EVERETT — Authorities on Wednesday had yet to decide when an Oregon couple will be brought back to Snohomish County to face aggravated murder charges in the slayings of an Everett couple.
David “Joey” Pedersen, 31, and Holly Grigsby, 24, are being held without bail in the Yuba County Jail in
California. Snohomish County authorities hope to have the couple transported to Washington before their next status hearing in California, scheduled for Nov. 10.
The Oregon couple Tuesday agreed not to fight extradition to Everett.
“I’m trying to get them here as cheaply and quickly as possible,” Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe said Wednesday.
Roe said his office doesn’t have money in the budget for costly extraditions, but “we’ll get them here somehow.”
Pedersen and Grigsby are accused of killing Pedersen’s father, David “Red” Pedersen, 56, and his wife Leslie “DeeDee” Pedersen, 69, last month in Everett. Prosecutors say the slayings were committed during a robbery.
Grigsby allegedly told authorities during a five-hour interview that Pedersen planned to kill his estranged father because of allegations that the elder Pedersen had molested family members.
Everett police said those allegations have not been proven.
Grigsby allegedly confessed to cutting DeeDee Pedersen’s throat with two knives.
Roe will have 30 days after the couple is arraigned to decide if he’ll seek the death penalty.
The Oregon couple, with ties to white supremacist groups, also are suspected of killing two other men after fleeing Washington.
They are accused of shooting Oregon teen Cody Myers because they thought he was Jewish, according to court documents. They also are suspects in the shooting death of Reginald Clark, 53. Clark, who is black, was found dead inside his pickup truck in Eureka, Calif., a couple days after Pedersen and Grigsby were arrested about 50 miles north of Sacramento, Calif.
Roe said there is a potential that federal prosecutors could consolidate the three state cases.
“But we’re a long way from that,” he said. “Our course of action is to investigate two murders here, put our case together and get ready to try it. That’s what we’re doing.”
While police and prosecutors iron out plans to transport Joey Pedersen back to Everett to face charges, a former neighbor Wednesday described how Red Pedersen was looking forward to seeing his son last summer.
John Olson said Red and DeeDee Pedersen paid the train fare for Joey Pedersen to visit them at their home, then in Arlington. Joey Pedersen had spent more than half his life in prison and was released in May. His father hoped they could get reacquainted, Olson said.
“He wanted to be a dad to that kid,” Olson said.
Olson said he sensed trouble in the short time he met Joey Pedersen. His unease went beyond the white supremacist tattoos on Joey Pedersen’s face and neck.
Red and DeeDee Pedersen later moved to Everett.
Olson said he will miss the couple who would invite him over for weekend barbecues. He’ll remember the tasty beef jerky Red Pedersen would make, his prowess working with tools in his workshop and his pride in being a retired U.S. Marine.
Olson recalled that Red Pedersen didn’t expect to have another reunion with his troubled son after the summer visit.
“He said, ‘I’ll probably never see that kid again,'” Olson said.
The former neighbor said he wished that had been the case.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com
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