Arraignment set in Newport murder case

Newport-area residents Mary Rosalee Gray, 60, and John Kingsley Pate, 70, are to be arraigned Thursday in Pend Oreille County Superior Court on charges they murdered Gray’s husband and used a backhoe to bury his body.

Deputy prosecutor Mike Carbone has charged Gray and Pate with first-degree murder and, as an alternative, second-degree murder. Charging documents say Robert Allen Gray, 70, was shot to death on or about May 21, but the documents give no motive.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Alan Botzheim said in a news release Monday that an autopsy showed Robert Gray died of a gunshot wound to the chest. Botzheim didn’t say which suspect is believed to have fired the fatal shot.

Investigators believe a backhoe was used to bury Gray’s body on isolated timberland off Sky Ranch Road, about 12 miles southwest of Newport in the vicinity of Sacheen Lake.

Sgt. Grant Sirevog said earlier that the victim’s friends and relatives last saw him alive May 20 at his home in Newport.

One of Gray’s relatives reported him missing May 29. Investigators began to suspect Mary Gray later in the day because of statements she made, according to Sirevog.

Officers searched unsuccessfully for Gray’s body last Tuesday after receiving an anonymous tip about the location. Authorities obtained arrest warrants later that day when additional tips indicated Mary Gray and Pate had fled.

Relatives told deputies that Mary Gray married Robert Gray after he was widowed in February 2005 and that Pate previously had been her boyfriend.

Mary Gray and Pate were arrested early Wednesday in Missoula, and Robert Gray’s body was found later that morning.