Prosecutors Now Believe Bend Killings Were Murder For Hire

BEND, Ore. (AP) – Prosecutors now believe two men accused of killing two people in a home in Bend in 2020 were involved in a murder-for-hire scheme.

The Bulletin reports Kenneth Atkinson and Nathan Detroit II appeared Monday in Deschutes County Circuit Court to face a new indictment and a new charge.

The co-defendants are accused of first-degree murder under the theory Atkinson paid his nephew Detroit to kill Atkinson’s brother and the brother’s fiancee.

On Oct. 1, the men were arrested at their homes, over a year after Ray Atkinson Jr. and Natasha Newby were found dead in a Bend home.

Their lawyers declined to comment to the newspaper.