_White supremacists David Pedersen and Holly Grigsby recently made headlines in the Pacific Northwest as suspected perpetrators of a killing spree across Washington, Oregon, and California. Pedersen is easily recognizable by the SWP (Supreme White Power) tattoo across his throat, as seen in his mugshots and court photos. Grigsby and Pedersen have been extradited from Northern California back to Washington state, where the murder spree began.

Though entering not guilty pleas at their October 19 arraignment, the couple has confessed to 4 murders total, including the murder of a 19 year old man, Cody Myers, who they believed to be Jewish, and Reginald Alan Clark, a 54 year old black man from Eureka, CA.  

During her confession, Holly Grigsby told Washington State prosecutors that she and Pedersen were on their way to Sacramento to “kill more Jews” when they were arrested for the murders on October 5 in Yuba City.

In 2001, David Pedersen was convicted of threatening the life of Edward Lodge, the federal judge who presided over the trial of Randy Weaver, a white nationalist who shot and killed a U.S. marshal during the infamous standoff at Ruby Ridge in 1992. The Ruby Ridge standoff remains a hot issue for white supremacists.

A condition of Pedersen’s supervised release from prison earlier this year was that he “not associate with current or past members of the Aryan Death Squad or any other criminal group.”
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Zackary Beck, right, with Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler, 2003
Zackary Loren Beck, Kory Boyd, and Lawrence Silk were sentenced this year following their attack on a black man in a Vancouver sports bar in January, 2010. The attackers--all of whom had ties to white supremacist groups--shouted, "White power!" and racist slurs as they attempted to kick the lone black patron out of the bar. Outside, the man defended himself, reportedly blocking Beck's punch and putting him in a headlock. Boyd and Silk threw bottles at the man until a friend of the victim intervened and the three white supremacist attackers fled. The victim suffered minor physical injuries.

Beck--who had a 2003 hate crime charge for attacking a Mexican man in Idaho and was formerly tied to the white supremacist group Aryan Nations--was convicted in June of conspiracy to violate civil rights, interfering with federally protected civil rights, and witness tampering (for asking an ex-girlfriend to provide a false alibi). He was sentenced to 51 months imprisonment, followed by three years supervised release. In January of this year, after the investigation was under way for the 2010 attack, Beck denounced his white power belief system.

Kory Boyd pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime charge in January and received a 34 month sentence. Lawrence Silk pleaded guilty to malicious harassment charges and received a 2 year sentence.
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