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ROY -- Two people are in custody for the murders of a woman and her son. Police found the bodies of 56-year-old Pamela Knight Jeffries and her 30-year-old son Matthew Roddy in their mobile home Monday afternoon. Shortly after midnight, police arrested Jeremy Valdes, 33, and Miranda Statler, 26, for the murders. A motive is still under investigation. Police say everyone involved knew each other.
The bodies were discovered hidden in a closet inside a mobile home at Karol's Mobile Home Park near 3800 South and Midland Drive.
Roy City Police Chief Greg Whinham said, "They were out of plain view. There was a substantial effort to make them not visible, to make it difficult for someone to see if they were just in there checking on the family."
There was a substantial effort to make [the bodies] not visible.
–Chief Greg Whinham
The discovery of two bodies came as a surprise to neighbors and police. Neighbor Carol Stevenson said, "Didn't see anything until we seen that all taped off and a cop car sitting out there just sitting, and we thought, 'What is going on? What has happened?'"
Police say Jeffries and Roddy may have been killed last Wednesday, hours after officers went to the home on a call of stolen prescription drugs.
Later that day, neighbors called police again to report the family's pets were left outside, which they thought was unusual. Officers knocked at the door, but no one answered. The family car was gone.
Chief Whinham said between those two visits is when they believe the murders happened.
Police returned Saturday for a welfare check, but again, no one was home, and the car was still missing.
Whinham said, "We weren't able to make any contact with anyone. There was nothing obvious on the scene that looked like there were problems."
Monday, after still no sign of the residents, police opened a full investigation. Then they found the family's vehicle abandoned in a parking lot in Clearfield.
"We got search warrants for the vehicle and the premises," Whinham explained. "With those search warrants we were able to go into areas (of the home) not visible to us as we did security checks, and we found the two bodies."
Police said the stolen drugs may have had something to do with the murders. Whinham said, "We think that will play an important role in how the events then played out over the next day."
Several neighbors of the murdered woman and son tell KSL they had seen a man and woman visiting the victim's home the same day the victims were last seen alive. They say multiple people later saw the visiting man driving the victim's car to and from the home various times. Some neighbors even went over and knocked on the door to see if everything was OK, but no one would answer even though they knew the visiting man and woman were inside.
They didn't deserve this, no matter their transgressions. It's still just a waste of life brought about by drugs.
–Breed Jeffries, Matthew Roddy's stepbrother
A church group also tried to deliver a Thanksgiving dinner to the home, but no one would answer.
Breed Jeffries' father was married to Pamela Jeffries. They divorced eight years ago. He did not want to go on camera, but he showed us pictures of him and his stepbrother Matthew Roddy.
He said he hadn't spoken to Roddy in a year, but the two were close friends for a long time.
He said, "Both Matt and Pam had their problems and addictions, but they were still just human, and I saw good in them. They didn't deserve this, no matter their transgressions. It's still just a waste of life brought about by drugs."
Jeff Jorgensen, who lives down the street from the victims, said he didn't know how to react to what happened. He said, "Wow, it's right around the corner, pretty close to home, pretty unbelievable."
Stevenson said what happened was frightening. Her grandchildren knew the victims well and used to mow their lawn.
"It's just scary. I can't imagine what could have happened to cause anything like that. I just don't understand why people have to be so mean," she said.
Police are waiting on official cause of death, but say a knife was involved and at least one of the victims suffered blunt force trauma.
"There are more people that we need to talk to, we need to establish motive, we need to solidify what these people have been doing, what has been happening in their life that may have led up to this event," Whinham said. "Those things are very important for us. We'll obviously be working with family members of the victims. We've been doing that throughout the night, and our sympathies go to them."
The Weber County Attorney's Office said charges could be filed against Valdes and Statler on Wednesday.
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Story compiled with information from Sandra Yi, Shara Park , Randall Jeppesen and Marc Giauque
