John Reed found guilty of murdering Oso neighbors

By Alison Grande, KIRO 7

A jury in Snohomish County has found John Reed, the man who was charged with murdering his Oso neighbors, guilty of first- and second-degree murder.

Closing arguments were heard in Reed’s trial on Tuesday.

The prosecution said Reed planned the killings and executed his neighbors. Prosecutors say victims Monique Patenaude and Patrick Shunn feared their neighbor.

The defense said Reed was forced to defend himself when Patenaude and Shunn came after him. Reed claims he grabbed Shunn’s gun to shoot Patenaude and Shunn before they could shoot him.

Reed admitted his role in covering up the crime.

The trial lasted three weeks.

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John Reed took the stand to testify in his own defense in his murder trial for killing his Oso neighbors.

The courtroom was so crowded the testimony was delayed more than an hour to set up more chairs.

Reed claims he killed Monique Patenaude and Patrick Shunn in self defense, but it wasn’t until Friday that jurors heard Reed explain his version of what happened.

Reed’s Oso property was damaged in the Oso mudslide. He took advantage of a federal buyout and was only supposed to access the property with special “right of entry” access permit.

On April 11, 2016, after notifying the parks department that he planned to go to his house to get some paperwork, Reed says he was confronted outside his house by Patenaude and Shunn.

Reed told the jury that Patinaude had been drinking and was upset Reed had used their driveway to access his property.

He said the confrontation escalated to the point that Patenaude tried to punch him.

“I said, ‘Patrick you should know better than to let some drunken idiot be calling all the shots,'”recalled Reed. He said that angered Patenaude so much she went to get a pistol out of her Jeep.  He said Shunn also grabbed his gun out of his holster.

Reed said he was cornered, so he ran at Shunn to try to knock the gun out of his hand. He said the gun fired once, almost hitting him. As they struggled over the gun, he said Patenaude ran toward them with her pistol pointed at him.

“I was able to maneuver the gun, pointing in her direction. As soon as I could I squeezed off like three shots,” said Reed, using hand motions to demonstrate. “Rapid fire, bam bam bam, she was coming – I seen the last shot that hit her in the top of the head.”

Reeds says the gun flew out of her hand. As Shunn reached for it, Reed says he used Shunn’s gun and killed him.

“I took the gun and went right over like that, and shot him,” said Reed,”I just did it as fast as I could. I knew if he got that other gun, I didn’t want to have a shootout with him. He’s a way better shot than me.”

Reed says he thought about calling the police, but didn’t know what to say. That’s when he called his brother and started to work on the cover-up.

He also testified it turned out Patenaude’s pistol didn’t have any ammunition.

During his cross-examination Friday afternoon, Reed took responsibility for the cover-up.  Investigators say he ditched the couples’ SUVs, buried their bodies, and hid their cell phones.

Reed said he should have called police right after the shooting.

“If I had it to do over again, I would, I don’t know why,  I screwed up. I was panicking,” said Reed, “If I had it to do over I would definitely call the cops.”

The prosecutor worked quickly to try to poke holes in Reed’s testimony.

He said if it was self-defense, why did he destroy all of the evidence that could prove it?

The murder weapon was not recovered by detectives.  Prosecutors are convinced the gun belonged to Reed.

If Reed is convicted of two counts of aggravated murder,  he’ll be sentenced to life in prison.  The prosecutor decided not to seek the death penalty.