Prosecutors believe alleged killers were reading couple's social media in days after killing

ARLINGTON, Wash. – Snohomish County prosecutors believe John and Tony Reed had control of Monique Patenaude and Patrick Shunn’s laptop and cellphones and were reading their Facebook messages in the days after the two were killed, according to court documents released Tuesday.

According to an affidavit for a search warrant, two friends sent Facebook messages in the two days after the couple were allegedly murdered, and the messages showed up as “read” almost immediately.

The Snohomish County sheriff's office has said the Reeds killed Shunn, 45, and his wife, Patenaude, 46, of Arlington, on or about April 11 over a longstanding property dispute. John Reed was the couple’s neighbor.

The sheriff’s office said it received two tips that the brothers were in Mexicali, Mexico, on April 18.

The documents also allege that Tony Reed’s ex-wife told detectives he had hinted to her in the past that he’s killed people.

The ex-wife also said Tony Reed described an incident in which he’d kidnapped a man, put him in the trunk of his car, drove him to the mountains and dug a grave to intimidate the man into not testifying against him in an assault case.

More allegations from the court documents: