GUILTY WA - Desiree Sunford, 30, murdered in her Terrace Heights home, 7 April 2013

The mysterious slaying of a Terrace Heights woman found shot to death in her home is a “true whodunnit,” a spokesman for the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office said..

Sunford, an art teacher at Wapato Middle School, was found slain right after her husband, Scott Sunford, reported he had been out of town all day and had been unable to get ahold of her.

Udell confirmed dispatch reports that Scott Sunford waited outside his home for more than 15 minutes before a Moxee police officer arrived at the scene and found Desiree Sunford’s body inside.

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According to dispatch notes, Scott Sunford called at 8:51 p.m. and said that he was on his way home and would like a deputy to meet him at the residence as he had received alerts of multiple alarm trips earlier in the day and had been unable to reach his wife.

Six minutes later, Sunford called back and said a board he had placed over a broken window following a recent burglary had been partly broken out. Dispatchers said Sunford was now demanding that a deputy come out to the residence, saying he had been in the Tri-Cities area and repeating that he had not been able to get ahold of his wife...

At 9:02 p.m., dispatchers reported Scott Sunford said his wife’s vehicle was at the residence and that he was concerned that something might have happened to her. In response, the patrol supervisor promised a unit would be sent to the scene.

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Bail was set at $2 million this morning for a man suspected in the 2013 shooting death of a Terrace Heights woman.

Marty Dean Grismer, described by investigators as an acquaintance of victim Desiree Sunford, was arrested Thursday in the Moses Lake area.

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Court documents state Sunford's husband Scott was seeing another woman during that time. That woman, Paige Blades, was friends with Grismer.

Blades told Grismer that she was allegedly carrying Sunford's child -- with the intention of preventing Desiree Sunford from interfering, documents state Grismer chose to kill Sunford, to allow her husband and Blades a chance to be together.

For an entire year, the case went silent, until Blades came forward to detectives.

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Investigators say the case started to open up after a tip to Crime Stoppers, which eventually led them to question a woman from Warden.

According to the affidavit, the woman told investigators that in April 2013 she told Grismer, a co-worker, that she believed she had become pregnant by Scott Sunford and was concerned there could be problems if his wife found out. The affidavit did not explain if Scott Sunford was responsible for the pregnancy or what became of the pregnancy.

The woman told investigators that in July, she told Grismer that Scott Sunford might be seeing another woman and that Grismer asked whether he should “take care of the new woman like I did Dez?” the affidavit said, apparently referring to Desiree Sunford. She said Grismer then described driving to Sunford’s home in the early hours of April 7, 2013, and killing her, according to the affidavit.

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Most of the proceeds from Desiree Sunford's life insurance policy will go to her husband, Scott. That's a according to a decision Friday in Yakima County court...

The insurance company deposited the $40,000 in proceeds with the court registry. Friday's order releases $10,000 to the funeral home and $3,000 to the insurance company's counsel. The rest will go to Scott Sunford.

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Marty Grismer is accused of killing his wife, Desire Sunford back in April 2013.

Grismer was arrested nearly two-years ago.

He was scheduled to go to trial this month, but now court documents said he won't go to trial until April of next year.

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The trial of a Moses Lake man accused of the 2013 Terrace Heights killing of a middle school teacher has been delayed.

Marty Dean Grismer, 30, is now scheduled to be tried Sept. 11 in the shooting death of Wapato Middle School art teacher Desiree Sunford.

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Marty Dean Grismer entered an Alford plea in Yakima County Superior Court last week to second-degree murder in the 2013 death of Desiree Sunford, a Terrace Heights woman who taught art at Wapato Middle School.

In return for the plea, prosecutors dropped an aggravated first-degree murder charge and are recommending a 15-year prison sentence. Grismer is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 8, about the same time his trial was to have begun.

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A Moses Lake man was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison for fatally shooting a 30-year-old teacher at her home in Terrace Heights.

Marty Grismer was sentenced in Yakima County Superior Court after entering an Alford plea to second-degree murder for the 2013 death of Desiree Sunford, a Wapato Middle School art teacher.

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“She was young and gifted and had so much going for her, so much to live for and so much to give,” Sunford’s mother, Connie Kast, said through tears. “When you lose a child, time does not go on. It comes to a dead halt. I didn’t know such a level of pain could exist.”

“The one thing the court can’t do is bring Desiree back,” said Yakima County Superior Court Judge Richard Bartheld. “And no matter what sentence I impose, it isn’t going to bring her back.”

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