Ben Verbrugge is a freelance sportswriter with a journalism degree from CSU Dominguez Hills. He is a member of the Los Angeles media and spends most of his time covering the NBA, NFL, and MLB. When not writing, he is either playing or watching sports.
🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Top-10 teams collide for the Little Brown Stein on Saturday night as the No. 10 Idaho Vandals (2-2) take on the No. 4 Montana Grizzlies (3-0) in their Big Sky Conference opener at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
Keali’i Ah Yat #8 of the Montana Grizzlies looks on during the fourth quarter of a game against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits at Dana J Dykhouse Stadium on December 7, 2024 in Brookings,… Keali’i Ah Yat #8 of the Montana Grizzlies looks on during the fourth quarter of a game against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits at Dana J Dykhouse Stadium on December 7, 2024 in Brookings, South Dakota.
Both of Idaho’s losses have come by a field goal against FBS competition, including a 31-28 defeat at San Jose State on Sept. 20. The Vandals are 2-0 within the FCS with wins at home over St. Thomas (37-30) and Utah Tech (20-6). Idaho led 28-21 with 9:17 to go at San Jose State before the Spartans came back to win on a 48-yard field goal with eight seconds to go. Joshua Wood threw for 232 yards and two scores in the loss. The Vandals are the only Big Sky program with a winning record against Montana at 56-31-2, but lost last year’s meeting at home 23-21.
Montana blasted visiting Indiana State 63-20 on Sept. 20 to remain unbeaten as Keali’i Ah Yat was 22-of-27 for 313 yards and two touchdowns, and Eli Gillman picked up 120 yards and three scores on just 13 carries. The Grizzlies are playing their fourth straight game at home, opening with a 42-17 win over Central Washington before beating then-No. 17 North Dakota 24-23.
This is a great college football matchup that you will not want to miss; make sure to tune in and catch all the action.
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A woman explained her reasoning as to why she takes a new route every time she walks her dog—even if she has nice neighbors. In a video with over 49,000 views on TikTok, Alexa Abney (@alexaabney69) discussed her safety precautions while walking her pet.
“I take my dog for a walk every single night for 45 minutes to an hour,” Abney said. “I walk from a different route every single night because I don’t want someone to learn my route and follow me.”
“There’s this old man in my neighborhood that’s so sweet, and he always has treats, and he always gives all the dogs walking a treat,” she said. “In my mind, he’s a nice man that’s giving my dog a treat.”
However, Abney said she also realizes in her mind that this man is “befriending” her dog, which can be a red flag.
“He’s befriending my dog so that my dog associates him with treats so that when he breaks into my house to murder me, my dog doesn’t bark [or] throw a fit,” she said. “He already associates him with treats and he won’t attack him.”
While she admits that it’s a “stretch,” Abney said it can happen.
Viewers affirm her concerns about dog walking
Viewers were quick to affirm her feelings, especially given how dangerous the world can feel for women.
“I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but also I don’t trust people by default and that has kept me/gotten me out of many bad situations,” one commenter wrote. “One of the main reasons is not accepting things from people I don’t know or engaging in conversations with random people coming up to me. While the treats are a nice gesture, you can buy your dog their own treats yourself.”
One viewer added that distrust is often necessary. “Paranoia is an unrealistic trust. It is realistic to not trust a man,” they said. “It’s not a stretch, it’s your brain functioning properly. If those thoughts are coming up it may be your intuition telling you that man is off.”
Another commenter said, “It’s not paranoia, you’re smart and proactive. Many many many many people are not here because they did not think this way when they should have.”
What’s the Idaho 4?
One viewer referenced the “Idaho 4,” the 2022 killings of four University of Idaho students. The victims, Madison “Maddie” Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, were killed in an off-campus home on Nov. 13, 2022.
Authorities charged Bryan Kohberger in the case, and he has since pleaded guilty to killing the four students “willingly, unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice with forethought.”
For many TikTokers, the reference underscored how easily people can exploit others’ trust. They noted that caution, even when it feels extreme, can protect people from harm.
Joshua Wood threw three touchdown passes before running for a 59-yard score late in the fourth quarter to help Idaho beat St. Thomas-Minnesota 37-30 on Saturday.
Wood hit Jake Cox for a 4-yard score with 3:03 left in the second quarter and then connected with Tony Harste for a 21-yard touchdown with 16 seconds left as Idaho (1-1) turned a three-point deficit into a 23-13 lead at halftime.
Wood fired a 42-yard scoring strike to Ryan Jezioro 8 seconds into the fourth quarter to put the Vandals up 29-16. Wood’s long TD run came with 2:19 remaining after St. Thomas (1-1) had pulled within 29-23.
Wood completed 20 of 25 passes for 281 yards and rushed five times for 96 yards. Rocco Koch had a short touchdown run.
Andy Peters totaled 264 yards on 21-of-29 passing with three touchdowns for the Tommies. He also rushed for 94 yards on 11 carries. Mariano Birdno, Patrick Wagner and Quentin Cobb-Butler each had a touchdown catch, and Pat Bowen had a 38-yard touchdown run.
An Idaho transgender athlete asked the U.S. Supreme Court this week to drop a challenge against a state law that “bars transgender girls and women from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams,” according to a filing by her attorneys.
In July, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case Little v. Hecox, which began in 2020. A trans athlete at Boise State University, Lindsay Hecox, sued the state to compete on the university’s women’s cross-country team.
“While playing women’s sports is important to Ms. Hecox, her top priority is graduating from college and living a healthy and safe life,” a filing from her attorneys read. “Ms. Hecox has therefore decided to permanently withdraw and refrain from playing any women’s sports at BSU or in Idaho covered by H.B. 500.”
“Ms. Hecox has firmly committed not to try out for or participate in any school-sponsored women’s sports covered by H.B. 500,” it added. “Accordingly, on September 2, 2025, Ms. Hecox filed the Notice of Voluntary Dismissal, dismissing her complaint with prejudice.”
People hold flags and signs at a demonstration outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024. (Reuters/Benoit Tessier)
If the request is approved, the case cannot be refiled.
In April 2020, Hecox pursued a challenge against H.B. 500 as a freshman at BSU at the time, according to lawyers for the now-24-year-old.
“Ms. Hecox alleged that she intended to try out for the BSU women’s track and cross-country teams as a rising sophomore, and that H.B. 500 barred her from doing so in violation of her constitutional and statutory rights. Ms. Hecox moved for a preliminary injunction on the basis of her equal protection claim,” the filing said.
“On August 17, 2020, the district court preliminarily enjoined petitioners from enforcing H.B. 500, concluding that Ms. Hecox was likely to succeed on the merits of her equal protection challenge and that the equitable factors likewise favored preliminary injunctive relief,” it added.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit later affirmed the district court’s preliminary injunction in June 2024, before the case made its way up to the Supreme Court.
Demonstrators carry signs and flags in support of transgender people during the Trans March in Boise, Idaho, on Sept. 13, 2024. (Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
In the five years since the case began, Hecox has faced “significant challenges that have affected her both personally and academically,” the lawyers wrote. They cite an “illness” and the 2022 death of Hecox’s father as having impeded their client’s “ability to focus on her schoolwork and participate in sports.”
“Although Ms. Hecox has remained in college and has continued to find strength and [camaraderie] in sports despite these challenges, she will not graduate until at least May of 2026,” it continued.
“Ms. Hecox has also come under negative public scrutiny from certain quarters because of this litigation, and she believes that such continued – and likely intensified – attention in the coming school year will distract her from her schoolwork and prevent her from meeting her academic and personal goals,” the filing said.
“Ms. Hecox’s unequivocal abandonment of her claims against petitioners renders this case moot, and since the dismissal is with prejudice, there is no possibility of ‘the regeneration of the controversy by a reassertion of a right to litigate,’” it concluded. “Because Ms. Hecox is abandoning her claims after prevailing in the court of appeals, this Court should vacate the underlying judgment.”
