for this plot was related to a theft of drugs or money. Kerr's own fiancée, Amber Lynn Ableman, was implicated in this conspiracy. Authorities alleged that she was involved in luring Coleman to a location where Kerr intended to kill him. Ableman was subsequently charged as an accomplice to first-degree kidnapping in connection with Coleman's disappearance. The investigation suggested a world of violence and criminal enterprise that ultimately consumed Steven Earl Kerr, leaving behind a tangled case for law enforcement to unravel.
