The 19-year-old Kelso man arrested last week on a First-Degree Murder charge is now confirmed to be connected to a 2024 homicide near Wallace Elementary School.

Kelso Police Chief Rich Fletcher told KLOG yesterday that Ashton Spencer was taken into custody in the investigation of the shooting death of 55-year-old Tobias Smith. Smith was shot in the abdomen early in the morning of August 2nd, 2024, at his home in the 1200 block of South Sixth Avenue. At the time, Fletcher described the shooting as “not a random event.”

Spencer was arrested last Wednesday afternoon and booked into the Cowlitz County Jail. He is facing charges of First-Degree Murder, First-Degree Robbery, Second-Degree Assault, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, and several other offenses.

Fletcher says the investigation remains ongoing, and no further details on the incident are being released at this time.