A transgender pride flag is displayed outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Given the difficulty of researching, preparing, proofing, and printing an adequate response to the suggestion of mootness,” the solicitor general continued, “We request an additional 14 days to oppose the suggestion and a new deadline of September 26.”
Fox News Digital’s Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
St. Thomas quarterback Andy Peters has come a long way in a short amount of time.
“I thought I was done with football,” the graduate transfer said.
Peters started his college career as a walk-on at Boise State, near where he grew up. Then, had a decorated career at the College of Idaho. He thought the 2024 season was it — until this spring.
“I get a phone call from my OC, and he was like, ‘Do you still want to play football?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he was like, ‘OK, you’re gonna get a call from St. Thomas in Minnesota.’ I was like, ‘OK.’” Peters said.
Peters became a Tommie and was thrust into a battle for the starting job.
“It started off rough,” he said. “Like drinking from a firehose.”
After he settled in, Peters won the QB1 spot, only learning the job was his about a week before UST’s first game. He led St. Thomas to an opening night win.
Head coach Glenn Caruso has seen it all come together.
“Really good in the huddle with the guys. Great in the locker room,” Caruso said. “Can find ways to win with his arm and his legs.”
Now, it’s week two and the Tommies are heading back to Peters’ home state to take on the University of Idaho. Their quarterback is going home.
“Trying not to let the emotions get too big,” said Peters. “When you start to think about it, it is really exciting. I got 25 people coming to the game.”
Peters’ fiancé, Isla, back in Idaho, will not be there because she’s a game warden and the archery hunting opening day is on St. Thomas’ game day.
“Wildlife conservation, that’s kind of what her job is,” said Peters. “In the state of Idaho, obviously, we have everything. From grizzly bears to elk to moose to black bears, cougars, all of it. All the fun stuff.”
Engaged in May, Peters moved to Minnesota in June and played his first game for his new team in August.
“It’s been a lot,” he said. “You get engaged, you come out here. That part of life is insane. I get done with practice, and I go home and I wedding plan. Not what most people are doing. It’s pretty unique.”
Kilty Cleary is a Los Angeles-based media and marketing pro with 18+ years of experience. He’s worked with top brands like Sporting News and Sports Illustrated, building key partnerships and creating engaging content. Follow him on X and IG @theonlykilty
🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Familiar foes Idaho and Washington State will open their 2025 NCAA schedules against one another on Saturday in the 93rd edition of the Battle of the Palouse.
John Mateer #10 of the Washington State Cougars looks to make a pass play during the first half against the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium on November 23, 2024 in Corvallis, Oregon. John Mateer #10 of the Washington State Cougars looks to make a pass play during the first half against the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium on November 23, 2024 in Corvallis, Oregon. Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images
Week 1 matchups don’t get a lot more intimate than Saturday’s season-opening showdown between Idaho and Washington State. The Battle of the Palouse is a long and storied rivalry between two schools situated less than eight miles apart from one another and will be run for the 93rd time as part of their college football programs this weekend.
The Cougars currently dominate that record 72-17-3 and have won the last 10 straight meetings between the teams in a run that dates back to 2001. However, the Vandals can take heart knowing the most recent clash between the pair, a 24-17 slugfest in September 2022, was the closest scoreline they’ve produced since they last won this rivalry a quarter of a century ago.
Fans of FBS contender Washington State are watching with bated breath to see what head coach newcomer Jimmy Rogers can produce in his first year at the helm. Just three offensive starters have returned in what is otherwise an almost brand-new roster, and Rogers has done his utmost to retain a certain mystique about his plans.
FCS hopeful Idaho is also under new (and old) management after Thomas Ford Jr. returned for his second stint coaching the Vandals. And he’s not the only one, either, after new starting quarterback Joshua Wood joined from Fresno State, hoping to improve upon last year’s 10-4 season and a run to the FCS quarter-finals.
This is not a nationally televised game, but you can still catch the matchup on Fubo with local coverage from WGN in certain regions.
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Justin and Hailey Bieber are in a “much better place” in their relationship. But will it last??
The couple has been struggling with marriage issues for the last year — something JB confirmed in his new album, Swag. But now a source for Us Weekly on Thursday insisted the “tension has settled.” And it’s all for one important reason! They dished:
“The intense focus and emotional toll of creating new music had put a strain on their marriage. When Justin is in the studio making new music, he gets completely consumed and shuts everything else out.”
That seems like a major problem for their future, though. Justin’s a musician — he’ll be making music for the rest of his life, and not just ’cause it pays their (very big) bills. It’s his passion! If making his latest album put so much stress on their relationship, how can they sustain that forever?? Seems problematic!
But either way, the fact that the project has dropped is a big relief for them now. The lovebirds “have been able to finally reconnect more” while on summer vacation to “their favorite place in Idaho,” as they prep to celebrate their son Jack Blues‘ first birthday on Friday. Crazy, right? They grow up so fast! But we digress.
The insider said the summertime vibes have done wonders for the vocalist and model:
“There’s a sense of relief on both sides. Justin’s behavior has been more relaxed. He felt a lot of pressure hanging over him and has been in a better mental headspace these last few weeks. He is very happy there have been positive reviews of the album and that fans like it.”
The Rhode founder, on the other hand, still “takes it day by day and is very patient” with him. So, yeah, that’s a good indicator that they’re not out of the woods just yet! The source noted:
“There’s still work to be done in their marriage, but they’re in a much better place.”
That’s good, at least. We just hope their work and music don’t impact them as much again in the future. That’s a recipe for disaster, if so…
Reactions?? Do y’all really think the new album was the root cause of their problems? Sound OFF (below)!
Sydney Sweeney is defending her controversial bathwater soap, but remaining mum about her American Eagle jeans campaign.
According to the Wall Street Journal, who just published a new interview with Sweeney, the actress “won’t comment” on the uproar over the jeans ad.
However, she did tell the magazine during their sit-down, which took place earlier this summer, that she keeps an eye on what’s being said about her on social media, but she doesn’t let it bother her.
“I think it’s important to have a finger on the pulse of what people are saying, because everything is a conversation with the audience,” she told the Journal in the interview published this week.
Sydney Sweeney is defending her controversial bathwater soap, but remaining mum about her American Eagle jeans campaign.(Aeon/GC Images)
The ad in question involved Sweeney in denim for American Eagle, playing on the homophones “jeans” and “genes” that sparked accusations of eugenics.
The ad is part of the company’s “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” campaign.
In the ad that sparked backlash, Sweeney tells the viewer that genes are “passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color.”
“My jeans are blue,” she finishes after the camera has swept up her recumbent body and closes in on her eyes.
The ad has since been removed from the company’s social media pages.
American Eagle released a statement on its social media earlier this month, saying, “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
A rep for Sweeney did not respond to Fox News Digital’s previous requests for comment on the backlash.
Sydney Sweeney on the cover of the Wall Street Journal Magazine. (Wall Street Journal )
Sweeney also stirred the tub water recently when she made several suggestive ads for Dr. Squatch, a line of natural bath products for men, and collaborated on a limited line of soap made from her own used bathwater.
Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss sold out immediately.
“I think it’s important to have a finger on the pulse of what people are saying, because everything is a conversation with the audience.”
— Sydney Sweeney
“It was mainly the girls making comments about it, which I thought was really interesting,” she told the Journal. “They all loved the idea of Jacob Elordi’s bathwater,” she added, referencing a racy scene in “Saltburn.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Sweeney told the magazine that in spite of her meteoric rise in Hollywood, she doesn’t consider Los Angeles home.
The 27-year-old “it” girl said she prefers to spend her time at her family’s lake home in Northern Idaho or at her $13.5 million compound with friends in the Florida Keys.
“I try not to be here as much as possible,” she explained, telling the magazine in the interview that she was planning to head to Idaho for the Fourth of July.
