Two suspected white supremacists have been charged in connection with the killings of two people, including a mother of five and witness to the first murder, whose bodies were found in bushes by a dog walker who mistook them for trash in Washington state.
Brandon Gerner, 40, was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and unlawful possession of a firearm in the killings of 57-year-old Robert Riley and 34-year-old Ashley Williams, according to King County prosecutors. He also faces first-degree animal cruelty in the killing of a horse shot point blank in the head in December, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office. Joshua Jones, 34, was charged with rendering criminal assistance, authorities said.
The killing allegedly happened in a “drug deal gone bad, The Seattle Times reported a now-dead suspect reportedly told investigators.
Gerner allegedly instructed that man, Kody Olsen, to shoot Riley before Gerner went into a trailer, found Williams and repeatedly stabbed because she was a witness who prosecutors said was “simply present at the scene,” according to charging documents obtained by Law&Crime.