Bend man found dead in backyard of SE Bend home; roommate arrested on murder, assault charges
(Update: Initial details released; neighbor comments)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A 57-year-old man was found dead Thursday night in the backyard of a southeast Bend home and his 50-year-old roommate was arrested on second-degree murder and other charges, police said.
Officers responded around 8:35 p.m. to the report of a deceased person at a home in the 60800 block of Raintree Drive, north of Knott Road and east of SE 15th Street, Lt. Juli-Ann McConkey said.
Officers found Matthew Kenneth Hallberg, 57, deceased in the backyard, she said.
A 50-year-old man, Hallberg's roommate, was contacted at the home and subsequently arrested on charges of second-degree murder, aggravated first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.
“The men were roommates and acquaintances,” McConkey said in an update Friday morning.
The suspect was booked into the Deschutes County Jail early Friday morning and was being held without bail pending arraignment. NewsChannel 21's policy is not to name arrested individuals until formal charges are filed.
The Oregon State Police Crime Lab assisted in the investigation, and an autopsy will be performed on Hallberg, she said.
There were no signs in the neighborhood Friday morning of the investigation. A neighbor told us of a large police prescence earlier and that the man's body was removed Friday morning.
The resident, shocked by the events in the quiet neighborhood, said she did not know the men, and said a landscaping business operated out of the home.
Matthew Draxton spoke with her and will have the latest information on NewsChannel 21 Fox at Four.
