OSO — Six days after an Arlington-area couple disappeared, the hunt was on Sunday for their suspected killers.
Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary told a press conference that arrest warrants have been issued for brothers John Blaine Reed, 53, and Tony Clyde Reed, 49.
Investigators still have found no sign of Patrick Shunn, 45, and his wife, Monique Patenaude, 46.
The Reed brothers are wanted for investigation of homicide, and should be considered armed and dangerous, Trenary said.
Detectives obtained video surveillance footage that allegedly links the Reeds to the couple’s vehicles, which were dumped in steep, wooded terrain north of Oso.
Property records show John Reed used to live next door to Shunn and Patenaude. Detectives believe he had gone back to the home in recent times. Evidence found with the missing couple’s vehicles and at John Reed’s former home leads investigators to believe the pair are the victims of homicide, Trenary said.
“It is clear they are deceased,” Trenary said.
The husband and wife were last seen April 11. Shunn went to work that day, but neither he nor his wife were heard from afterward. Family and friends immediately expressed concern because it was unusual for them not to be in contact and they took special care of their animals.
Deputies quickly described their disappearance as suspicious.
Their Jeep and a Land Rover were spotted Thursday down an embankment near Oso by crews on SnoHAWK10, the county’s search and rescue helicopter. The vehicles were found about 200 feet apart and each had extensive damage.
“Sheriff’s office search and rescue teams have been searching every day in an ever-widening pattern up in Oso trying to locate the missing couple,” Trenary said. “This is a very large remote area” north of where the couple lived.
The vehicles were found about 15 miles from the couple’s property.
Shunn and Patenaude lived on their spacious spread off Whitman Road between Arlington and Darrington. He’d previously lived in Oregon; Patenaude is from British Columbia.
In a statement released Sunday, the families of Shunn and Patenaude asked that people let law enforcement continue their search and investigation instead of establishing their search parties of their own.
“If help from the public is needed, they will let you know,” the statement read.
The families described Shunn and Patenaude as a loving couple.
“Their 20-acre farm and animals are their passion,” family remembers wrote. “They love the outdoors, love their family and friends and, most of all, love life. Wherever they are, they are together.”
Investigators found John Reed’s vehicle in Ellensburg on Saturday and have seized it for evidence. The brothers were believed to have been in that area recently, but where they have gone since is unknown.
“We still have no idea where they currently are,” Trenary said.
“Recovery of Patrick and Monique is our highest priority right now, for their families,” Trenary said. “Our second highest priority is finding John and Tony Reed.”
Trenary said both brothers have felony history but offered no details. John Reed’s most-serious brushes with the law appear to have occurred years ago, but he was prosecuted in 2014 for allegedly violating state natural resource laws, court records show.
Tony Reed has a felony history dating back to the late 1980s and mid 1990s in Snohomish County, including attempting to elude police and other offenses. During that same period he also amassed nearly three dozen prosecutions for misdemeanors and arrests that brought him before a judge for bail. His most-recent prosecution was 2014 in Kittitas County, where he was initially charged with felony second-degree assault in a domestic violence case. He later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault.
Detectives believe the pair may be traveling in a red 2007 Volkswagen EOS Coupe, belonging to their parents. It has Washington plates AXH5106.
Both brothers are white. John Reed is described as 5 foot 8, about 190 pounds with hazel eyes and gray hair. Tony Reed stands 5 foot 11, weighs about 150 pounds and has green eyes and gray hair.
Property records indicate that relatives in 2003 deeded John Reed the Whitman Road property, which was immediately east of the land where Shunn and Patenaude made their home. The former Reed property borders the hillside that collapsed during the Oso mudslide. He sold to Snohomish County in March for $244,000.
“We believe Mr. Reed has been coming and going from the house” since then, Trenary said.
Reed was featured in a Seattle Times story after the Oso mudslide that killed 43 people in 2014. His property on the edge of the slide made him an eyewitness to the devastation as it swept across the valley, he said. He told a reporter that the foundation of his home was damaged, the floor buckled and that the slide had caused him stress and money problems.
Shunn and Patenaude bought their property in 2012, according to Snohomish County assessor’s office records.
The couple was embroiled in a lawsuit over a land dispute involving one of their neighbors. The complaint did not name John Reed.
However, Trenary said that there also had been a property dispute involving Reed and the missing couple.
Anyone who has information about the Reeds’ whereabouts is asked to call 911. Tips also can be left at the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office anonymous tip line at 425-388-3845.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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