Two brothers wanted for allegedly killing a missing Arlington couple have been sighted several times in Mexico as of April 21, and investigators believe one was using his girlfriend’s iPhone as recently as last week.
EVERETT — Two fugitive brothers wanted for allegedly killing a missing Arlington couple have been sighted several times in Mexico, and investigators believe one of them was using a girlfriend’s iPhone as recently as last week.
The latest information about the manhunt for John B. Reed, 53, and 49-year-old Tony Reed — both charged with the murders of Patrick Shunn and his wife, Monique Patenaude — is detailed in search-warrant records filed Monday by sheriff’s investigators in Snohomish County Superior Court
The records show investigators obtained a warrant for Sprint Wireless data for an iPhone used to make two missed calls that were placed April 17 to a friend of the Reed brothers in Phoenix.
The calls were made to the former Arlington resident after the Reeds “fled his place” en route to Mexico, the records say.
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The 49-year-old Phoenix man, who has not been charged, gave the brothers $500 and a gold Acura, which the Reeds allegedly used to flee to Mexico after they left Arizona.
Investigators previously had questioned Tony Reed’s live-in girlfriend in Ellensburg, who, when interviewed last month, couldn’t locate her iPhone. The phone was later used to make the calls to the Phoenix man.
In the search-warrant affidavit, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Det. Brad Walvatne wrote that the cellphone data could help investigators locate the brothers by tracking their movements in Arizona and Mexico.
“John and Tony still have not been captured and there have been several sightings of them in Mexico (as recent as April 21st, 2016),” the affidavit says. “ … I also believe this is a phone number that Tony and John are still using today (April 28th, 2016), while avoiding apprehension and the records requested will assist law enforcement in identifying their current location.”
The affidavit does not give locations or other details of the sightings.
Authorities allege the Reeds killed the missing couple — John Reed’s former neighbors — who were last seen April 11. The brothers allegedly dumped their bodies somewhere in the Oso area, then traveled to their parents’ home in Ellensburg before fleeing the state April 14, charging papers say.
Authorities contend the men are tied to the couple’s disappearance and presumed slayings by a variety of evidence, including blood and other items recovered from the scene where the couple’s vehicles were found in the remote woods near Oso.
Along with a warrant for the phone data, investigators obtained several other warrants and court orders, according to records filed Monday. Among them are court orders freezing bank accounts of the brothers’ parents, whom authorities say were given at least $96,000 in cashier’s checks by John Reed before he fled the state.
Other recently obtained warrants allow investigators to search septic systems, wells and other areas of the missing couple’s property and Reed’s former land. Investigators also have received permission to search another neighbor’s property, from which detectives previously recovered a shotgun and all-terrain vehicle apparently left by John Reed.
Another warrant allows detectives to recover evidence from the all-terrain vehicle that authorities say the brothers may have used when disposing of the couple’s bodies.
A judge signed each of the warrants and orders this past month. Investigators have yet to file records showing what, if any, evidence was collected as a result.