Sweeney told the Journal that in spite of her meteoric rise in Hollywood, she doesn’t consider Los Angeles home.(Wall Street Journal)
“I have a really amazing friend group where there are a few who are in this industry, but most of them are not,” she said last summer. “You get to step out of what I call ‘the bubble,’ and you see what’s important in life. You see reality, and it grounds and humbles you.”
She also said in that interview that she and her friends were spending time at the Idaho lake house in between projects.
“Most of my friends are still my childhood friends, and that’s why most of them aren’t in the industry, because I didn’t grow up in it,” she told Cosmopolitan. “It’s very much just going back to my roots.”
Sweeney convinced her parents to move to Los Angeles when she was 13, after she had started booking acting parts in the Pacific Northwest.
She told Travel + Leisure last year, “I go home all the time. What’s so beautiful about the Pacific Northwest is everything that you can do outdoors. . . . There are so many mountains and lakes.”
Sydney Sweeney told the Wall Street Journal that she keeps her finger on the pulse of what people are saying about her, but tries not to sweat it. (Wall Street Journal )
Sweeney remembered going berry picking there as a child. “If you go a little bit north of Spokane, [Washington], right next to the border, there’s like all these hidden little waterfalls.”
Even though she may long for days on the water, Sweeney has made a name for herself as a bit of a workaholic. She’s familiar in both TV and film with shows like “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” and movies that span horror, rom-com and action, such as “Anyone But You” and “Immaculate.”
“It’s great to do what you love,” she told the Journal, “because if you love it, then it doesn’t feel like work, and you want to do it every single day, all the time.”
She admitted that her nonstop schedule is the way she wants it. After all, she didn’t become one of Hollywood’s most talked-about celebrities by floating on an innertube.
Sydney Sweeney said she gets anxious about even taking a few days off work.(Wall Street Journal)
She told the Journal she keeps a busy work schedule “because I don’t want to take six months off. I get anxiety thinking about just taking a few days off.”
Bryan Kohberger developed a reputation for being “sexist” and “creepy” while attending a criminal justice program in the months before he killed four University of Idaho students in 2022, fellow grad students told investigators.
More than 550 pages of investigation documents were recently released by Idaho State Police in response to public records requests. They include summaries of interviews with students and instructors at Washington State University, where Kohberger was a doctoral student in criminology.
Kohberger’s behavior was so problematic that one Washington State University faculty member told co-workers that if he ever became a professor, he would likely stalk or sexually abuse his future students, according to the documents. She urged her co-workers to cut Kohberger’s funding to remove him from the program.
“He is smart enough that in four years we will have to give him a Ph.D.,” the woman told her colleagues, according to the report from Idaho State Police Detective Ryan O’Harra. She continued, “Mark my word, I work with predators, if we give him a Ph.D., that’s the guy that in that many years when he is a professor, we will hear is harassing, stalking, and sexually abusing … his students at wherever university.”
Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison without parole last month for the stabbing murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at a rental home near the Moscow, Idaho, campus early on Nov. 13, 2022.
The WSU faculty member told investigators that Kohberger would sometimes go into an office where several female grad students worked, physically blocking the door. Sometimes, she would hear one of the women say, “I really need to get out of here,” so she would intercede by going into the office to allow the student to leave.
The faculty member believed Kohberger was stalking people. She told police that someone had reportedly broken into a female graduate student’s apartment in September or October, stealing perfume and underwear.
An unnamed Ph.D. student who was in the same program as Kohberger told police that he enjoyed conflict, was disparaging toward women and that he especially liked to talk about sexual burglary — his field of study.
About three weeks after the murders, Kohberger told the Ph.D. student that whoever had committed the crimes “must have been pretty good,” Idaho State Police Detective Sgt. Michael Van Leuven wrote in a report. Kohberger also told the woman that the murders might have been a “one and done type thing,” Van Leuven wrote.
The woman “said she had never met anyone who acted in such a condescending manner and wondered why people in power in the department did not address his behavior,” Van Leuven wrote. “The way he spoke to females in the department was unsettling to them.”
One instructor told police that she was assigned to work with Kohberger on his doctoral program. In late August 2022, she said she began receiving complaints about him from students and staff in the criminal justice program.
The instructor told police that she spent “a lot of time” speaking about Kohberger during disciplinary meetings.
“The meetings focused around Kohberger’s interactions with fellow post-graduate students, in and out of the classroom, along with his behavior around some of the criminal justice professors,” according to an investigator’s report.
The school got nine separate complaints from faculty members, administration staffers and other students about his “rude and belittling behavior toward women,” Idaho State Police Detective Sean Prosser wrote in a report. In response, the school held a mandatory training class for all graduate students about behavior expectations.
Many of Kohberger’s fellow students and instructors at WSU did not suspect his involvement in the killings, according to the police reports. But at least one fellow student noticed his behavior changed after the murders.
The student said Kohberger frequently used his phone before the killings, but stopped bringing his cellphone to class after the murders. He also appeared more disheveled in the weeks after the killings, the student told police, and she thought it was odd that he never participated in conversations about the Moscow deaths.
She eventually called a police tip line to report that she had seen Kohberger with bloody knuckles just prior to the killings and his hand looked like he had been hitting something.
Cellmates said Kohberger used 3 bars of soap a week and excessively washed his hands
Cellmates who were lodged with Kohberger in the Latah County Sheriff’s Office jail in Moscow after his arrest said he loved watching the news coverage about him.
According to one cellmate, Kohberger said, “Wow, I’m on every channel.” Another cellmate told police that Kohberger enjoyed watching the news about his case unless it began talking about his family or friends, at which point he’d change the channel immediately. But as time went on, that cellmate said, he stopped watching the news related to his case almost completely.
Kohberger went through three standard-size bars of soap a week, both cellmates told police, took hourlong showers and excessively washed his hands, which were red from the amount of hand washing he did.
He also wanted new bedding and clothes every day, the second cellmate told police.
The trial of Bryan Kohberger, who has been charged with killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, has been set.
The trial will begin on Aug. 11, 2025, and continue through Nov. 7, 2025, according to a scheduling order issued by the state of Idaho. It had been scheduled to start in June 2025.
Other hearing dates will be held before the start of the trial. On Nov. 7, 2024, there will be a hearing addressing motions challenging the death penalty as a possible sentence, if Kohberger is convicted. Prosecutors have previously said they plan to ask for the death penalty if Kohberger is found guilty.
Kohberger has been charged with four counts of murder in the fatal stabbings of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, who were killed in the early morning of Nov. 13, 2022 at a home in Moscow, Idaho. Police arrested Kohberger six weeks later at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.
Bryan Kohberger arrives at a hearing on September 13, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho.
Ted S. Warren / Getty Images
Kohberger was initially set to go on trial in October 2023, but his lawyer said the defense would not be ready in time. At the time, Kohberger later waived his right to a speedy trial. Kohberger’s trial was then set for June 2025. At the time, the trial was set to be held in Latah County, where the killings occurred.
Latah County District Judge John Judge said that he expected the trial would last three months, including two weeks of jury selection, eight weeks of the trial itself, and another two weeks for the verdict, sentencing and anything else remaining, CBS News previously reported. The new trial dates cover a similar period of time.
But in early September, Judge ordered that the trial be moved to a different part of Idaho, saying that he believed extensive media coverage of the case and statements by other public officials would make it impossible for Kohberger to have a fair trial. The concern was echoed by Kohberger’s lawyers.
Idaho’s Supreme Court moved the trial to Boise, Idaho, more than 300 miles from Latah County. Kohberger was booked into jail there last month.
Goncalves’ family has criticized the handling of the trial, saying in a statement this spring that they were frustrated by how long it has taken for the case to progress through the judicial system.
“This case is turning into a hamster wheel of motions, hearings, and delayed decisions,” the family said.
Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.
Did a former Idaho state trooper use his law enforcement skills to stage his wife’s death in their bathtub? “48 Hours” correspondent Peter Van Sant reports.
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Kootenai County Sheriff’s Deputy Miranda Thomas will never forget coming face to face with a distraught Dan Howard, a former state trooper, at his home in Northern Idaho on a cold winter’s morning in February 2021.
