Troopers: Escaped Idaho inmates killed two older men -- one seemingly at random -- during 36 hours on the run
Mar. 22—Two older men from small towns east of Lewiston, Idaho, were killed by a prison escapee and his accomplice during a 36-hour violent crime spree that began early Wednesday at a Boise hospital and ended with arrests in Twin Falls, according to the Idaho State Police.
Investigators said James L. Mauney, 83, was walking his dogs in Julietta, Idaho, when Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour confronted him. The two fugitives took Mauney and his dogs and drove them a few miles in Mauney's 2019 Chrysler Pacific to a remote area of farm fields near the community of Leland. That's where Mauney's body was discovered.
The two then are suspected of driving to a secluded area near Orofino where they went to the home of 72-year-old Gerald "Don" Henderson.
Meade and/or Umphenour might have been acquainted with Henderson, according to a news release from the Idaho State Police. They are suspected of killing him at the home, where they also found Mauney's dogs and the prison shackles that Meade had been wearing. The dogs were not harmed and have been returned to Mauney's family.
An exact timeline is still under investigation, but investigators say it all started when Meade began cutting himself earlier this week at the maximum security prison where he was being held. He was taken to Boise's Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center under guard by corrections officers.
After he was treated, the officers were about to escort Meade back to prison when Umphenour ambushed them, shooting and injuring two of them from the ambulance bay of the hospital, according to investigators.
Meade and Umphenour then escaped in a gray Honda Civic. A third guard was shot at the hospital by responding police officers who mistook him as an armed suspect.
The brazen escape led to a massive manhunt as Meade, a member of a white supremacist prison gang called the Aryan Knights, and Umphenour sped north undetected from Boise.
After the killings of Mauney and Henderson, tips poured in, including that Meade and Umphenour may have driven across the Bitterroot Mountains where they were reportedly seen in Missoula, Mont., according to police.
Eventually, Mauney's stolen Chrysler was found in Filer, Idaho, a small town near Twin Falls. As police surrounded a house in Filer, Meade and Umphenour split up and drove away in different cars. Meade was stopped nearby and arrested. Umphenour tried to flee but was also apprehended.
As police arrested Meade, other officers arrested 52-year-old Tonia Huber at a residence in Filer. She is jailed in Twin Falls on suspicion of attempting to elude police and possession of fentanyl.
The cause and manners of death of Mauney and Henderson have not been disclosed.
Meade and Umphenour appeared in court Friday morning and are expected to be transferred to Boise to face criminal charges.
The story is developing and will be updated.
