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Information
furnished by Tony Clyde Reed, 49, arrested more than a week ago
at the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego, helped authorities
pinpoint the location of the makeshift burial site, said Shari
Ireton, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office in Snohomish
County, Washington.
Reed, jailed on $5 million bond, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday
to two counts of murder and one count of unlawful possession of
a firearm. His brother, John Reed, 53, remained a fugitive and
may still be in Mexico, Ireton said.
The two siblings are suspected of killing Patrick Shunn, 45, and
Monique Patenaude, 46, a married couple reported missing on
April 12 by friends in the foothills of the Cascade mountains,
about 60 miles (97 km) northeast of Seattle.
John Reed was a neighbor of the couple in the Oso area, which
was hit by a deadly mudslide in March 2014, and Shunn had
reported to police that he and his wife had been threatened by
Reed in a property dispute.
Based on evidence uncovered in the initial search for the
couple, detectives concluded they were victims of foul play, but
more than a month passed without any sign of their bodies.
Ireton said the remains of a man and woman were finally
discovered in a remote, wooded area a few miles (km) north of
the couple's home and near the spot where their two cars were
found abandoned in April.
Authorities believe the bodies, which were buried together, are
those of Shunn and Patenaude, though medical examiners have yet
to positively identify the remains, or to determine the cause
and manner of the death, Ireton said.
Sheriff's investigators said the Reed brothers both fled to
Mexico following the couple's disappearance. The younger brother
turned himself over to U.S. marshals at the border on May 16 and
was extradited back to Washington.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra
Maler)
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