“She was my friend about one year.”

With that, Sierra Johnson, 24, began describing the scenario that she says unfolded for Sheena Devine, the 30-year-old woman found dead Oct. 6 at her home in Libby.

Authorities have charged Libby resident Trevor Mercier, 42, with deliberate homicide in Devine’s death. Mercier has a preliminary hearing Oct. 19 in Lincoln County Justice Court.

Johnson said she met Devine at the Elks in Libby where Devine worked as a bartender.

She also knew Mercier, who had worked with Johnson’s boyfriend at Kootenai Truck Repair but quit about two months ago.

The night before Johnson found Devine dead in her house on Third Street, Johnson had visited with Devine, who said someone had been throwing rocks at her car that night.

“She asked if he (Mercier) was home. She thought he was the one doing it,” said Johnson, who lives in an apartment next door to Mercier.

Johnson said she and Devine talked and smoked cigarettes, and Devine showed her the dents in the gray Toyota Matrix.

She was there about 30 minutes and left.

“When I was walking home Wednesday night, I saw a guy in the bushes with his hood on,” Johnson said.

When she arrived home, she texted and then called Devine to let her know that someone was in the bushes near her home. She never heard from her friend again.

Although she didn’t know who it was that night, Johnson suspects the man was Mercier.

At around 10 a.m. the next day, Johnson went to Devine’s home. Devine’s 4-year-old daughter answered the door and told Johnson that her mother was sleeping.

Johnson went to Devine’s bedroom, but she wasn’t there. She found her on the floor in the living room.

“She didn’t look very good,” Johnson said, adding that she wasn’t sure if she was dead, but called 911.

Johnson also talked about an incident in February when Mercier allegedly assaulted Devine.

Libby Police Officer Scott Kessel wrote in his report that on Feb. 7 he responded to 404B Third St. in Libby. Mercier and Devine were arguing, he threw her to the floor and began to choke her and slammed her head against the floor, Kessel wrote. In the report, Devine said she scratched and punched at Mercier to get away, then ran next door and asked a neighbor to call police.

Mercier was convicted of partner family member assault and disorderly conduct in that case, and had a no-contact order issued against him that was later rescinded.

Mercier appealed those misdemeanor convictions from Libby City Court to District Court, but they have yet to be adjudicated. An omnibus hearing for the misdemeanors was set for Oct. 17 in District Court.

“She didn’t want to be with him after that, but he kind of pressed it,” Johnson said. “They broke up, were together for a couple of weeks and then she broke up with him again.”

Devine and Mercier were not in a relationship when Devine died, Johnson said.

“I think she was afraid of him. She was pretty not happy with him,” she said.

Johnson described Devine as “always happy. She was a great person. She loved her kids.”

Devine’s 2- and 4-year-old daughters re now staying with their father in Choteau, according to Johnson.

“She was a good friend.”

As far as her next-door neighbor Mercier, Johnson said “he wasn’t really a friend, just kind of like ‘that person you know.’ We borrowed movies from him, but we really didn’t hang out together.”

After she called 911 the morning of Oct. 6, Johnson said she was afraid to go home until Mercier was in custody. He was arrested as a “person of interest” later that day and charged with deliberate homicide the afternoon of Oct. 7.

Johnson said she wasn’t surprised by the arrest.

“There was no other person that would ever want to hurt her.”

Caleb M. Soptelean can be reached at 293-4124 or by email at csoptelean@thewesternnews.com.