Prosecutors said that Philip Brewer, left, and Christina Joel Hardy, center, murdered Curtis Engeland, right. (mug shots of defendants: Riverside County Sheriff’s Office; image of Engeland: Washington State Patrol)
A pair of fraudsters stole an elderly man’s money, murdered him and moved briefly into his home, according to prosecutors in King County, Washington.
Cops in the city Mercer Island said that they kept their investigation quiet as they searched for the missing Curtis Engeland, 74, and assembled evidence against his killers, Philip Brewer, 32, and Christina Joel Hardy, 47.
The defendants were arrested Thursday down in Riverside, California, records show.
“The adult male and adult female suspects are believed to have become acquainted with Mr. Engeland several months ago and subsequently financially defrauded him,” officers wrote. “Police believe the suspects later violently confronted Mr. Engeland at his Mercer Island home in the late evening of February 23, and used Mr. Engeland’s vehicle to leave Mercer Island that night. His body was later found near Cosmopolis, WA.”
Engeland and Brewer had previously chatted on a dating app, and the victim had reported to cops on Jan. 13 that he woke up from watching a film to find Brewer and certain valuables — keys, wallet, and cell phone — gone, according to documents obtained by Seattle ABC affiliate KOMO.
Brewer and Hardy allegedly stole money including $5,000 from the victim’s checking account, and $6,200 from his home equity line of credit account, authorities reportedly said.
During Engeland’s disappearance, the two allegedly made their way to the victim’s home, bringing Brewer’s son. According to prosecutors, the defendants insisted to investigators that the man had offered to rent out his basement to them for $500 a month.
The missing man’s siblings told investigators about receiving recent messages, ostensibly from their brother, but they did not think it was him; as a former English teacher, he “always texted in complete, grammatically correct sentences.”
The siblings voiced objections to Brewer and Hardy staying. The family members had no knowledge of Engeland leaving or renting out a part of his home. The defendants went away, authorities said.
Police said they managed to find Engeland’s body near Cosmopolis, Washington, by zeroing in on the defendants’ phone cell data.
Engeland had blunt force trauma to his face, a stab wound in his neck, and “a yet to be quantified amount of fentanyl in his system,” according to reported court documents.
Authorities said that on Thursday, a man dating Hardy’s daughter was pulled over for speeding in California, and he claimed he was fleeing from Hardy and Brewer after staying with them for a few days in the Riverside County city of Blythe.
According to him, the defendants discussed having killed Engeland and they planned to “kidnap” Hardy’s daughter so she could watch their children because they were headed to prison.
Brewer and Hardy allegedly said they killed Engeland by injecting him with fentanyl, and they also discussed dumping the body, though it turned out that he was still alive when they arrived at “the dump site” in Grays Harbor County, Brewer stabbed him while Hardy held him down.
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