Deputy Miranda Thomas: He would scream and yell, but there were no tears in his eyes. At any point he would, um, act like he was gagging … But nothing would ever actually happen.
Thomas was one of the first responders to Dan Howard’s home, a place he shared with Kendy, his wife of 26 years.
An image from bodycam video of Dan Howard, seated, and Kootenai County Sheriff’s Deputy Miranda Thomas.
Kootenai County District Court
DEPUTY (bodycam): Dan, I know this is hard but, when — when is the last time that you saw your wife alive?
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): (crying, unintelligible)
DEPUTY THOMAS (bodycam): Dan, do you want medical to look at you at all?
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): No.
DEPUTY THOMAS (bodycam): OK.
DanHoward told police he discovered his wife in the bathtub. He said she had shot herself in the head. Kendy’s own pistol was at the bottom of the tub in murky water.
Kootenai County Sheriff’s Detective Jerry Northrup arrived before midnight.
Peter Van Sant: Were you dispatched … to a possible suicide?
Det. Jerry Northrup: Yes sir. … It was identified as a suicide.
EVIDENCE NOT ADDING UP FOR INVESTIGATORS
Northrup immediately began analyzing what was before him.
Det. Jerry Northrup: For a woman to shoot herself in the tub, nude, is unusual. It doesn’t mean it can’t happen It just means that it’s unusual.
Northrup, a crime scene expert, says something was missing from this death scene — especially considering Kendy had suffered a head wound.
Det. Jerry Northrup: There would be a lot more blood that was produced. And I just didn’t see that on her face, on her body or in the tub.
Thomas also saw some curious things.
Deputy Miranda Thomas: I went into the house and found a packed duffle bag. … Was someone planning on leaving the house?
In the laundry room, the dryer was running. It was full of clean bath towels and mats.
Deputy Miranda Thomas: Having a … dryer running at midnight, very odd, because I don’t do laundry at midnight. Sure, you could but …
And despite the shock of finding his wife dead, Dan Howard appeared to have recently showered, changed his clothes, and applied fresh deodorant.
Deputy Miranda Thomas: You can tell that he’s got deodorant lines on his T-shirt.
Peter Van Sant: Did something seem un-suicide-like to you?
Det. Jerry Northrup: Certainly. … There was no, other signs of like a suicide note.
It’s often standard procedure to check people at a shooting scene for GSR, gunshot residue. And as a former state trooper, Dan Howard would know that. Yet Northrup says Dan was uneasy about being tested.
Det. Jerry Northrup: Mr. Howard stuck his hands into his coat pockets, and then he began twisting them to and fro, back and forth repeatedly, until we told him to stop and remove his hands.
Peter Van Sant: Back and forth as if he’s trying to wipe something off?
Det. Jerry Northrup: Yes. That was the impression that we were getting …
Peter Van Sant: What was the result?
Det. Jerry Northrup: It was negative.
Peter Van Sant: It was negative.
Even though detectives were suspicious of all those little pieces of evidence that didn’t seem to add up, they could not rule out the possibility that Kendy Howard could have taken her own life.
Kendy’s sudden passing stunned those who loved her.
Michelle Lampert: She loved life … I have never had so much fun with somebody … no care in the world.
Michelle Lampert was one of Kendy’s best friends.
Michelle Lampert: She always laughed. … my favorite is spin class … and then to the brewery … nothing like spin class and brewery, but she felt like that was OK.
Brooke Wilkins: She was a great mom.
Brooke Wilkins is Kendy’s daughter from an earlier relationship.
Peter Van Sant: Tell me about your mom. She just seems really special.
Brooke Wilkins: She was. She had a big personality. … She was happy to talk to anyone and make a friend and joke around.
Kendy was a small town girl from northern Idaho — sporty and outdoorsy, says her brother Brian Wilkins.
Brian Wilkins: She … rode her horse a lot, had sheep for 4H and … and, well, she had a goat, too, at the same time.
Dan and Kendy Howard
Brian Wilkins
Kendy was just 22 when she married former Marine-turned-Idaho state trooper Dan Howard. He was six years older.
Peter Van Sant: Did she talk about the attraction?
Brooke Wilkins: She did think he was very handsome. And I think the sense of security is a topic that was brought up quite a bit.
The couple settled on 10 acres in the town of Athol, just a speck on the map, located 21 miles north of Coeur D’Alene. They had a son together, Wyatt. Like his dad, Wyatt became a Marine. A neighbor, Cari Maitland, says Dan and Kendy’s marriage seemed strong.
Cari Maitland: They were affectionate towards each other and … they were generally respectful to each other.
Kendy worked at a local medical center. During 26 years of marriage, they made good money in real estate in this fast-growing state. By the time of Kendy’s death, the couple had more than $2 million in assets. And yet, money created friction between them.
Michelle Lampert: Her money was his money and his money was his money. … He never wanted to spend money.
And there was more friction in the marriage, according to friends, after Dan Howard — working as a trooper for the Idaho State Police — shot and killed a woman during a traffic stop. Dan was cleared of all wrongdoing, but the incident took its toll on Kendy.
CariMaitland: I do believe … she did become depressed.
Years later, Dan Howard would leave the Idaho State Police.
Cari Maitland: And things kind of changed between them.
Kendy’s brother Brian Wilkins helped Dan find work on the North Slope — the oil fields of Alaska. He’d work three weeks straight and then come home for three weeks.
Michelle Lampert: She was free for three weeks is when she really decided to experience life.
Brian Wilkins says the couple grew apart.
Brian Wilkins: There was arguing, bickering pretty much the whole time I’d be up there around him. But I didn’t think it was anything.
But Brooke Wilkins says it was the beginning of the end of their relationship. Kendy was frustrated and lonely.
Brooke Wilkins: She’s very vocal that she does not love him; that there’s no love in this marriage.
Lampert says Kendy had an affair, and even planned plastic surgery.
Michelle Lampert: She was just super excited.
And that’s when Kendy told Dan she was moving out and wanted a divorce. And she had started the process of buying a new house.
Michelle Lampert: And I think she really felt that it would be OK.
By the end of January 2021, just days before her death, Kendy met with a divorce lawyer. When Dan came home from work —
Michelle Lampert: She just told him … I mean, she just told him everything. And I think [at] that point I did get scared. … She said he was fine. He wasn’t fine.
QUESTIONING DAN HOWARD’S VERSION OF THE EVENTS
Michelle Lampert: It never made sense to me. It never made sense.
When first responders examined Kendy Howard’s body in her bathtub, she had a gunshot wound to the back of her mouth and her pistol was in the water. Dan Howard told everyone that Kendy had taken her own life.
Peter Van Sant: Were you buying that?
Brian Wilkins: No. … I couldn’t see her leaving her kids and granddaughter.
When he learned his sister was dead, Brian Wilkins rushed over to her house. He walked right up to Dan Howard.
Brian Wilkins: There was no emotion. He wasn’t crying. … I asked him if he’d ever hurt my sister. … he wouldn’t look at me in the eye and he said, “no.”
Kendy’s friend, Michelle Lampert, was also certain Kendy had not taken her own life.
Michelle Lampert: Kendy was not depressed. … You don’t think about doing plastic surgery. You don’t go work out. You don’t go to spin class.
But Cari Maitland, Kendy’s neighbor, says Kendy hadbeendeeply unhappy. Months earlier she says Kendy told her about problems in her marriage.
Cari Maitland: She’s just crying and crying and crying. … And — and she’s like, “I don’t even deserve to be here.”
Maitland doesn’t think there’s any mystery about what happened in that bathroom.
Cari Maitland: I do believe that Kendy committed suicide.
In the hours following Kendy’s death, Northrup said he had questions about Dan Howard’s version of events.
Det. Jerry Northrup: There’s a — an order to things and a logical order … it did not make sense.
When first responders arrived to the Howard home, the clothes dryer was running. It was full of clean bath towels and mats.
