Ex-fire battalion chief sues over videos

Former Camas-Washougal Fire Battalion Chief Kevin West, who is on trial for murder in his wife’s death, has filed a defamation lawsuit against a neighbor he alleges harassed him with a series of true crime videos posted on the social media platform TikTok.

West filed the civil complaint Jan. 5 in Clark County Superior Court. Joining him in the suit are a woman with whom he had an affair and his son.

The suit accuses Tabitha Bowman-Shaffer, 40, of publishing false and defamatory statements about Kevin West, Ted West and Cynthia Ward in more than 20 videos regarding the death of Marcelle “Marcy” West and Kevin West’s criminal case.

Court documents in the criminal case identify a woman named Cynthia Ward as the person with whom Kevin West admitted to having an affair.

The lawsuit seeks a court order to remove the content, which the plaintiffs say continued after a cease-and-desist demand. They are also seeking monetary damages calculated by the number of days each video remains online. The requested penalties include $100 per day for videos uploaded between March 2024 and July 2025, $250 per day for videos re-uploaded after the cease-and-desist letter and $1,000 per day for any videos remaining online after the service of the lawsuit.

The civil suit does not specify which statements in the TikTok videos are alleged to be false but states that the specific claims will be established at a trial.

The civil filing runs parallel to the high-profile criminal trial of Kevin West, 51, which began last week in Superior Court. Prosecutors in the murder trial say he strangled Marcy West on Jan. 8, 2024, to pursue an affair with Ward, staging the scene to look like a medical emergency from a seizure.

According to the civil complaint, Bowman-Shaffer, a next-door neighbor of Kevin and Ted West in Washougal, began posting videos about the criminal case March 23, 2024, weeks before Kevin West was arraigned on murder charges.

Court documents say Bowman-Shaffer used the platform to position herself as an insider with “special knowledge” of the family’s dynamics. The lawsuit asserts the videos exposed the plaintiffs to “hatred, contempt, ridicule or obloquy” and were distributed to “unprivileged third parties” with the goal of “widest possible distribution.”

On July 2, the plaintiffs sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding the removal of the videos. While Bowman-Shaffer initially complied, the complaint says she reuploaded six of the videos the following day with “qualifying subtitles and attempts at disclaimer,” which the plaintiffs argue did not mitigate the defamation. By late July, she allegedly resumed posting new content, uploading a 20th video.

During opening statements in Kevin West’s murder trial, defense attorney Brian Walker, who is also representing the plaintiffs in the civil suit, argued that Marcy West may have died from ongoing and persistent medical issues. He argued that his client is innocent, and first responders failed to properly treat Marcy West.