O livro de fatos (canon) Ultimate Star Wars declara que eles foram assassinados pelas ordens diretas de Darth .
Não há nenhuma indicação específica por que ele escolheu fazê-lo ou se era mais um tipo " matar qualquer um que possa ter visto os planos ", mas dado quão próximo Darth micro-gerencia suas tropas, é muito possível que ele estivesse ciente de suas identidades antes de serem mortas.
"Many years later, and despite Owen's best efforts to keep Luke safe from the Empire, Stormtroopers arrive at the Lars homestead and on orders from Darth Vader execute both Owen and Beru."
Isso se alinha muito bem ao que sabemos sobre o incidente do (não mais canônico, mas ainda amplamente respeitado arquivo oficial do Star Wars # 10 que indica que as tropas estavam sob
MASSACRE AT THE FARM
Unaware of this error of judgement, the Desert Sands troopers approached the Lars homestead. Marching right into the compound, they rounded up the couple who lived there. While their commander interrogated Lars and his wife, the remainder of the party quickly and efficiently scoured the buildings. The senior trooper learned that the Lars' nephew, Luke, had left early that morning to have the droids start work. Suspecting Luke of being, at the very least, a Rebel sympathizer, the commander ascertained where the boy should be working, and dispatched a squad to search for him, although he did not expect them to find the young man.
Having learned all he could at the homestead, the senior trooper took the majority of his squad back to Mos Eisley. The others were instructed to follow once they had killed the old couple, destroyed the remaining droids, and set fire to the property. There could be no evidence of what the Imperials were really doing on Tatooine.
As they had done with the Jawas, the Imperial Stormtroopers killed Owen and Beru Lars and destroyed their home. The search for the droids was too important to leave any witnesses.