Killer of two Bend teens set for sentencing after changing murder pleas to guilty

One victim's mother: 'I still feel like there’s this heavy pressure. I don’t want people to forget Angela.'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Six months after a Bend man was arrested in the killing of two Bend 18-year-olds, Wesley Abel Brady changed his pleas to guilty Wednesday to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of strangulation involving Angela Alexus Pastorino and Alfredo Hernandez.

A settlement conference in the case was held Wednesday by Deschutes County Circuit Judge Wells Ashby, leading to the plea deal and dropping of two other charges, a second count of strangulation and one of attempted abuse of a corpse.

In a plea petition signed Wednesday, Brady, 41, admitted to the crimes and said he faces a maximum of “true life” with 60 years before he could be considered for parole, but that “I stipulate to a sentence without the possibility of parole.”

District Attorney Steve Gunnels told NewsChannel 21, "Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is the maximum penalty that the court can impose and, according to the plea petition ... the sentence that will be recommended by the District Attorney’s Office and agreed to by the defendant. The death penalty is not a potential penalty for these offenses."

The plea petition also listed a potential fine of $1.25 million, but Gunnels said that is part of the maximum sentence and unlikely to be imposed.

Police were called late the night of Wednesday, August 17 to a home in the 20000 block of Mount Faith Place in southern Bend, where a homeowner found someone’s body in the garage. Police detectives found a second body.

Police said at the time that Brady and the victims were doing work around the house for the homeowner the previous day, and noted Brady had lived at the home at times.

Later that evening, police said, Brady, the teens and homeowner were drinking alcohol at the home when Brady and Hernandez got in a physical fight and killed both teens, putting their bodies in the garage, then traveling to his property in Christmas Valley. He was arrested after he returned to Bend.

Pastorino’s mother, Jennifer Grigg, told NewsChannel 21 that she was at the courthouse during the settlement conference and was called to return at midday Wednesday, to be on hand when Brady appeared in court to enter the guilty pleas.

Grigg, who meet with the judge last Friday, said prosecutors “had a really strong case,” including an apparent confession, and that things “moved quickly” after a recent mental evaluation determined that Brady was capable of aiding and assisting in his own defense. Gunnels confirmed that information was accurate.

Grigg said, “Supposedly he feels really bad and doesn’t want to put the family” of those involved through a trial.

“I am slightly relieved,” Grigg said of Brady’s guilty pleas. “But I still feel like there’s this heavy pressure. I don’t want people to forget Angela.”