A New Year’s celebration in the rural Birdsview area near Concrete, Washington, ended in the death of 47-year-old Allen Eugene Kesterson in the early hours of January 1, 2015. Kesterson had been at a party at a residence on the 38800 block of State Route 20 when a dispute with another guest, 30-year-old Jason Aaron Becktel, escalated. Witnesses reported hearing the two men arguing loudly shortly before the shooting.

Shortly after 4:15 a.m. the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office received a call about the shooting and found Kesterson deceased on the property from blood loss due to gunshot wounds. Becktel turned himself in later the same day and was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. At a two-week trial in March 2017, the jury convicted Jason Aaron Becktel of second-degree murder and he was sentenced to 18 years and nine months in prison; at sentencing he apologized for his actions on that New Year’s morning.

If anyone attended that party or has information about what led to the argument, please share what is known.