On a Memorial Day weekend camping trip, 18-year-old Pandora Kjolsrud and her 17-year-old friend, Evan Clark, ventured into the Tonto National Forest for an adventure. The two Arcadia High School students had planned to camp near Mount Ord, an area between Mesa and Payson, Arizona. When they failed to return home as scheduled on May 26, 2025, their families grew worried, and a search was initiated. Tragically, their bodies were discovered on May 27, 2025.
Both teenagers had been shot to death, and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office immediately began treating the case as a homicide investigation.
The investigation into the double homicide continued for months, leaving the community in fear and the families searching for answers. A significant break in the case came more than four months later with the arrest of 31-year-old Thomas Brown in early October 2025. Investigators were led to Brown through several key pieces of information. Other campers in the Mount Ord area on the same weekend reported encountering a man who was acting strangely, and their specific observations helped detectives focus their efforts on Brown. Brown himself contacted the sheriff's office, claiming he had been camping in the area and wanted to provide a drone video he had taken.
During an interview, Brown admitted to detectives that he had been camping on Mount Ord from May 23rd to May 26th and had seen a young male and female whose descriptions matched the victims and their vehicle. He claimed he found their campsite and rummaged through their belongings but denied having any physical contact with them. However, his claims were contradicted by forensic evidence. DNA belonging to Thomas Brown was found inside the victims' car and on bloody gloves discovered at the crime scene, directly linking him to the murders. He was subsequently arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, held on a $2 million bond.
