Double-slayings believed linked to marijuana smuggling operation

Colorado authorities are investigating two slayings that are believed linked to a lucrative Colorado-Oklahoma marijuana smuggling operation.

When Samantha Simmons, 27, walked into the living room of Jack Larkin’s Pierce home on the night of Oct. 17, 2015, she later would tell prosecutors, the room was splashed with blood. The rug was missing from the floor, and she could see a human torso — which she believed to be the remains of Joshua Foster — on the nearby couch.

Hours later, just after midnight, Colorado’s Weld County Sheriff’s deputies found Foster’s body, along with that of Zachary Moore, in a burning pickup on a back road 15 miles northeast of Pierce.

Simmons and Larkin were both arrested in connection with the deaths of Foster and Moore, as were Samuel Pinney, 34, Jordan Johnson, 23, and Nathaniel Youngman, 26.

Police and prosecutors believe the five, along with Moore and Foster, were involved in a massive, ongoing marijuana-smuggling operation between Colorado and Oklahoma, sometimes transporting up to $20,000 worth of the drug. According to police reports, the operation soured when Foster and Moore tried to make their own drug runs, cutting the others out of the deal. Police believe the two were killed as a result.

Until this month, details on the final hours of Moore and Foster’s lives were sparse. According to a search warrant made available last week, though, Simmons recently entered into an agreement with the Weld District Attorney’s office and told them what she remembered about the night the two men died.

According to Simmons, she and Pinney were visiting Larkin’s house that evening when Moore and Foster came over. Simmons said she was in a separate room from the four men, but she could hear them talking.

Police and prosecutors say Larkin had lured Foster and Moore to his house under the pretext of buying marijuana so he and Pinney could steal their money, beat them up and warn them to stay out of Colorado. Simmons told prosecutors she could hear the four talking about money, and at one point it sounded like Foster was paying Pinney and Larkin.

After that, Simmons said, all four men became quiet. Then Pinney ordered her out of the house. Simmons said she left the room she was in and walked past the four men on her way outside.

Not long after, though, she heard a loud, muffled grunt, she told investigators. After that, Pinney and Larkin stepped outside. She made her way past them back into the house.

What she saw — the blood, the body, the missing rug — made her flee the room in a panic.

Larkin and Pinney soon appeared outside as well, carrying the missing rug, rolled up between them. It looked like it had something heavy inside.

Simmons said Pinney got into a truck in the driveway, carrying a gas can. He told her to follow him in her car, and then left, driving north and east away from Pierce until Simmons had no idea where they were.

Eventually, she said, Pinney drove the truck off the side of a dirt road and parked. Simmons got out of her own car, but as she approached the truck, it erupted into flames.

Pinney appeared and got into her car, she told authorities. They left with the pickup blazing behind them. He was frantic and screaming, according to Simmons. As she drove, he got a call from Larkin.

“It’s done,” he told Larkin, according to Simmons.

In the months after October 2015, Simmons said she tried repeatedly to get Pinney to talk about what happened that night. All he said in response, she told prosecutors, was “I didn’t do it.”