OGDEN -- Debra Owen tried to call her sister on Thanksgiving, but the call went to voice mail and she decided to try again after the weekend had passed.
Owen, from Fresno, Calif., tried again Tuesday. "I thought I better give her a ring to see how Thanksgiving went. Before I could do that, the police chief called."
On Monday afternoon, police found the body of Owen's sister, Pamela Knight Jeffries, 56, in her Roy mobile home. The body of Jeffries' son, Matthew Roddy, 30, was found near hers.
Family members of both Jeffries and Roddy are now staying in an Ogden hotel, trying to cope with the unexpected loss of both of their loved ones.
"You see these things on the news and watch programs like this all the time, but to get that phone call, it's unreal," Owen said.
A funeral for both victims is planned for Saturday.
Police have arrested Jeremy Valdes, 33, and Miranda Statler, 26, in connection with the violent deaths of both Jeffries and Roddy, who were believed to have been killed Nov. 25, a day before Thanksgiving.
Owen last spoke to Jeffries the Saturday before she was killed. Jeffries was concerned about recently being laid off from a retail job.
"It's hard because they were out of work, like a lot of people," Owen said. "I tried to convince her to come back and stay with us. She said, 'Well, this is my home.' She didn't want to leave Matt."
Jeffries moved to Utah several years ago. She was born in Indiana, but traveled the globe when she was in the U.S. Air Force. During a tour of duty in the Philippines, she married her first husband and gave birth to Roddy, her only child.
Jeffries moved to Utah after a divorce from Roddy's father, but later remarried. That marriage also ended and she had been living with her son in the mobile home for much of the time since.
Roddy's father lives nearby and the two were very close, said Jeffry Briggs, of Seattle, one of Jeffries' brothers.
Roddy loved hunting and was a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals. He collected football jerseys and had hung up a few of one of his favorite players, Chad Ochocinco, Briggs said.
Police say Jeffries called them the morning of Nov. 25 and reported her prescription drugs had been taken. She became dependent on the drugs because of pain caused by a type of fibromyalgia, Owen said.
Jeffries told police she believed Valdes and Statler had taken her drugs, which had been prescribed to her for the pain. Investigators now believe that call to police angered Valdes and Statler, who had been living in Jeffries mobile home for at least a few weeks.
"They helped everyone they came into contact with," Briggs said. "If you needed something, she would give it."
Owen and Briggs say their sister was not perfect and was trying to overcome her dependence on the drugs. Jeffries was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and helped clean the chapel after she was given food by her bishop when she lost her job.
Briggs said Roddy was planning to join the church. Roddy even developed a close friendship with someone in the congregation. "The bishop told us he overheard (Roddy) saying to the guy, 'When I get baptized, I want you to do it.' "
The funeral for both Jeffries and Roddy is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the LDS chapel at 3628 S. 2700 West, West Haven. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked donations be made to the Pamela Jeffries Memorial Fund at First National Bank.
Comments