Man pleads guilty to murdering Bend teens

Published 5:18 pm Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Wesley Abel Brady pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering 18-year-old Bend residents Angela Alexus Pastorino and Alfredo P. Hernandez in August.

Brady, 41, also pleaded guilty to strangling Pastorino. He faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole.

The pleas in Deschutes County Circuit Court came after a settlement conference Wednesday.

“I’m happy he pleaded guilty,” said Pastorino’s mother, Jennifer Grigg. “It’s a little bit of a relief. We don’t have to sit through the trial. But it’s not as big of a feeling as I expected … It’s nice to have it behind you, but it’s not really behind you.”

Grigg said she attended the court proceedings on Wednesday. Her heart began pounding and she began crying when she saw Brady in the courtroom.

“It was just overwhelming,” said Grigg.

Grigg said her family is glad the case is coming to a close but are also coming to terms with the fact that they must accept that their loved one is gone.

Now, Grigg said authorities have told her that now there is a possibility that she can have her daughter’s phone back, which had been taken for evidence. She wants the phone so she can see photos and watch videos and hear her daughter’s voice again.

The bodies of the teenage couple were found in the garage of a home at 20081 Mount Faith Place on Aug. 17.

Police reported at the time that the killing took place after an argument at the home, where the teens and Brady had been working that day on home improvement projects for the owner.

The homeowner found one of the bodies the following evening, and police found the second. That night, Brady returned to the home and police arrested him.

Brady didn’t raise a defense of guilt except for insanity in his case, so at this point he will not be sent to the Oregon State Hospital, according to Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels.

Gunnels declined to comment after the settlement conference Wednesday, adding that he would comment after the case had concluded.

Brady’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Grigg said she is already preparing a victim impact statement to present at the hearing, but the thought of reading it is daunting.

“I don’t know if I’m going to be able to stand in front of him and read it,” she said.

This wasn’t Brady’s first run-in with law enforcement.

In 2018, he was arrested in an arson case that ultimately led sheriff’s deputies to a home in Deschutes River Woods, which Brady shared with his father, Roger, and his 17-year-old son. There, detectives found evidence of animal abuse, including a dead half-skinned dog and dead rabbits.

Brady’s father told The Bulletin that his son had strangled several puppies and killed their mothers. He also prepared several stillborn puppies in a Crock Pot and served them to their mother, Roger Brady said.