The Brief
- Brandon Gerner is on trial in Kent for the 2023 killings of Ashley Williams and Robert Riley in Maple Valley.
- Prosecutors say the victims were shot and stabbed by Gerner and co-suspect Kody Olsen, who later died in a shootout with deputies.
- Investigators say Gerner later killed a horse in retaliation for Olsen’s death, and is the founder of a white supremacist prison gang.
MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. – The trial for a man accused of murdering a mother of five and another man back in 2023 is underway in Kent.
Double murder suspect Brandon Gerner is on trial for the killings of Robert Leroy Riley and Ashley Nicole Williams, whose bodies were found dumped in bushes and buried under trash in Maple Valley.
The backstory:
Gerner and another man, Kody Olsen, had both allegedly admitted to involvement in the murders, but pointed fingers at who pulled the trigger when questioned by investigators. Court documents detailed Olsen’s account, which claimed a drug deal that had “gone bad,” resulting in Gerner shooting Riley and stabbing Williams over 20 times before Olsen shot her.…