Judge denies request to suppress evidence in Arizona slayings
Jul 13, 2021, 6:13 AM
FLORENCE, Ariz. — A judge has denied a request to suppress evidence in a 2016 case involving the killings of an Apache Junction couple.
Pinal County Sheriff’s deputies arrested three men in the case.
The Casa Grande Dispatch reports that Judge Robert Carter Olson has denied two motions to suppress evidence gathered from an Apache Junction police interview with one of the defendants and the seizure of the same defendant’s vehicle.
A lawyer for the 42-year-old suspect had argued his client was arrested without a warrant and without probable cause and was not read his Miranda rights. The lawyer also said authorities seized and towed the man’s car without getting a search warrant.
Keith Long and Renae Gardner were fatally shot while sleeping in their mobile home in Apache Junction.
Long’s body was found in a canal in San Tan Valley, while Gardner’s body was found later along State Route 87 between Phoenix and Payson.