Kootenai County District Court
One thing that didn’t make sense that night was the clothes dryer running when first responders entered the house. There were still six minutes showing on the display. So Northrup did some digging.
Det. Jerry Northrup: I went to the manufacturer’s site, pulled up the specifics about the times for cycles … And then took that information and compared that against the time at which the 911 call was placed.
Peter Van Sant: And what do you learn?
Det. Jerry Northrup: That it was started within a minute of the 911 call.
Det. Jerry Northrup: It suggested that he was doing actions like starting laundry … rather than his claim that he was checking on Kendy Howard and — and that he was inconsolable and upset … it just — it didn’t add up.
And there were other red flags for Northrup.
Peter Van Sant: Did you find any signs of a struggle, that there’d been some sort of a physical confrontation between these two?
Det. Jerry Northrup: Yes, we did. Up in the master bedroom, we noted on the floor that there were pieces of broken glass.
Kendy Howard “was in that tub of water, with a gunshot wound to her head. And the gun was still in the water of the bathtub,” Deputy Miranda Thomas told “48 Hours.”
Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office
And there was that question of the amount of blood in the bathtub.
Peter Van Sant: With a wound to the head, that water will be much darker red-colored, right? From the blood?
Det. Jerry Northrup: Yes, sir. Based on my experience, that would be consistent. That the — the fact that there wasn’t — was inconsistent.
Peter Van Sant: Inconsistent, suggesting it might not be a suicide?
Det. Jerry Northrup: Correct. … Everything started directing us to the path that this was a staged crime scene.
Detective Sergeant Ken Lallatin, now retired, was the lead investigator.
Det. Sgt. Ken Lallatin: Nothing about this case felt right from the beginning.
DET. SGT.KEN LALLATIN (bodycam): Hi Dan … So what happened tonight?
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): Marital problems … she wants a divorce one day … she doesn’t the next … So she brought home divorce papers, just preliminary ones.
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): We just grew apart, I guess.
Lallatin says he quickly became convinced Dan Howard was playing them.
Det. Sgt. Ken Lallatin: I had the sense that Dan had a story that he had planned to share with us that evening … it felt very contrived.
Peter Van Sant: Almost scripted in a way?
Det. Sgt. Ken Lallatin: Absolutely. Yeah, definitely scripted.
One example, Lallatin says, was Dan Howard telling him that Kendy had once put a gun to her head.
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): She put the gun to her f****** head … it freaked me the f*** out… and um I thought for sure… ‘here we go’ and she dropped the gun and f****** shot through the floor.
DETECTIVE (bodycam): Same gun?
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): Same gun.
Lallatinsays Dan Howard told him, that after a heated argument that night over splitting their finances, Kendy went upstairs to take a bath. A short time later Dan heard what he described as a “thud.”
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): It sounded like something hit the floor or something. I don’t know.
But he didn’t investigate for more than an hour. That’s when Dan Howard says he found her: dead in the tub.
Peter Van Sant: How many times have you ever described a gunshot as a thud?
Det. Sgt. Ken Lallatin: I don’t think I’ve ever described a gunshot as a thud. … I certainly would not expect someone who served in the Marine Corps, served … approximately 20 years in law enforcement, someone who was a firearms instructor, someone who had been on their SWAT team. I think if anybody’s going to know what the sound of a gunshot is from inside a residence, it’s going to be Dan Howard.
As the morning came, Dan Howard called his stepdaughter Brooke Wilkins, and told her the news … it didn’t go well. Lallatin says he could hear Brooke shouting at Dan through the phone.
DAN HOWARD (bodycam, shouting back at his phone): What? What are you talking about? …
DET. SGT.KEN LALLATIN (bodycam): Who was that Dan? …
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): It was my daughter, Brooke …
DET. SGT. KEN LALLATIN (bodycam): Did she just accuse you of this?
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): No.
DET. SGT. KEN LALLATIN (bodycam): That’s what it sounded like. … Why would she do that Dan? Why would she think you did this? … I haven’t heard someone that angry in a long time … I’ll be honest with you. I was not expecting anything like that … I was across the room and I could hear her. She’s angry …
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): Kids don’t want to believe their moms would do that.
Det. Sgt. Ken Lallatin: Not one time have I ever been to a suicide or even heard of one where one of the family members … call and accuse her stepdad of murdering her mom. … it was a very powerful moment. … and I literally was able to see Dan Howard almost physically shrink down.
Peter Van Sant: Like the walls are closing in?
Det. Sgt. Ken Lallatin: Oh, a hundred percent.
WAS THE DEATH SCENE STAGED?
In the early morning of Feb. 3, 2021, Dan Howard’s behavior continued raising the suspicions of Kootenai County detectives. They had just overheard that phone call from his stepdaughter, Brooke Wilkins, accusing him of killing her mother.
Peter Van Sant: And you’re believing that no way she shot herself.
Brooke Wilkins: Right. … I tell him that … I don’t know what happened, but … “I know you did this.”
Detective Sgt. Ken Lallatin confronted Dan about Brooke’s accusation:
DET. SGT. KEN LALLATIN (bodycam): I gotta tell you, that phone call put chills down my spine. …
DET. SGT. KEN LALLATIN (bodycam): You did it, didn’t you Dan?
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): No, I didn’t.
DET. SGT. KEN LALLATIN (bodycam): I didn’t think so, but now, after listening to that, I think you did, didn’t you?
DAN HOWARD (bodycam): How the hell, how the hell — she doesn’t know. She wasn’t here.
“Dan (Howard) knows things that most normal people, ordinary people, don’t know,” says retired Det. Sgt. Ken Lallatin of the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office. “Things like killing someone and staging it to look like a suicide.”
Brian Wilkins
Within minutes, Dan Howard stopped responding to questions. Detectives were now very suspicious, because, as an ex-cop, he had special skills.
Det. Sgt. Ken Lallatin: Dan knows things that most normal people, ordinary people don’t know.
Peter Van Sant: Things like what?
Det. Sgt. Ken Lallatin: Things like killing someone and staging it to look like a suicide.
Kendy Howard’s gun was found in the bathtub. The medical examiner concluded Kendy died from that gunshot. Her daughter, Brooke Wilkins, says her mother never took her gun out of the safe.
Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office
But there wasn’t enough physical evidence at the scene to arrest him. What’s more, later that day, an autopsy was done. The medical examiner concluded Kendy died from that gunshot. Brooke Wilkins was perplexed. She says her mother never took her gun out of the safe.
Brooke Wilkins: Mom never touched a gun. She wouldn’t have used a gun. … there’s something not making sense here.And … I’m so lost and confused because … you know, Dan’s not arrested.
What Brooke Wilkins didn’t know was that the investigation was zeroing in on Dan Howard. Just hours after Kendy’s death, Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Stan Mortensen was called in to consult with detectives. They pieced together a detailed timeline of the couple’s relationship.
Peter Van Sant: What did you learn about Dan Howard?
Stan Mortensen: So we learned … that Dan Howard was not the person that we thought he was … at home and behind and closed doors, he was a different person.
Investigators focused in on an alarming incident Dan Howard was involved in from 2013, when he was still a state trooper. Dan had found out Kendy was having an affair with a neighbor — who also happened to be Dan’s good friend. Enraged, Dan confronted him at his office.
Det. Jerry Northrup: He … threatened to — I believe his words were — splatter his brains all over the walls.
Peter Van Sant: Threatened to kill him?
Det. Jerry Northrup: Threatened to kill him.
Dan Howard was accused of repeatedly harassing the neighbor, and eventually pleaded guilty to two felonies and served almost four months in jail in connection with that incident. He was allowed to resign from the Idaho State Police. After that, Kendy’s friend Michelle Lampert says the couple’s relationship seemed to change.
Michelle Lampert: She was stuck to him like glue, just like glue, like hanging all over him. And she was never that way before. .. I think back, going, was she scared?
In the years that followed, Lampert says Dan was controlling and quick to anger — especially when it came to Kendy’s spending.
