OSO — Three days after an Arlington-area couple disappeared, one of two fugitive brothers suspected of killing them tried to cash a $96,000 cashier’s check at a bank in Ellensburg.
The bank refused to provide John Reed the money in a lump-sum. Instead, it wrote four checks for $14,000 each to his relatives and a $40,000 check to Reed.
At the behest of law enforcement, a “stop payment” order was placed on the checks and bank transactions were frozen. The money came from the recent sale of Reed’s property that had been damaged by the 2014 Oso mudslide. It is unclear from court documents if John Reed received any of the cash, although attempts were made by family to funnel the money his way.
John and Tony Reed, 53 and 49, have been on the run since shortly after John’s former neighbors Patrick Shunn and Monique Patenaude vanished.
Based on blood found in multiple locations, including John Reed’s pickup truck and on his former property, detectives believe the couple was killed. Searchers continue to look for their bodies.
The Reed brothers have been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and unlawful gun possession. Bail has been set at $5 million.
The money trail is one of many paths Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives have been following as they build their case and track the Reed brothers.
The bank activity is described in a search warrant filed Monday.
The document also described use of Tony Reed’s state-issued Electronic Benefits Transfer food card at a 7-Eleven and Safeway in Arlington in the two days after the couple’s disappearance.
The search warrant described law enforcement interviews with family and acquaintances of the suspects. It also makes reference to tips that the brothers were believed to have been spotted in Mexico last week.
The suspects’ mother told a detective that she believed her sons “would make police shoot them” if they were found.
The mother also said “if she contacted her sons first, she would shoot them herself because she wouldn’t want to see them go to prison,” according to the search warrant.
One of John Reed’s acquaintances was interviewed at the Snohomish County Jail. He described animosity between John Reed and his former neighbors. The man told a detective that he’d heard John Reed say on several occasions that he would “take them out of the equation” and “they would never be found.”
The man said he believed the friction between neighbors grew after Shunn, 45, and Patenaude, 46, complained to authorities that John Reed had attempted to reroute the river. Detectives were able to confirm that a complaint had been filed against John Reed for having equipment in the river.
The man also told investigators that John Reed had been using railroad ties to build a bunker and that he’d built other bunkers in the Granite Falls and Sultan area in the past.
Detectives found what they called a bunker more than 150 yards north of John Reed’s former property. It appeared to have been there awhile. Investigators also found an underground room, likely an old marijuana growing operation, below a metal building, also on Reed’s former property.
In recent times, John Reed was squatting on the land he sold to Snohomish County earlier this year, according to court papers. Patenaude recently complained to the county that her former neighbor remained on the property. The county told Reed to collect his personal belongings and leave.
Patenaude had told a friend that she feared John Reed “as he had made threats to harm her and her husband, often acted ‘crazy’ and aggressive, was upset by the manner in which the aftermath of the Oso slide had been handled and was very angry about the condemnation of his property and being subsequently trespassed from it,” according to court papers.
The neighbors lived along Whitman Road on the western edge of the Oso mudslide. Their properties were eligible for county buyouts related to the March 2014 disaster. Reed opted for a buyout. The missing couple declined.
Diana Hefley contributed to this story.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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