SUV Body Tied to Boyfriend-Girlfriend Murder Suspects, David Joseph Pedersen and Holly Grigsby
Body found over Oregon embankment in Jeep owned by suspect's missing father.
Oct. 8, 2011 — -- A third body possibly tied to a fugitive boyfriend-girlfriend duo captured this week has been found in a missing man's SUV in Oregon, police said.
The unidentified white, adult male's body was recovered today from a black 2010 Jeep Patriot owned by David Jones Pedersen, the missing husband of a woman found stabbed to death in Everett, Wash., and the father of David Joseph Pedersen, arrested Wednesday in California with his girlfriend, Holly Grigsby.
The body remains unidentified pending an autopsy tentatively scheduled for Monday, according to a news release by the Oregon State Police.
Police believe the Jeep was driven to Oregon by David Joseph Pedersen, 31, and Grigsby, 24, according to The Associated Press.
The pair were on the run from Sept. 28, when Pedersen's stepmother, Leslie Pedersen, 69, was found stabbed to death in her mobile home, until they were caught by a highway patrol officer Wednesday afternoon north of Sacramento, Calif. A police officer had recognized the car the couple was driving.
In addition to Leslie Pedersen, the duo are suspects in the death of Cody Myers, 19. Authorities believe they commandeered Myers' vehicle in Oregon after ditching the Jeep, according to the AP.
Myers' body was found Wednesday in Willamette Valley, Ore., about 70 miles away from the Jeep. The fugitive duo had been seen in the area last weekend in Myers' 1999 white Plymouth Breeze.
Myers was last seen on the morning of Oct. 1 when he left his home in Lafayette, Ore.
Police located the Jeep on Friday, according to a written statement, "in a remote wooded area of rural Linn County, Oregon. The vehicle was discovered over an embankment along a logging road in the vicinity of Yellowbottom Campground north of Green Peter Lake. It was not visible from the roadway."
Everett, Wash., police Sgt. Robert Goetz told the AP he did not know if the body sustained injuries inconsistent with a crash down the embankment.
Police said relatives of the Pedersens have been notified of the discovery so that they're prepared in the event the body is identified as David Jones Pedersen.
Leslie Pedersen was found in bed, her hands bound with duct tape and her head wrapped in a pillow soaked with blood. A sword lay nearby.
"We have detrimental evidence that gives us probable cause to arrest David Joseph Pedersen and Holly Grigsby," Goetz said earlier this week.
He declined to elaborate, but added: "Mrs. Pedersen was killed in a very brutal way."
David Joseph Pedersen and Grigsby remainin custody in California on weapons and auto-theft charges, according to the AP.
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