On Wednesday, July 26, the two teens from North Idaho accused of a series of criminal charges in the shooting death of a Pullman High School senior appeared in front of a Latah County judge for the first time since the murder.
Keagan Tennant, 17, and Matthew McKetta, 18, face serious charges in the death of 18-year-old Timothy Reeves. Charges include Involuntary Manslaughter, Attempted Murder, Robbery, Failure to Notify Law Enforcement of a Death, and more.
New court documents reveal the timeline of events, and details about what happened that were not previously available. The following information is taken from law enforcement interviews with Matthew McKetta, Keagan Tennant, and others who were involved in the events before and after the shooting death of Timothy Reeves.
Sunday, July 16
Tennant, McKetta, Timothy Reeves, and two others make plans to go camping. They pick a spot just outside of Troy, Idaho called Nora Creek. A witness says they all meet beforehand and were given a ride to the camping spot by McKetta's father. They had camping gear with them, along with marijuana and beer. The plan, according to one of the teens that was there, was to go porcupine hunting. They brought two air rifles, a .30-06 Caliber Rifle, and a .38 revolver. One of the teens said all the guns belonged to McKetta except for one of the air rifles, which belonged to Tennant. According to one of the teens, all was fine when they went to bed, late Sunday night/early Monday morning.
Monday, July 17
One of the teens there says he woke up to yelling outside the tent, near the fire pit they'd built. When he went to check it out, he saw Timothy Reeves pointing the revolver at Keagan Tennant and Tennant pointing the rifle at Reeves. He says he heard Reeves say, "you feeling froggy, N*****? Jump N*****, jump!" That person says before Reeves could fully get out the last jump, Keagan Tennant fired at Reeves. In court documents the witness says "The round went through Tim's face, by his cheek. Tim fell backwards and the pistol that was in his hand fell onto his chest. The hat Tim was wearing went flying and there was a lot of blood coming from Tim's eye, mouth and nose. [I] saw Tim's brains go flying."
That witnesses says he started to scream, "Keagan stop! You killed him!"
He says Tennant then yelled, "everyone needs to die! No witnesses!" He says he was able to talk Tennant down, and afterward Tennant lay on the ground "flailing" and "rocking back and forth."
After a short time, the group then split up to find Matthew McKetta, who had left camp before the shooting to go hunt porcupines. They eventually found him and court documents say Tennant and McKetta returned to the camp to collect Reeves' body. Witnesses say they wrapped his body in a tarp, then collected his personal belongings. A witness says they dumped his body off a nearby cliff, where it was eventually found by law enforcement.
The group then left the campsite. McKetta and Tennant went to stay at McKetta's parent's home, where they spent Tuesday laying low.
Wednesday, July 19
According to court documents, the two others who were at the campsite with Tennant and McKetta contacted law enforcement to let them know what happened.
Later that day, court documents say that Keagan Tennant received a text from a friend saying that law enforcement was looking for him. Tennant later told law enforcement he "panicked" and convinced McKetta to leave McKetta's parent's house with him. The two hid out until it got dark. Once it was late enough, court documents say the two found a Pizza Hut delivery driver and approached him as he was getting out of his car, a white 2002 Pontiac Grand Am. The driver told Latah County Sheriff's detectives that the two pointed a gun at him and demanded he give them the keys and his wallet, which he did. McKetta told police he and Tennant wrapped a ripped up shirt around their faces to use as make-shift masks. He says Tennant had the .38 revolver, but it wasn't loaded, because McKetta had unloaded it the night before.
The two took the Pizza Hut delivery sign off, then drove north, through Spokane and continued up to Ferry County. McKetta says Tennant wanted to drive to his old school, the Job Corps. building in Curlew, Washington. Court documents don't say why that was the destination, but the two ended up stopping there because they ran out of gas.
Thursday, July 20
Court documents say McKetta and Tennant drove through the night Wednesday, and arrived at the Job Corps. facility in Curlew sometime Thursday morning. It's not clear how they spent the day, however it was Thursday that the Latah County Sheriff's office sent a news release to KHQ requesting help finding the two. That release had pictures of the two, and a description of the car they are believed to have stolen. According to the Ferry County Sheriff's Office they received a tip from someone who said they spotted the car, but it was not positively identified until Friday.
Friday, July 21
Following up on a series of tips, the Ferry County Sheriff's office found the stolen Pontiac Grand Am at the Curlew Job Corps. school. The school was locked down as a precaution, but deputies say Tennant and McKetta were somewhere in the woods between Curlew and the Canadian border, which is about 8 miles away. The Ferry County Sheriff's Office, along with Border Patrol agents, used thermal imaging equipment, dogs, and a helicopter to search for the two teen fugitives and eventually found them hiding in the woods. The two were arrested just before 5pm Friday afternoon and booked into the Ferry County Jail that night.
On Monday, July 24, the two went before a Ferry County judge who approved an extradition request from Latah County to return the teens there to face charges related to the shooting death of Timothy Reeves. The two were transported Tuesday afternoon, and went before a judge in Latah County Wednesday morning. Keagan Tennant is the son of a Pullman Police Commander, Chris Tennant. Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins told KHQ that "this is a very difficult time for Commander Tennant and his family. He asked me to pass along his condolences to the shooting victim's family."
(story: Luke Thoburn, KHQ News Producer; photo: KHQ.com)