The man who repeatedly stabbed his stepfather in the bathroom of a Northeast Tacoma home while suffering a severe mental health crisis, and then went to a police substation to report the homicide, has been sentenced to 20 years, four months in prison.
Gaven Lee Flowers, the son of Tacoma Public Utilities director Jackie Flowers, pleaded guilty June 12 to second-degree murder with a deadly weapon. Superior Court Judge Shelly Moss sentenced him the same day, imposing a prison term at the high end of the standard sentencing range of about 10-20 years.
Gaven Flowers, 29, had no prior criminal history. A forensic psychological evaluation filed with the court earlier this month reported that in the months before the Feb. 11, 2025 murder he had become increasingly isolated in his family’s home, was hearing voices and had become consumed by the delusion that his stepfather, Michael Spears, was poisoning his food and harming him with electromagnetic waves…