A Washingtonian. An estranged son. A drifter and a loner.

Those are a few of the attributes that describe accused double murderer Logan Clegg, 26, who was arrested in October to face homicide charges for the fatal shooting of Concord couple Steve and Wendy Reid as they walked on a trail near their apartment in April.

They were found dead days later near the Broken Ground hiking trails, less than a mile from their home. Their cause of death was ruled a homicide.

Clegg fled the state two days later and led police on a six-month manhunt across state lines before he was apprehended and arrested in South Burlington, Vermont, on an unrelated warrant out of Utah.

Many questions about his background were murky. Where did he come from? Why was he in Concord? What else is he accused of doing?

Early years

Clegg, an only child, was born in Arizona to Randall and Tisha Clegg who later moved the family to Colville, Washington, a small mining town north of Spokane with a population of 5,000.

Friends of Clegg described him as a shy, band geek who often struggled to find his words when asked direct questions. Neighbors said he was unremarkably normal. But the principal of his high school didn’t remember him at all, according to an article by the Boston Globe.

His adolescence was filled with common interests like music, being outdoors and playing video games.

But in the summer of 2008, Clegg’s life began to unravel. At age 12, he his father dead by apparent suicide in the yard of the family home on Crestview Drive.

Police initially considered the death suspicious and investigated several people of interest including young Clegg.

He became angry and relationships with his family fractured. His mother, who sold the family home and moved to Spokane to work as a paralegal, declined to comment for this story.

Members of his family are identified in an online blog dedicated to his father, but Clegg is never mentioned by name and only appears in three photos.

Life off the grid

In 2014, Clegg dropped out of high school during his senior year, moved to Spokane where he earned his GED from a community college and began work as a night custodian at McDonald’s. Public records show he became confrontational with a grounds keeper that relocated his campsite in 2017 and was questioned by police for fatally stabbing Corey Ward, a 32-year-old Spokane man, in 2018.

While the investigation was ongoing into the death of Ward, Clegg left the area and police could not locate him to tell him he’d be cleared of all potential charges. The stabbing was ruled self-defense.

A few weeks later, he quit his job, flew to Paris and wasn’t seen again for two years until the summer of 2020 when he was arrested twice in Logan, Utah, for breaking and entering, burglary and illegal possession of a firearm.

At the time, Clegg was living in an abandoned building across the street from the Logan Police Department when he was arrested, convicted and placed on probation for his crimes, according to the Boston Globe. Per the requirements of his probationary period, Clegg was not permitted to leave the state for three years.

But 11 months later, he vanished to Europe where he traveled between Portugal, Germany and Iceland for six months. In November 2021, he returned to the United States, took on the alias of Arthur Kelly and made his way to Concord.

Homeless in Concord

When Clegg arrived in Concord he bought a four person tent and a wrist watch from Walmart. Shortly after, he set up his camp along the Broken Ground Trail system and started work at McDonald’s on Loudon Road.

During the investigation into the murders, his shift supervisor described him as dependable and reliable but quiet with no friends, a common theme found throughout his past.

While living in the city, he did not utilize any homeless services, which is unusual within the Concord homeless community. Unlike most homeless residents in the city, he was able to hold a job, save money and buy new clothes, He kept himself clean and rarely interacted with other homeless individuals, said Sarah Curran, office manager of the Friendly Kitchen, which provides meals to the homeless.

“It’s very abnormal for someone to come into the community and not use any of these services,” she said. “The community never spoke with him or interacted with him. They are all very familiar with each other so to have an outsider be unfamiliar, he had to be a loner.”

He was seen regularly seen along Loudon Road on the Heights in Concord between November and April, often carrying plastic grocery bags or Amazon packages into the woods. He was described by passersby as clean-shaven and neat in appearance, but unfriendly to others. His campsite was well kept and his tent was padlocked, according to police records.

“He was likely scared by someone and was maybe suffering from some sort of psychosis or mental illness,” said CAP Manager Freeman Toth, who works closely with the homeless population. “If you drop a cat in a bath tub, it’ll freak out. If you let a person suffer and languish in the streets for long enough, something is going to happen. You can’t keep a person in survival mode for years and not have a poor outcome.”

In February, Clegg traveled to northern Vermont where he purchased a Glock 17 using a fake identification, returned to Concord and quit his job. Two months later, police say he shot and killed the Reids. The gun he was carrying at the time of his arrest was a match to the bullet casings found on scene and in and around Clegg’s abandoned campsite, according to police.

Court records in Vermont revealed how police used video camera footage from Concord stores to identify Clegg, and then searched bank, airline and phone records to track him down. Court records in New Hampshire remain sealed while Clegg awaits trial and po lice have not revealed any possible motive for the crime.

The Reids, who were retired, were known for their passion for helping others – a common cause they dedicated themselves to throughout their lives.

The horrific crime casts a stigma over the homeless population in the city, Toth said.

“It’s tragic, but it’s more tragic that it’s a person experiencing a lack of shelter being charged,” he said. “It puts the people I serve in harm’s way.”

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