19-Year-Old Held In Deaths Of Man, Son

A 19-year-old Snohomish County man was ordered held without bail Monday in the deaths of an Arlington-area man and his son.

Chad M. Walton appeared in Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, where Judge Roger Fisher ordered him held for investigation of two counts of aggravated first-degree murder. Prosecutors are expected to file charges by Wednesday.

Walton was arrested at an undisclosed location late Sunday and booked into the county jail, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said. Authorities say he knew both of the victims.

Both Herbert Joyce, 54, and his son, Westley Joyce, 17, died from knife wounds, she said.

Jorgensen said Walton was a neighbor of the Joyces and had been invited into their home. She said investigators believe the father and son were killed after an argument over drugs.

Sheriff’s officers went to the Joyces’ mobile home in a rural area between Arlington and Granite Falls on Friday after receiving a call saying the pair had not shown up for a family gathering. They were last known to have spoken with relatives on Dec. 22, Jorgensen said.

Investigators found 40 to 50 marijuana plants growing in a shed on the property, Jorgensen said.