A man and woman were arrested Thursday in southern California and charged with defrauding and then killing an elderly Washington state man.

Philip Brewer, 32, and Christina Joel Hardy, 47, are charged with murder, kidnapping, identity theft, and theft, KOMO reported.

Curtis Engeland, 74, was reported missing on February 23, and his body was found more than 100 miles from his Mercer Island home this week. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Engeland’s death a homicide, saying he “suffered blunt trauma to his face” and had a stab wound to the neck. He also had fentanyl in his system, according to court documents.

The documents say that Brewer and Hardy “appear to have been using the victim’s cell phone, after (he) was murdered, to concoct fake conversations between themselves and the victim, likely in hopes that the police would assume he was still alive and try to absolve themselves of suspicion.”

Prosecutors said the pair fled the state after the murder and spent time in Salem, Oregon, before absconding to Southern California. They discarded their cell phones and Engeland’s “in a likely attempt to not only get money, but to cut off any tracking capabilities of law enforcement.”

Prosecutors said that Engeland reported on January 13 that his wallet, keys, and cell phone were stolen from his house by a “known subject.” He said that he had met Brewer on a dating app and met in person at a Starbucks and again the next day to go on a hike. After they hiked, court documents say, they went to Engeland’s home to watch a movie. Engeland said he fell asleep, and when he awoke, Brewer and his valuables were missing.

At that point, the documents say, money began disappearing from the victim’s accounts. Thousands of dollars were taken, the charging documents say, and video footage shows Brewer and Hardy committing “fraudulent transactions.”

At one point, police were called and told Brewer was in Engeland’s home. When they arrived, they found Brewer, Hardy, and Brewer’s son, who told them they’d met Engeland via a Craigslist ad while he was looking for a house sitter.

Hardy told police that Engeland had offered to rent her his basement for $500 per month and that they had a text message from him saying he would be away for several weeks.

“When questioned about the numerous emails appearing to connect them to Engeland’s bank accounts, Brewer and Hardy stated Engeland had added them to his financial accounts so they could pay for utilities while Engeland was away,” prosecutors said.

While police were investigating, two of Engeland’s siblings arrived and said they’d received text messages from their former English teacher brother that were clearly not written by him. They told police they didn’t want Brewer and Hardy in the house, and they left.

When asked about Engeland’s missing vehicle, prosecutors say the suspects said Engeland allowed them to drive it.

Police later found Engeland’s vehicle with the trunk open and a “large amount of blood” in a cardboard box inside. Later still, they learned that a vehicle Brewer and Hardy were in had been bought for more than $25,000 on Engleland’s credit card, and the dealership had a video showing them making the purchase.

Two weeks later, Engeland’s body was found “following clues from the evidence” that included GPS locations from the suspects’ cell phones.

The court documents say investigators found the pair when a California Highway Patrol trooper pulled over a man who was dating Hardy’s daughter for speeding on March 14. The man told the trooper that Brewer and Hardy had been staying with them and that they told him they killed Engeland and that they planned to “kidnap” Hardy’s daughter to go back to Washington and watch their children since they were going to prison.

The man described Engleland’s death, saying Brewer and Hardy injected him with fentanyl and then “drove him somewhere to dump the body.” But he was still alive when they arrived, so Hardy held him down while Brewer stabbed him in the neck.

The King County Prosecutor’s Office said both Brewer and Hardy are in custody in California pending extradition proceedings.

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[Featured image: Philip Brewer, left, and Christina Hardy, right/Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and Curtis Engeland, center/Washington State Patrol]