ROY -- Authorities believe the murders of a mother and son here came roughly five hours after they had reported her prescription medications stolen.
Jeremy Valdes, 33, and Miranda Statler, 26, were arrested and booked into Weber County Jail early Tuesday on probation violations.
Weber County Attorney Dee Smith said the two would probably be charged in the homicides today, as the preliminary results of autopsies of the victims become available, as well as more reports from the dozen or more detectives working the case.
Smith said he couldn't comment on what level of homicide would be charged, but did say Statler had the lesser involvement of the two.
He said Matthew Roddy, 30, was killed with a knife, but how his mother, Pamela Knight Jeffries, 56, was killed was yet to be confirmed.
Roy Police Chief Greg Whinham said Tuesday evening that police had found a weapon believed used in the crime during a search of the river at the mouth of Ogden Canyon.
"We've secured a knife late in the afternoon that we think is part of the evidence that we'll use in our case against the two individuals that we have secured in the jail," Whinham said.
Valdes' history of prescription drug abuse is connected to the case, Smith said.
Valdes and Statler had been staying at Jeffries' trailer for about a week, he said. "They'd been bouncing around."
Officials are not commenting further on how they believe the murders were committed, as the investigation is far from over.
"There are more people that we need to talk to," Whinham said Tuesday morning.
"We need to establish motive, we need to solidify what these people had been doing, what has been happening in their life that may have led up to this event."
Police were first called to the mobile home Wednesday after one resident reported prescription drugs had been stolen from the home.
Later that day, neighbors reported pets from the home were wandering outside.
Police responded, but nobody answered the door when they arrived. The family's car was gone, and officers thought Jeffries and Roddy were gone, too.
Smith said the time of death for the mother and son is estimated as 6 a.m. Wednesday.
The stolen drugs were Valium and painkillers, either hydrocodone or OxyContin, he said, and Jeffries had a legitimate prescription for them.
Police were called back to the home Saturday after neighbors reported the pair hadn't been seen since Wednesday, but officers thought the two had left for the holiday weekend.
On Monday morning, police entered the home after the family's vehicle was found abandoned in a lot in Clearfield, but officers did not find the two. After obtaining a warrant, officers were able to look more closely, and that's when the bodies, bearing visible injuries, were discovered.
Statler had four or more warrants active for her arrest. Valdes is still on probation for his convictions last year as a ringleader of a group forging prescriptions for drugs in Weber and Davis counties.
Valdes benefited by an outpouring of support from family and friends, including a Roy police sergeant cousin, Shawn O'Malley, in avoiding prison on charges of first-degree felony operation of a criminal enterprise. Other charges pending at the same time included evading police and theft of a rental car, both felonies.
Valdes was actually sentenced to a prison term of five years to life by since- retired 2nd District Judge Roger Dutson in August 2008.
But after the endorsements of friends and family and progress noted in drug treatment, his attorney, Mike Boyle, persuaded Dutson to reconsider the sentence, court records show. In December, Dutson stayed Valdes' prison term in favor of probation and one year of home confinement.
Smith said: "My office had asked the judge to send him to prison."
Standard-Examiner reporter Carlos Mayorga contributed to this article.
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