Man arrested in Washington dispensary kidnapping confesses on television

Published: Sep 19, 2017, 12:17 pm • Updated: Sep 19, 2017, 1:29 pm

By The Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. — A man arrested in the kidnapping of a Cheney marijuana store employee has given a jailhouse confession to a Spokane television station.

Related: Body of kidnapped Washington budtender found

Donovan Culps told KHQ-TV Monday that he shot Cameron Smith several times after Smith declined to sell him pot products because he didn’t have identification.

The 36-year-old Culps told the station he was having a bad day and that Smith “got the ugly side of it.”

Culps is in a Spokane jail on accusations of kidnapping and robbery. He has not been charged for killing Smith.

Culps’ niece, 18-year-old Violetta Culps, remains at large.

Authorities say the 46-year-old Smith was abducted from the parking lot of Lucid Marijuana on Sept. 10 as he was eating lunch in his car.

Culps was arrested in Goldendale on Thursday.

Information from: KHQ-TV

Topics: dispensary death, spokane, Washington state