Michelle Lampert: Dan never wanted to go do anything cause that would spend money. … I just don’t think she was her full personality when he was around.
But when Dan was about to head back to Alaska for work —
Michelle Lampert: She was a totally different person … I think she realized the more she was free, the more she loved life. And she didn’t have to be under his thumb.
They continued to grow apart. Then Kendy told Lampert about an explosive argument, just seven months before her death.
Michelle Lampert: She had hidden credit cards and he found the bills and that started that argument … He … grabbed her and held her and there was bruises on her neck and her … She sent me pictures … You could see ’em. Clear as day in the pictures. …She just told me not to tell anybody.
Kendy never reported any kind of abuse from Dan Howard to authorities.
Peter Van Sant: How long had this physical abuse been going on? Do you have a sense?
Stan Mortensen: We — we really don’t know. It had been going on at least … six months before she died.
Then, just four nights before Kendy Howard’s death, deputies were called to the Howard home. Kendy’s mother had asked for a welfare check, after hearing a panicked Kendy on the phone. A visibly nervous Kendy answered the door.
DEPUTY (bodycam): You mind if we talk to you guys really quick?
DAN HOWARD (bodycam, sitting on couch): Sounds fine to me.
Hours earlier, Kendy had picked Dan up at the airport, coming home from the oil fields of Alaska. And apparently upset him by saying she wanted a divorce. Kendy tells a deputy she needs to get something from the bedroom.
KENDY HOWARD (bodycam, stuttering): And — so, I can go?
DEPUTY (bodycam): Yeah, do you mind if I follow you?
That let the deputy speak with Kendy away from Dan Howard.
Kendy Howard is seen in bodycam video during her conversation with the deputy.
Kootanai County District Court
KENDY HOWARD (bodycam) I asked for a divorce and he just got home. He’s not taking it good.
DEPUTY (bodycam): OK.
KENDY HOWARD (bodycam) I can’t say what he was going to do …
DEPUTY (bodycam): Did it ever become physical?
KENDY HOWARD: I think I had woke up in time so it wouldn’t.
DEPUTY (bodycam): OK. When you woke up, where was he?
KENDY HOWARD (bodycam): Standing over me …
DEPUTY (bodycam): Was he yelling? Was the argument like a —
KENDY HOWARD: No, that’s the thing —
DEPUTY (bodycam): So he’s always kind of just that calm?
KENDY HOWARD (bodycam): (unintel) It’s weird.
DEPUTY (bodycam): OK. Alright.
KENDY HOWARD (bodycam): I know what I seen. I know what he was going to do …
The deputy helped Kendy leave the house. But investigators would later say they couldn’t arrest Dan Howard because Kendy never told deputies Dan had physically harmed her. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Julia Schoffstall later learned that Kendy had told friends what had happened.
Julia Schoffstall: She wakes up in early morning hours to Dan standing over her … wearing dark clothes … black latex gloves … a pillow in his hand … the look in his eyes … it was a look that she had never seen before and that she wholeheartedly believed in that moment that he was going to kill her.
But later that day, Kendy, returned home.
Julia Schoffstall: She told friends and family that … he wasn’t stupid enough to try something again, that she felt like she had some level of safety …
Peter Van Sant: What’s the tragedy in this case to you? The biggest tragedy of all?
Julia Schoffstall: That she was so close to getting out.
In the text messages to Kendy, Dan Howard said it was all a misunderstanding and he was willing to work things out. But there were other signs he wasn’tOK. The day before Kendy’s death, her brother Brian Wilkins took a long road trip with Dan.
Brian Wilkins: He started asking me about who Kendy was having an affair with.
Brian Wilkins says Dan Howard figured out Kendy was seeing the real estate agent who was helping her buy that new house near her hometown.
Brian Wilkins: You could tell, he was mad.
The next day, Kendy Howard was dead. To prosecutors, the circumstantial evidence against Dan Howard was adding up. After reviewing Kendy’s autopsy and photos taken of Kendy’s body, investigators discovered that, in fact, Kendy had multiple bruises all over her body.
Stan Mortensen: Her body was riddled from head to toe with bruises and some lacerations.
And her jaw had been broken.
Stan Mortensen: I believe that Kendy was beat severely by Dan.
So what really happened that night? The theory that Kendy’s death scene could have been staged began to take on a new light.
Stan Mortensen: Kendy did not die from a gunshot wound …
Peter Van Sant: Wait, wait. Stop. She was shot, I understand, in the mouth … the bullet lodged in her vertebrae. And it didn’t kill her?
Stan Mortensen: Exactly. We believe that Kendy was already dead when she was shot.
HOW DID KENDY HOWARD DIE?
Julia Schoffstall: Dan always had a level of control over Kendy. And I think by February 2nd, he had realized that that control was gone.
Kendy Howard
Brian Wilkins
Weeks into the investigation, prosecutors believed the circumstantial evidence showed Kendy Howard died at the hands of Dan Howard. But with the medical examiner’s ruling that Kendy had died from a gunshot wound, and no DNA evidence linking Dan Howard to Kendy’s gun, prosecutors faced challenges. So, they called in other experts to take a second lookat the evidence, including forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Nara.
Dr. Jennifer Nara: I looked at the autopsy report, I reviewed all the photos … all the X-rays, the toxicology results … I did not agree with the original cause of death, that she died from a gunshot wound at the head.
Nara walked “48 Hours” through her analysis.
Dr. Jennifer Nara: When … I looked at what the trajectory was, the path the bullet took inside Kendy’s mouth, I thought that was unusual … cause it was going in a slightly downward direction. Typically in gunshot-wound suicides, they go either straight back to the mouth or go slightly upward.
Peter Van Sant: And can you demonstrate the path of this bullet?
Dr. Jennifer Nara uses a rod to show the direction that the bullet traveled through Kendy Howard’s mouth, tearing through her tongue.
CBS News
Dr. Jennifer Nara (demonstrating): Yeah, I sure can. So, I have a skull model here … I’m gonna take this rod to show the direction that the bullet traveled through the mouth, through the tongue. … and it tore through the tongue … like a torpedo. … it just went through the center of the tongue.
Peter Van Sant: Would there have been a lot of blood?
Dr. Jennifer Nara: Absolutely. … it’s gonna bleed like crazy.
Peter Van Sant: Because the heart is beating at the time that the bullet went through that tongue.
Dr. Jennifer Nara: Exactly.
But, when Nara reviewed the photos of the crime scene, she says she didn’t see the amount of blood she would have expected to.
Dr. Jennifer Nara: There was not enough blood.
And there were those bruises on Kendy’s body and her broken jaw, which Nara says were sustained before Kendy had died.
Peter Van Sant: Injuries that — that suggested a physical struggle of some sort.
Dr. Jennifer Nara: Correct. … She’s got bruises throughout her body. She’s got bruising on both sides for her neck, which is consistent with her being possibly choked.
Peter Van Sant: What did you conclude?
Dr. Jennifer Nara: I believe that … Kendy Howard was already dead when she sustained that gunshot wound. … she was already strangled or choked to death. And when she was placed in the bathtub, she was already dead.
So, how then did Kendy die? Prosecutors say Dan Howard used a restraining technique he learned back in his days as a state trooper.
Julia Schoffstall: We believe that he utilized a technique known as a carotid restraint.
Peter Van Sant:Show me how it works.
Stan Mortenson (demonstrates): So, what you would do is, you’d place your arm around somebody’s neck and head, and their chin is gonna be in the crook of your elbow.
Prior to becoming an attorney, prosecutor Stan Mortenson had been a sheriff’s deputy, and, like Dan Howard, had been trained in administering the carotid restraint hold — rarely used, as it cuts off blood flow to the brain.
Stan Mortenson: If it’s applied too long, it can cause death. … And that right there was our theory on how Dan killed Kendy.
Peter Van Sant: It’s an interesting theory, but you do concede it is a theory, right? … no witness came forward to say that Dan told me he did this or … there’s no physical evidence that proves that he did this, right?
