PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - October 9, 2011
The vehicle is owned by David Jones Pedersen - known as "Red"
to his friends and family. He's been missing since last month, when
his wife, Leslie Pedersen, was found stabbed to death in their
Everett, Wash., home.
Authorities have not identified the deceased white male found in
the Jeep, but they said that Red Pedersen's relatives have been
notified.
An autopsy is tentatively scheduled for Monday to confirm
whether the body is that of Red Pedersen and how the man died,
authorities said Saturday.
Authorities have implicated Pedersen's 31-year-old son, David
Joseph Pedersen, and the son's 24-year-old girlfriend, Holly
Grigsby, in what an Oregon county sheriff's captain called a
"vicious, vile reign of terror" that began last month. There were
arrested Wednesday.
Led by a tip into remote forested mountains southeast of Salem,
Ore., authorities discovered the Jeep at the bottom of a steep
embankment beneath a logging road, near a campground in the Cascade
Range open only in the summer. The terrain is so difficult, they
struggled to get it to a position where they could discover the
body.
"It took some time to come up with a plan to bring the vehicle
up to a place where investigators could safely see inside," said
Everett Police Sgt. Robert Goetz.
Authorities weren't yet sure whether the body was injured before
the Jeep went over the embankment, Goetz said.
Red Pedersen has been missing since Sept. 28, when his wife,
Leslie Pedersen, 69, was found stabbed to death in the mobile home
they had moved into just weeks earlier. Her hands were tied with
duct tape, a bloody pillow was wrapped around her head.
There was no sign of Red Pedersen and his black 2010 Jeep
Patriot, or of his son who'd recently been released from the Oregon
prison system where he'd spent half his life. Red Pedersen wanted
to reconnect with his son, a relative told The Daily Herald of
Everett, Wash.
Leslie Pedersen's daughter, Lori Nemitz, also spoke of the
younger Pedersen to a Seattle television station: "He's not our stepbrother;
he's nothing to us."
Three days after Leslie's body was discovered, 19-year-old
music-lover and devout Christian Cody Myers left for a jazz
festival on the Oregon Coast. Somehow, authorities say, he crossed
paths with a couple running from the law. His body was found in a
forested area near Corvallis, Ore., with gunshot wounds to the head
and chest. It was discovered some 70 miles from the embankment
where Red Pedersen's Jeep came to rest.
On Wednesday, nine days after Leslie Pedersen was found dead,
the suspects were apprehended driving Cody Myers' Plymouth. Two
loaded handguns and a rifle were in the car.
The day of the arrest Yamhill County Sheriff's Capt. Ken Summers
told the media, "A vicious, vile reign of terror that's affected
the west coast of the United States has come to an end. The
predators are off the street."
Pedersen and Grigsby have not been charged in the Oregon and
Washington slayings, but they remain in custody in California on
weapons and auto-theft charges. They pleaded not guilty to those
charges Friday and are expected in court Tuesday for an extradition
hearing.
Pedersen is a mixed marital arts competitor with a prominent
white supremacy tattoo on his neck. He spent the ages of 16 to 31
in one form of incarceration or another, save for a one-year
stretch in the mid-2000s. His convictions include assaulting a
police officer and threatening a federal judge.
While in prison, Pedersen couldn't avoid trouble. Major
disciplinary infractions included assault, extortion, disobedience,
harassment and destruction of property.
Grigsby spent time in prison for a variety of charges beginning
in 2006, including identity theft and unauthorized use of a
vehicle. After completing probation, she was again sentenced in
2008 on identity theft charges and served two years.
Grigsby's white supremacist leanings were made clear to her
fellow inmates at Oregon's women's prison. She found herself in
trouble while locked up, getting written up for assault and
possession of contraband.
---
Associated Press writer Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed.
Body found in SUV of slain Wash. woman's husband
By 6abc
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