Barney Lerten
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — A Bend-area man charged along with his nephew with murder and conspiracy in the 2020 deaths of a couple at their northeast Bend home has pleaded guilty to reduced manslaughter charges and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Kenneth Wayne Atkinson, now 61, and his nephew, Nathan Shane Detroit, now 35, were arrested on murder and conspiracy charges in October of 2021, more than a year after the August 2020 alleged murder-for-hire killings of Atkinson’s younger brother, Ray Atkinson Jr., 34, and his fiancé, Natasha “Tasha” Newby, 29.
The couple’s bodies were found in the basement of their Northeast 12th Street home by a concerned friend and relative checking on their welfare. Then-District Attorney John Hummel said they died of blunt force trauma.
Kenneth Atkinson, Nathan Shane Detroit II (Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office)
Court records show Atkinson filed a guilty petition on March 20 to two counts each of first-degree manslaughter and conspiracy to commit murder. Two murder charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal, and he was sentenced that day on the four Class A felonies by Deschutes County Circuit Judge Wells Ashby.
Detroit, who also pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder and two counts of conspiracy, is still scheduled for an eight-week jury trial that’s currently set to begin on June 15, although a two-day settlement conference in that case is scheduled for April 13-14, court records show. A similar settlement conference took place last May.
Deputy District Attorney Matthew Nelson told KTVZ News on Thursday, “Our office cannot disclose specifics of negotiations, as the co-defendant’s case is still pending trial.”
“However,” Nelson added, “with this resolution, Mr. Atkinson has admitted guilt, waived all rights to appeal and will serve the full 25 years in prison. Finality was important to our office, and to the victims’ families.
“Should Mr. Atkinson survive his time in prison, he will be 82 years old if released,” the prosecutor said.
The 2 victims in this case: Ray Atkinson (left), and Natasha Newby (right).
Court records filed since the killing quoted several witnesses who said Kenneth Atkinson had threatened the couple several times. The brothers had been in a dispute since their father’s death in 2019 over the house where Atkinson and Newby were living. There was no will, and the brothers were named co-executors of the $400,000 estate.
A judge in June 2022 set late 2023 and early 2024 trial dates for the two men, but further delays ensued.
Damian Lawson, 38, a Texas resident who called Kenneth Atkinson “Uncle Kenny,” told KTVZ News Thursday he was a “really good friend” of his parents and that they had been following the case “since day one.”
But he said he didn’t believe Atkinson had done what he was accused of – until learning of his recent guilty plea.
“I”m still blown away he pleaded guilty,” Lawson told us. “Until I found out and was told, I still had the belief that he was innocent.”
Lawson said around the time of the killings, Kenneth Atkinson moved to Nevada and came back to Central Oregon to help his father move.
He said he thought back to everything that happened around that time. The day after the alleged killings, Lawson said they’d picked him up for dinner and he sat with Lawson’s children in the car.
“To be sitting next to my kids — I’d have never thought it of him,” until he heard” Atkinson admitted to the killings.
Now, Lawson said, “I can’t say that I feel that enough justice has been done, honestly – it being true, what he did to his own brother. As much as I loved the guy growing up, after what he did, I can’t think of him the same any more. If the families feel that justice has been done for (the killings), I’m happy for them. I feel it should have gone to the death penalty.”
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