The Plot to Kill Amanda Canales: Inside Kevin Lewis's heinous plan to murder ex-wife
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
EVERETT, WASHINGTON: The fourth episode of Netflix's docu-series 'Worst Ex Ever', titled 'Married to a Monster', focuses on Kevin Lewis from Lynnwood and his ex-wife, Amanda Canales. Over the years, Kevin and Amanda's relationship deteriorated as their marriage revealed his controlling tendencies.
Even after her eight-year marriage ended, Amanda struggled to openly acknowledge the toxicity of her relationship with her ex-husband, Kevin. They had been together for a decade and had three young children, two daughters and a son.
Despite their divorce, Amanda remained fearful of Kevin, who had previously physically assaulted her and continued to threaten her after their separation. In August 2017, Amanda was awarded full custody of their children, and Lewis was required to pay $800 monthly in child support, which marked a new beginning for her.
Amanda concentrated on her home in Everett, Washington, appreciating the help from her family as a single mother. A month later, Amanda planned a work trip to New York and asked her sister, Alisha Canales-McGuire, to care for her children while she was away.
Alisha who had recently married and was eager to start her own family, was delighted to help. However, in the early hours of September 20, someone knocked on the door. Alisha answered, hoping to avoid waking the kids, but came face-to-face with a gunman, who shot her multiple times as she fell bleeding on the doorstep. She was announced dead at the scene.
Lewis hired his cousin Jerradon Phelps to eliminate his ex-wife, according to Mirror. He paid Phelps $2,400, which Phelps testified was spent on Timberland boots, a Ferragamo belt buckle, and tattoos.
On September 20, 2017, Phelps and his friend Alexis Hale traveled from Spokane to Everett. Hale obtained a black pistol from her sister and paid $200 for it. Phelps testified that Lewis did not specify who his target was, only providing the address of his ex-wife’s home.
When they arrived at the residence on York Road around 1:55 am, Phelps mistakenly opened fire on Canales-McGuire, who was there caring for her sister’s children while her sister was away on a business trip to New York City.
Amanda Canales feared for her life after her divorce from husband Kevin Lewis
In 2018, Kevin Lewis was arrested for beating his wife Amanda. During the trial, Amanda stated that she feared for her life. She informed the court that Lewis was seeking full custody of their children and threatened to kill her if he didn't get it.
Amanda informed the court that she believed the person who murdered her sister intended to kill her, acting on orders from her ex. Kevin was sentenced to 39 months in prison for second-degree assault. The police found Amanda's account of the shooting credible but required evidence to support her claims. A breakthrough in the case occurred in 2019.
Detectives received a lead regarding a girl in Spokane who attended a party and boasted about being contracted to murder someone on York Road, the same location where Alisha was shot.
The 17-year-old girl, later identified as Alexis Hale, was the girlfriend of Jerradon Phelps, Kevin's cousin, who was 19 at the time. Shortly after Alisha's murder, Phelps shared a photo on social media displaying a stack of $100 bills, with a caption suggesting that people would be shocked to know how he obtained the money.
Phelps and Hale were taken into custody and, together with Kevin, who was already in jail, faced murder charges. Authorities utilized Phelps and Hale's phone records to demonstrate that they traveled from Spokane to Everett to commit the shooting. Additionally, security camera footage from a neighbor captured an individual entering a vehicle during the early morning hours of September 20.
The man, dressed in a white shirt, departed at 1:13 am and came back at 1:37 am. When police visited Kevin after Alisha's death, he was again in a white shirt. It is thought that he had taken Phelps and Hale to Amanda's residence before returning home prior to the incident.
Amanda issued a statement after the arrest. "I was with [Lewis] for almost 10 years and hid from everyone how awful the marriage was. They didn't know the real Kevin. Even I didn't know how far he would go until it happened," she said.
In July 2020, Phelps admitted to committing premeditated first-degree murder and was sentenced to 31 years in prison. Meanwhile, Hale also pleaded guilty to the same charge and received a 15-year sentence.
Was Kevin Lewis arrested?
In November 2021, following a six-week trial, the jury reached a verdict, finding Kevin Lewis guilty of first-degree murder. During the sentencing in January 2022, Amanda described him as "pure evil" and expressed her shock at how he had interacted with their children, who were present in the house at the time she was supposed to be killed.
“I thought that you loved them but someone who loved them would never want to subject them to danger and to trauma. Did you care that if it was just me home that night, they would have woken up to find their own mother dead, lying in a pool of blood?" she said.
Lewis was handed a life in prison sentence with no chance of parole.
'Worst Ex Ever' is now streaming on Netflix