LITTLEFIELD – The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) is closing a 2018 double homicide investigation because the man believed to be responsible has been dead for more than nine months.
The bodies of Jerry and Susan McFalls, both 62, were recovered from a shallow grave in the Virgin River Gorge on Oct. 15, 2018. The couple was reported missing in Jan., 2018 when they could not be located in their home though their phones, guns, money, medications and identifications were located on the property.
MCSO spokeswoman Anita Mortensen said extensive investigation led to the identification of a neighbor as the McFalls’ killer. Follow-up interviews were conducted regarding Kenneth Snyder, 57.
Mortensen said a witness emerged and provided extensive details about the murders that reportedly occurred when Jerry McFalls verbally confronted Snyder at Snyder’s nearby residence regarding an undisclosed issue.
“The altercation escalated, resulting in Snyder shooting Jerry, then Susan, and removing their bodies from the property,” Mortensen said. “Snyder allegedly threatened to kill the witness if they called law enforcement.”
Mortensen said detectives substantiated the witness account that Snyder was responsible for the murders. Snyder died last June when he was fatally wounded in a shootout with his brother in Littlefield.
Snyder’s brother was not prosecuted for that deadly confrontation.
