Two men caught in Abbotsford charged with murder
Posted September 19, 2014 5:44 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SEATTLE (NEWS1130) – Two men arrested in Canada after being linked to a killing in Washington State have been charged with first-degree murder, robbery and car theft.
Authorities on Friday accused 20-year-old Kevin Patterson and 18-year-old Christopher Shade of beating Patterson’s roommate, Richard Bergesen, to death with shovels at a home in Sammamish on Tuesday night.
The pair was arrested the next day in Abbotsford.
Documents filed in King County Superior Court say Bergesen was a manager at Boeing who met Patterson through church and took him in because he was homeless.
Detectives say that in conversations with friends and investigators, the pair claimed Bergesen had made sexual advances toward Patterson.
In text messages with his sister, Bergesen said he had been trying to get Patterson to register for school and comply with court orders from prior convictions.
According to the court papers, Shade said they both hit Bergesen with the shovels, while Patterson denied involvement, despite having used the credit cards to buy an Apple computer and prepaid phone cards.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the two had obtained lawyers.
