Two men accused of double homicide held without bail in Fall River Superior Court

Two men indicted and arrested for the 2008 Taunton homicide of Kevin and Shawn Vargas were ordered held without bail during their arraignments in Fall River Superior Court Friday, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn announced.

Steven Fordham, 38, of Taunton and Kaylen Scott, 36, of Worcester, were both arraigned on indictments charging them each with two counts of murder.

Both men were indicted Thursday afternoon after a lengthy grand jury investigation led by the Chief of the district attorney’s Homicide Unit, Dennis Collins.

Fordham was arrested in Taunton Thursday night and Scott was arrested early Friday morning in Worcester.

On February 24, 2008, at approximately 2:00 p.m., Shawn and Kevin Vargas were fatally shot in Kevin’s 729 Somerset Avenue apartment. Also present, and uninjured, were Kevin’s 4- and 2-year-old sons.

Both defendants are the alleged gunmen in the homicide, according to the DA. They are due back in court for a pretrial hearing on August 15.

“I want to thank all the investigators, especially state police Lt. Christopher Dumont and Chief of our Homicide Unit Dennis Collins for their persistence and efforts in continuing to investigate this case. I would also like to thank the victims’ family for the patience during the past 16 years. We look forward to prosecuting this case in court,” District Attorney Quinn said.