SEATTLE _ John B. Reed, suspected of killing a couple near Arlington, Wash., in April, pleaded not guilty Monday to three charges during his arraignment in Everett.
Snohomish County prosecutors last month charged Reed, 53, with two counts of aggravated murder using a firearm in connection with the deaths of former neighbors Patrick Shunn and Monique Patenaude. He was also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.
Reed was arrested on July 21 by Mexican authorities in the state of Sonora and taken to the U.S. border in Arizona, where he was turned over to U.S. Marshals. He was returned to Snohomish County on Friday.
The charges filed last month included new details in the county's case against Reed for the April 11 slayings of Shunn, 45, and Patenaude, 46. Reed reportedly had a property dispute with the couple.
Reed and his younger brother, Tony, fled to Mexico days after the killings. Tony Reed has since pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree rendering criminal assistance and has been cooperating with authorities.
The new charges allege Tony Reed did not know about the killings until his brother drove him from Ellensburg to the Arlington-area community of Oso and showed him the bodies, which Tony Reed helped bury.
The charges allege the slayings were committed execution-style, with Reed shooting Patenaude three times in the arm, neck and head. Shunn suffered a single, nearly point-blank gunshot wound to the neck and head, killing him instantly.
Reed's parents, Clyde Reed, 81, and Faye Reed, 77, of Ellensburg, have each been charged with one count of rendering criminal assistance for allegedly helping their sons flee to Mexico.