Stan Mortenson: Not the carotid restraint technique, correct. … but Dan knew how to use this technique and taught other people how to use it. So, we weren’t just grabbing this theory out of thin air. This was something that Dan actually knew.
In April 2023, Dan Howard was charged with murder. He was also charged with domestic battery from an incident seven months before Kendy’s death. He pleaded not guilty.
Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office
It took two years for the prosecutors to build their case. Finally, in April 2023, Dan Howard was charged with murder. He was also charged with domestic battery from that incident seven months before Kendy’s death, when she took those photos of her bruises and sent them to her friend Michelle Lampert. He pleaded not guilty and posted bail. Dan Howard was ordered to wear an ankle monitor while he awaited trial.
In his opening statement, prosecutor Stan Mortenson said Dan and Kendy Howard had fought over finances that night, and it turned physical, with Dan bruising Kendy, breaking her jaw, then killing her with the carotid restraint hold. Then, he said, Dan Howard staged the scene by placing Kendy’s body in the bathtub and shooting her.
STAN MORTENSEN (in court): Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence will come in and will demonstrate that this was not a suicide. … Evidence will show that Kendy died of asphyxiation. … Evidence will show that Dan Howard is guilty of murder.
Dan Howard’s lawyer, Jason Johnson, countered the state’s claims by asserting that an emotionally troubled Kendy Howard has shot herself.
JASON JOHNSON (in court): She is struggling with whether she wants to leave Dan.
He pointed out that Dan Howard’s DNA was not even on Kendy’s gun.
JASON JOHNSON (in court):The gun had Kendy’s blood on it. … But Dan is excluded.
And he dismissed the State’s assertion there was a physical fight that night.
Jason Johnson: Kendy did not have any … DNA under her fingernails. … there were no defensive marks on Dan.
Johnson also said the investigators were all wrong about the lack of blood at the scene, pointing out that several hours had passed before some of the crime scene photographs of the bathtub had been taken and some of the water could have drained.
JASON JOHNSON (in court): How much blood went down that drain?
Johnson attacked the prosecution’s claim that Kendy Howard was dead from asphyxiation before she was shot by calling that medical examiner who performed Kendy’s original autopsy.
JASON JOHNSON (in court): Your cause of death is gunshot wound?
DR. JOHN HOWARD (in court): That’s my opinion.
More than a week into the proceedings, the trial recessed for a long weekend break. That night, prosecutors learned of a new, dramatic development that seemed to be right out of a television crime show. It seemed Dan Howard was making a run for it.
WAS DAN HOWARD MAKING A RUN FOR IT?
With his trial winding down, Dan Howard, who was out on bail with an ankle monitor, suddenly took off.
Peter Van Sant: This was the great escape. He was hoping to get away?
Stan Mortenson: He did it right after we finished with all of our evidence.
A deputy was tracking Dan Howard that night.
Stan Mortenson: You know, this is I-90, going 70 miles-an-hour. He abruptly took an exit and then got back on the highway … you know, looking in his rear-view mirror, “is somebody following me?”
About an hour later, Dan Howard made it to the Spokane International Airport.
Peter Van Sant: He’s right there at the airport terminal.
Stan Mortenson: He’s right there at the airport terminal. Dan was taken out of the car. He was put into handcuffs.
Dan Howard claimed he had gone there to help a friend return a rental car — not to make a run for it.
Stan Mortenson: And I think it’s possible that he was gonna cut the ankle monitor off, leave it in his car and then drive away in another rental car.
Instead, Dan Howard’s drive was a short one back to a jail cell in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. His bail was revoked. Days later, the prosecution made closing arguments.
JULIA SCHOFFSTALL (in court): Ladies and gentlemen, the state has shown you … this was not suicide ’cause a dead person cannot shoot themselves in the mouth.
The jury was not told about Dan Howard’s escape attempt. His defense attorney insisted that Kendy took her own life.
JASON JOHNSON (in court): The scene is consistent with suicide.
And that Dan Howard did not have the skills to “stage” a murder scene.
JASON JOHNSON (in court): There’s no evidence that he worked as a detective. No evidence that he had any sort of homicide training. Uh, no evidence of the knowledge of staging a scene.
After 10 days of trial, 62 witnesses and just over eight hours of deliberations, the jury reached a verdict: guilty of second-degree murder.
Brooke Wilkins: I cried. There was — I think I gasped that — there was crying and —
Peter Van Sant: And did you look at Dan?
Brooke Wilkins: I’m looking at him and as he turns there’s just — there’s no expression. There’s no look of remorse.
Dan Howard had shown no emotion. But two months later at his sentencing, he begged the judge for leniency.
Dan Howard make a plea for leniency at his sentencing.
Pool
DAN HOWARD (in court): I love my wife, and I miss her. (cries) And … I am not that monster, I assure you, that, um, people have portrayed me to be. Kendy and I had, um, 28 years together. And, um, raised a family. Had mostly a good marriage and a good life. … I’m not that animal that they portray me to be. … It is not my intention to anger the court or disrespect the process that, uh, I used to believe in … But, your Honor is about to sentence an innocent man to prison.
But the judge wasn’t moved.
JUDGE LAMONT BERECZ (in court): What we know beyond a reasonable doubt is that you strangled your wife. You murdered her. And then you staged her naked body in the bathtub, shot her through the mouth, and tried to pass this off as a suicide. … You killed a mother. You killed a grandmother. You killed a sister. … You snuffed that out because of your own pride, greed, and anger.”
“Pride, greed, and anger,” said the judge. But others kept coming back to the word “control.”
Julia Schoffstall: To me, this case was about a man who thought that he could control a woman. … And if he couldn’t get his way, he was going to force it.
Brooke Wilkins: I cried. … it’s such a relief. … that … people got to hear what actually happened.
Brooke Wilkins’ daughter Kenly was just 8 when her beloved grandmother was murdered. Now 12, she treasures these glass chickens that her grandma collected.
Peter Van Sant: Do you feel a connection to your grandmother when you — when you see these?
Kenly Wilkins: Yeah.
Brooke Wilkins: She had had a china hutch.
Kenly Wilkins: Yeah, a china hutch. It was just full of chickens. So I’d always just try and like, look at how many different colors there were.
Peter Van Sant: Pretty cool grandma. You loved her, didn’t you?
Kenly Wilkins: (Nods yes)
“She wanted to just love life. And she loved life,” Michelle Lampert said of her friend, Kendy Howard.
Brian Wilkins
Peter Van Sant: What is the hardest thing for you?
Kenly Wilkins: Probably her smile.
Peter Van Sant: It’s tough, isn’t it?
Kenly Wilkins: Yeah. (cries)
Michelle Lampert: I want justice for Kendy. … what I hope they get from the story that you don’t have to live like this. … I wish I could have stopped it. I’m still shocked that we’re still talking about domestic violence … And that sometimes you can’t do anything. (cries)
Dan Howard was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Produced by Chuck Stevenson and Lauren Clark. Cindy Cesare, Danielle Austen and Sara Ely Hulse are the development producers. Megan Kelly Brown is the associate producer. Greg Kaplan and Michael Baluzy are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dr. Amelia Huntsberger testified to U. S. Senators, “I currently live and work in Oregon, but previously practiced medicine in rural Idaho for more than a decade. I was on the advisory board of the Idaho Perinatal Project, that worked to advance the health of moms.”
The board certified OB/GYN says she and many other doctors who serve mothers have had to move out of Idaho, and to states like Oregon and Washington, after the U. S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.
“Idaho enacted some of the strictest abortion restrictions in the country, without exceptions to allow doctors to act to preserve a pregnant patient’s health. Not even to prevent harm to organs or fertility, unless an abortion is necessary to prevent death. The lawmakers who created these bills knew it. The cruelty was built in.”
She added, “Doctors in Idaho like me tried to raise awareness of the harm from the abortion bans. I naively thought that if people just understood the laws, they’d change them. As a result of talking publicly about abortion, we began to fear for the safety of our family. Just over a year ago, we packed our things and moved to Oregon.”
