Katherine Marie Now
Dawn Gonzeles/Courtesy photos
United Animal Friends and the Yavapai Humane Society are working to find new homes for two of Katherine Now’s dogs. Ruby is a shepherd and Dash is an older shepherd mix. Dash is dog- and cat-friendly. Anyone interested in helping or adopting these dogs can call Toby at UAF at 899-3942.
Memorial fund
A memorial fund has been set up at Wells Fargo Bank in the name of Katherine Now to help defray funeral costs. Anyone who would like to help in this way can go to any Wells Fargo bank and give Katherine's name and make a contribution.
The brother of Katherine Marie Now, the woman who died tragically in an apparent murder-suicide inside her Prescott Valley home the morning of Feb. 24, says she was the most giving, caring person he knew.
For Jeff, Katherine's sibling from Prescott who preferred not to share his last name, that's what made his youngest sister's death so perplexing.
Prescott Valley Police Department investigators believe Katherine died when her male roommate, 67-year-old Henry James Hill, shot her in the head with a handgun before lighting the house on fire and turning the pistol on himself. Katherine's cat also perished in the blaze, but her three dogs survived (see related story).
Police did not release the victims' names until late Wednesday afternoon. Sgt. Brandon Bonney, PVPD's public information officer, said that the department would not issue a complete police report on the case for at least another week since multiple law enforcement agencies remain involved in the investigation.
Katherine, 49, leaves behind her 27-year-old son, Greg, as well as her two brothers, Steve, 56, and Jeff, 54, her sister, Ernestine, 55, and her mother, Gerry.
"Everybody that had any contact with Katherine loved and adored her," Jeff said this past week from his Prescott mobile home. "She was so bubbly and so outgoing. She is going to be so, so missed."
Katherine, who cherished animals, served as a "foster parent" and volunteer with the Yavapai Humane Society, 1625 Sundog Ranch Road in Prescott. Jeff said she would take dogs, puppies, cats and kittens into her home if they needed temporary food and shelter.
"She was soft-spoken and she had a big heart," said Dawn Gonzales, alternative pet placement coordinator for the Yavapai Humane Society who knew Katherine for about a year. "She would never tell me 'no' if I asked her if she could foster. She is very missed - not just as a foster, but as a person."
Katherine also volunteered for Prescott Frontier Days annual Fourth of July Parade downtown. She helped line up entries and walked along the parade route.
Over the past two years at the rodeo, she freely gave of her time at the popular rodeo dance and worked during performances.
A gifted country and western dancer, Katherine enjoyed life, Jeff said.
Although she occasionally struggled to gain long-term employment, Jeff added, Katherine seemed to be getting back on her feet in the months before her death after becoming a caregiver for Prescott-based Tender Hearts Senior Care. In the past, she had done secretarial work, but transitioned out of that once she received a nurse's aide certification.
"Between volunteering and friends, she was always moving," Jeff said.
Katherine showed her compassionate side at a young age, as she gained fluency in sign language to communicate with her deaf older sister, Ernestine, and keep her involved in family conversations.
When Katherine moved to PV more than a decade ago, she occasionally interpreted for local Deaf Chat groups.
"She wanted to help the whole world," Jeff said. "She was very outgoing and always smiling."
***
On the day of Katherine's death, Central Yavapai Fire District firefighters quickly extinguished her engulfed home at 4201 Kearny Drive, on the town's east side, around 6:19 a.m. They soon found her body and Hill's in separate bedrooms.
To his regret, Jeff said he never met the man who allegedly killed Katherine. He thinks they met each other only a few months ago while she was unemployed.
Jeff speculates that Hill was "down on his luck" and needed a place to stay when he moved in with Katherine.
"Kathy was laid off and it was a win-win situation," Jeff said, although he is unsure if Hill had a job. "She was so happy that the guy was moving in, telling me, 'We'll make the best roommates. It will work out so good.'"
However, Jeff added, the circumstances soon deteriorated, even though Hill appeared to commit to an extended stay at Katherine's home and helped pay the bills.
Jeff thinks Hill had romantic feelings for Katherine that she did not want to reciprocate. Katherine had a boyfriend and many other male and female friends.
"She considered him a friend - totally platonic," Jeff said. "That's when the roommate situation started to go sour."
By the end of January, Jeff said Katherine told Hill he had a month to pack up his things and move out.
The murder-suicide happened only three or four days before the man was supposed to leave for good.
"Just a few days, and he would've been gone," Jeff said, tears welling up in his eyes. "Just a few days later."
***
Jeff has lived in Prescott since September 2005, but Katherine established roots in PV at least 12 years ago. Before Jeff, a divorcee, moved to Arizona from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, he would visit Katherine and his parents in Kingman over the holidays and during the summer months.
Shortly after relocating here, Jeff became a custodian at Prescott High School. For two years, everything went well - until one dark day in October 2007. Jeff was moving desks at the school when he felt a tingling sensation in both of his legs. He couldn't lie down, walk or sit.
Jeff later learned he had a blocked artery that was cutting off the blood and oxygen to his legs. He rushed himself to the emergency room in Prescott, where paramedics flew him to a heart hospital for surgery to repair the blockage.
When Jeff awoke, he was paralyzed from the waist down.
That's when Katherine became her brother's emergency contact and cared for him in the weeks and months after the surgery.
Since Jeff is mostly immobile, Katherine often would drive to his Prescott residence to visit him. Of the four siblings in their family, Jeff said he and Kathy were the closest.
Jeff talked to Katherine for the last time the weekend prior to her death. He called her Feb. 22, but failed to connect.
These days, Jeff uses a walker and a wheelchair to get around, although he no longer works and receives Social Security disability.
As he sat on a couch inside his doublewide mobile home this past Wednesday, Jeff couldn't stop thinking about what his sister meant to him through the years.
Jeff did not hear about Katherine's death until their mom phoned him at 5 p.m. the day of the apparent murder.
"When I knew my ex wanted a divorce 24 years ago, I thought that was the worst day of my life," Jeff said. "Then, in 2007, I thought being paralyzed was the worst thing I had ever gone through. But when I found out Katherine was murdered, that was definitely the worst day of my life."
Jeff commended the Prescott Valley Police Department, Central Yavapai Fire District and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for their work on the suspected murder-suicide case.
He added that he and his family thank those in the community who have given their sympathy, prayers and support in the days after the tragedy.
Today, Jeff said his only wish is that his sister's alleged killer had recognized that he had a serious problem.
"There is tons of help out there if at some point in your life you get that low," said Jeff, who admits he had suicidal thoughts both after his divorce and his paralysis. "And evidently, this man was very mentally sick and disturbed, and he had a warped mind.
"Why if he wanted to take his life didn't he leave my sister's alone?"
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