Northwest murder suspects waive extradition in Yuba County court

A white supremacist couple who admitted to killing four people in three states will be extradited to Washington within the month to face aggravated murder charges.

At a hearing Tuesday afternoon in Yuba County Superior Court, Judge Julia Scrogin signed extradition waivers for David Joseph Pedersen and Holly Ann Grigsby, and District Attorney Pat McGrath moved to dismiss their Yuba County charges for vehicle theft and firearms possession. The proceeding took less than 10 minutes.

The Associated Press reported Monday that Grigsby told Washington investigators she killed Pedersen's father's wife, 69-year-old Leslie Pedersen, using two knives, and that the couple were heading to Sacramento, to "kill more Jews" when they were arrested.

Authorities recovered bloody clothing, a knife and four credit cards in a backpack inside a garbage can in Corvallis, Ore., that belonged to the elder Pedersen and his wife. Those items are believed to have been in David Joseph Pedersen and Grigsby's possession, a deputy prosecutor wrote in a probable cause statement filed Monday in Washington state.

In interviews with the Appeal-Democrat and police, the couple said they killed Pedersen's father, 56-year-old David "Red" Jones Pedersen because he molested his daughter — the younger Pedersen's sister — and an adopted cousin, and they killed his wife because she knew and still supported him.

A female family member who spoke to Portland TV station KOIN on Monday confirmed the sexual and physical abuse, but said it does not justify killing people.

According to charging documents, Pedersen had written a note to Grigsby outlining a plan where he would take responsibility for all of the killings.

Grigsby, 24, confessed during a five-hour, videotaped interview with Oregon state police, Snohomish County, Wash., deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson wrote in a probable cause statement.

Grigsby said the couple had planned to travel from Oregon to visit Red Pedersen and his wife — and then to kill him by shooting him in the back of the head as he was driving them to a bus station.

She said she was in the passenger seat and took the steering wheel after her boyfriend fired the shot. They then drove to the Pedersens' home in Everett.

Grigsby said she herself slit Leslie Pedersen's throat before they headed south in Red's Jeep with his body inside.

They ditched the car off a steep embankment, then killed 19-year-old Oregon resident Cody Myers because his name sounded Jewish, according to Matheson's affidavit. Myers was a devout Christian who had been on his way to a jazz festival on the Oregon coast.

The couple has also been linked to the death of a 53-year-old Eureka resident Reginald Alan Clark, whose body was found Friday in a truck in a re idential Eureka neighborhood.

Pedersen told the Appeal-Democrat on Sunday that he expected to be charged in the death of a "dead Negro ... in that the bullet in his head is from my gun." Clark was African-American.

Both Pedersen and Grigsby share an interest in white supremacist ideology. Pedersen prominently displays a white supremacy tattoo on his neck and a three-prong swastika on his hand. Grigsby's white supremacy leanings were made clear to fellow inmates at Oregon's women's prison.

Pedersen has spent nearly half his life in prison, from the age of 16 until he was released five months ago, and most of it was in solitary lockdown as he purposely continued to get into trouble, he said. His first conviction was for robbery, followed by threats to a federal judge and assaulting a corrections officer.

Pedersen and Grigsby both have criminal complaints out of Washington for two counts of aggravated murder, and Grigsby also has a probation violation complaint out of Portland for a prior identify-theft conviction.

Speaking on behalf of their clients, Pedersen's public defender Benjamin Wirtschafter and Grigsby's public defender Geoffrey Wander said the two were prepared to waive extradition.

The matter was set for Nov. 3 to ensure both defendants have been picked up by Washington authorities.

Pedersen and Grigsby were arrested after a three-state manhunt Oct. 5 when a California Highway Patrol officer recognized their car on Marysville Road. They were wanted for first-degree murder in the deaths of Pedersen's father and his wife.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

CONTACT reporter Ashley Gebb at 749-4783.