11:43 AM PDT on Sunday, April 9, 2006

By KRISTINA BRENNEMAN, kgw.com Staff

LONGVIEW, Wash. -- Two men were arrested Saturday in the March 31 murder of a Longview man, according to the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.

(kgw.com Graphic)

Taylor Tom Coneley, 21, and Ronald Steven Weller-Childers, 20, were each charged with murder in the first degree for the death of Brian Swehla, said Charlie Rosenzweig, chief criminal deputy for the sheriff’s office.

Coneley, who had a falling out with Swehla and was banned from his home, was arrested Saturday at his mother’s house in Longview, Rosenzweig said. Wellers-Childers was arrested at 4 a.m. Saturday in Longview.

Rosenzweig said Coneley and Wellers-Childers, both of Longview, had intended to rob Swehla at his rural home March 31 and found him home. Swehla, 42, was later found shot to death. One of the suspects told police they were high on methamphetamine, Rosenzweig said.

He said the case is not yet closed.

"We're continuing to interview people, process evidence... there's a lot of work still to do," he said.

Detectives “have done an outstanding job of staying on top of this case from the very beginning,” Rosenzweig said. “They have all been working 16, sometimes 18-hour days non-stop and we are very proud of their tireless dedication to solving this case.”