MAPLE VALLEY, Wash — Two men accused in the killing of a man and woman in Maple Valley last year are members of a white supremacist prison gang, court documents say.
Brandon Gerner and Joshua Jones were arrested earlier this month in connection to the killings of Robert Leroy Frederick Riley, 57, and Ashley Nicole Williams, 34. The two victims were found in the bushes on Nov. 16, 2023, under trash and debris near Southeast 252nd Street and 238th Avenue Southeast in Maple Valley.
Both Gerner and Jones are members of the Omerta White Supremacist Prison Gang, according to court documents. Gerner, who founded the group, is charged with first-degree murder and second-degree murder as well as first-degree animal cruelty and unlawful possession of a firearm. Jones is charged with two counts of first-degree felony rendering criminal assistance, as court documents say he was present during the killings but not directly involved, although he did assist in trying to hide the bodies.
King County Sheriff's detectives used Google location data to place Jones and a third man, Kody Olsen, at the scene of the crime.
After he was arrested, Gerner told detectives that Olsen had shot Riley after he confronted them for being on property near where the victim lived. While Olsen and Gerner were looking for security cameras around the property, they encountered Williams in Riley's trailer.
Jones told police that Gerner admitted to stabbing Williams numerous times before Olsen eventually shot her after the knife Gerner was using had broken, court documents say. Gerner denied stabbing Williams in his interview with detectives and said Olsen was responsible for both killings, but police spoke to someone who was close to Olsen and told police a similar version that Gerner stabbed Williams.
Olsen died on Dec. 16, about a month after the killings took place when he was shot by Pierce County deputies after allegedly wounding two Pierce County deputies during a DUI traffic stop and subsequent pursuit four days prior.
The court documents also connect Gerner to the shooting and killing of a beloved horse in Pierce County. "LeMon" was shot around 12:30 a.m. on Vickery Road on Dec. 17, 2023. The night before, there was a vigil for Olsen. An unidentified witness and Jones told detectives that Gerner told them he had shot the horse "as a sacrifice for Olsen" after his death. Gerner is charged with animal cruelty in the first degree, with court documents stating the horse was not killed instantly and walked around bleeding in the water trough and inside the horse run before dying.
Gerner denied killing the horse when interviewed by law enforcement, but court documents show the investigation revealed a white vehicle had driven past the house where the horse was, and a similar color and make was connected to Gerner and Olsen.
Gerner was released from prison in March 2023 after serving 22 years for numerous felony convictions including multiple burglaries, assaults and unlawful firearm possession. Jones also had an active felony warrant out of Skagit County and has previous felony convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a stolen vehicle.
When asked about what he would tell the victims' families, Gerner apparently got angry about Riley but did say he was "sorry" Williams had been killed and that she was "in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"She was special to me," Jordan Backman, a close friend of Williams, told KING 5 after her body was found in November. "She was important to me.”
Backman said they had been "best friends" since they were children.
"When Ashley had her first child, Emma, we were very close. I helped her raise Emma," said Backman. "We were like sisters."
Backman was not available for an interview when contacted by KING 5 following the arrests of the suspects, but did give a statement that read: "I never gave up on getting justice for Ashley and Robert and neither did the detectives. Many people worked tirelessly on this case. I prayed every night that someone would come forward with information or there be some kind of forensic DNA left at the scene. I knew deep down in my broken heart that we would get Justice for Ashley and some answers as to why something so horrible would happen to such a sweet life."