黑料福利社

YAKIMA, Wash. 鈥� A 45-year-old man who earlier this month led deputies to a Gleed barn where he then dug up a body is now jailed in lieu of $1.5 million bail.

Randy Shea Gardner was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree murder of the man whose body was uncovered in the shallow grave.

Authorities have yet to confirm the identity of the body, but they say they believe he鈥檚 a man last seen about 10 months ago when he was living in a motor home near the barn in the 500 block of Old Naches Highway.

In court documents, Yakima County sheriff鈥檚 deputies say several people told them that Gardner shot the man in early August after an argument on the property.聽 An autopsy showed the man suffered gunshot wounds to the head and left leg above the knee, according to deputies.

Investigators first learned about a body in the barn in November after Gardner wrote his father from the county jail explaining where the body was located but denying he was responsible for the death, according to court documents.

Deputies say they brought a dog trained to find cadavers to the barn, but were unable to detect a body.

When he wrote the letter, Gardner was serving time for an October incident in which police said he and another man invaded a Yakima home and stabbed a resident.

Gardner was released the evening of June 4 after pleading guilty to residential burglary and was given credit for the nine months he鈥檇 already spent in jail. The next day he uncovered the body while deputies stood by.

Deputies say Gardner repeatedly told them he didn鈥檛 kill the man, and instead named another man who he believes is responsible for the death.

In successfully arguing for bail of $1.5 million, prosecutors pointed to Gardner鈥檚 aggravated assault conviction in Utah, where he served 15 years in prison.

聽Gardner was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for a 1996 incident in Salt Lake County, but pled guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated assault and larceny, deputy prosecuting attorney Steven Jackson said during Gardner鈥檚 preliminary appearance Thursday in Yakima County Superior Court.

Citing police reports from Utah, Jackson said Gardner drove a woman he knew to a ski resort about 30 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. When the woman declined to have sex, he sexually assaulted her and repeatedly hit her head with a rock before running over her with his car several times and driving away, Jackson said.

When the woman came to, she made her way to a nearby cabin where she called for help and was taken to a hospital with hypothermia and severe injuries, Jackson relayed from police reports.