Oregon U.S. Senator Ron Wyden is the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which held a hearing about the impacts on women’s health.
He said, “Women are miscarrying, suffering life threatening blood loss, losing their ability to bear future children. They are dying because they were denied emergency medical care that they needed. Doctors are being targeted or forced to relocate to states where they can practice basic medicine.”
Wyden described horrific scenes and agonizing choices. “A woman may come into the emergency room with an ectopic pregnancy or bleeding out from a miscarriage. Some states that have passed abortion bans into law claim that they contain exceptions for emergency care if a woman’s life is at risk. In reality, these exceptions, are forcing doctors to play lawyer and lawyers to play doctor.”
Outside the hearing on the Capitol steps, Washington U. S. Senator Patty Murray said, “We should all refuse to accept a status quo in America where pregnant women are dying.”
With all the excitement over joining the Big Ten this season, it’s important for the third-ranked Oregon Ducks to be ready for their non-conference opponents, too.
“You can’t come out sleepwalking. I think that happens from year to year, people just come out sleepwalking and if you fall into that you just dig yourself in a hole,” new Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel said. “So, it’s all about starting fast, dominating the middle eight, and then finishing strong.”
The Ducks open the season Saturday against Idaho as one of the newest members of the Big Ten. There are lofty expectations for Oregon with Gabriel under center.
The sixth-year senior joins the Ducks after two seasons at Oklahoma. Last year, he threw for 3,660 yards and 30 touchdowns, with just six interceptions. He also ran for 12 touchdowns, second most nationally among QBs.
Idaho also has a new quarterback in Jack Layne — an Oregon native — after last year’s starter Gevani McCoy transferred to Oregon State. Layne, a redshirt sophomore, started in one game last season, throwing for 275 yards and six touchdowns.
Oregon coach Dan Lanning said it doesn’t matter the opponent, the Ducks’ focus is always on improving in all facets of the game.
“We know that we want to set the bar for us: What’s our bar? What’s our standard? What do we want it to look like? And being self-aware enough that you can go attack the things that you have to improve,” Lanning said. “And regardless of who you’re playing, when you’re playing, we always talk about our biggest opponent is Oregon, right? We have to go play or do the best to be the best version of Oregon that we can be.”
According to a statement from a league spokesperson: “As the one distribution partner that declined to expand along with us, Comcast Xfinity viewers in many areas will not have access to live broadcasts of the highly anticipated inaugural B1G season games for Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington.”
Comcast said in a statement that it is sensitive to the impact on Xfinity customers and hopes for a fair agreement with Fox and the Big Ten Network.
Starting center
Lanning wasn’t going to reveal Oregon’s starting center against Idaho. Among those in contention for the job during fall camp were Iapani Laloulu and Charlie Pickard.
The Ducks need to replace Jackson Powers-Johnson, last season’s Rimington Trophy winner who was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders in the second round of the NFL draft.
Laloulu started for the Ducks in the Fiesta Bowl while Pickard is a former walk-on whose dad went to Oregon.
“We’ll send out the group that we think has done the best in fall camp to start the game. But I think for us to think long-term we have to be able to prepare and have multiple guys play at multiple positions,” Lanning said.
A look back
Oregon finished last season 12-2, with a loss to rival Washington in the final Pac-12 championship game before capping the season with a 45-6 drubbing of Liberty in the Fiesta Bowl. Oregon’s offense averaged 531.4 yards and 44.2 points per game, second nationally in both categories.
Idaho, which plays in the Big Sky, went 9-4 last season and advanced to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs before losing to Albany, 30-22.
In addition to losing McCoy to the Beavers, wide receivers Hayden Hatten and Jermaine Jackson both went to the NFL. Six other starters for the Vandals went to the transfer portal.
The Oregon Ducks are looking for a comfortable win before the big games arrive in their inaugural Big Ten season that is filled with hopes of a deep playoff run. Quarterback Bo Nix is now in the NFL, replaced by Oklahoma transfer Dillon Gabriel. Idaho is picked to finish third in the Big Sky after a 9-4 season that included a run to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs.
KEY MATCHUP
Facing an Oregon offense that last season averaged 531.4 yards and 44.2 points per game, Idaho’s defense will be tested. The Vandals ranked 14th nationally among FCS teams in yards allowed (306.8). All four of Idaho’s starting defensive lineman return from last season.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Idaho: QB Idaho Jack Layne takes over after last year’s starter Gevani McCoy transferred to Oregon State. Layne, a redshirt sophomore, started in one game last season, throwing for 275 yards and six touchdowns.
Oregon: Gabriel. All eyes will be on the sixth-year senior and Heisman Trophy hopeful. Last year, he threw for 3,660 yards and 30 touchdowns, with just six interceptions. He also ran for 12 touchdowns, second most nationally among QBs.
FACTS & FIGURES
The Ducks’ preseason ranking is their highest since 2014. … Idaho starts the season with four of its first five games on the road. After the Ducks, the Vandals visit Wyoming. … Oregon has won 19 straight home openers and 32 straight against nonconference foes in Eugene. … Idaho kick returner Abraham Williams, a Weber State transfer, has five 100-yard return touchdowns in his career, one short of the NCAA record. … Oregon was one of just three teams in the nation last season to rank in the top 10 for both scoring offense (44.2 points per game) and scoring defense (16.5 points per game). … The last time the two teams met was in 2004. Oregon won 48-10 at home.
The Washington tribes that agreed to provide wolves to Colorado’s reintroduction program have rescinded their offer, forcing state wildlife officials to seek a different source — a search that has proved difficult in the past.
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation said they would no longer provide the wolves after speaking with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, which has reservation land in Colorado. The Washington tribes — which had been expected to be a major source for the next round of the reintroduction effort — withdrew their agreement in a June 6 letter to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
“It has come to our attention that necessary and meaningful consultation was not completed with the potentially impacted tribes,” wrote Jarred-Michael Erickson, chairman of the Colville business council, in the letter. “Out of respect for the sovereignty, cultures and memberships of Indian Tribes in Colorado and neighboring states, who may be impacted by this project, the Colville Tribes cannot assist with this project at this time.”
Colorado voters in 2020 narrowly decided to reintroduce gray wolves and mandated that state wildlife officials do so by Dec. 31, 2023.
The plan detailing how CPW will execute the reintroduction effort states that the agency should release a total of 30 to 50 wolves within the next few years, a target it plans to reach by relocating 10 to 15 wolves every winter.
The controversial vote has caused deep frustration in Colorado’s ranching communities, where people say the wolves will negatively impact their businesses and ways of life. Support for the reintroduction primarily came from urban Front Range communities, while the rural areas where wolves would live opposed the measure.
The Southern Ute Indian Tribe has concerns about the wolves potential impact on livestock, deer and elk herds and their use of the Brunot Area hunting rights reserved for tribal members, tribal leadership said Thursday in a statement. Tribal leaders said they would continue to work with Colorado Parks and Wildlife “to establish a framework for working together that enables the state to implement its reintroduction program while simultaneously recognizing the sovereign authority of the Tribe on tribal lands and the interest shared by the Tribe and the State in the Brunot Area.”
So far, CPW’s monthly maps showing where the wolves have roamed have indicated activity in the central and northern mountains, far from the Southern Utes’ southwestern Colorado reservation. But plans call for the next round of releases to occur farther south.
Colorado wildlife officials struggled last year to find a state or tribe willing to provide wolves for reintroduction here. The three states identified as ideal for sourcing wolves — Idaho, Montana and Wyoming — all rejected Colorado’s request for wolves.
CPW spokesman Joey Livingston on Thursday declined to discuss source negotiations and said the agency would issue a statement when it finds a source.
“We continue speaking with other potential sources of wolves,” he wrote in an email, “and will take great care in implementing the plan to create a self-sustaining wolf population while minimizing impacts on our landowners, rural communities, agricultural industries and partners.”
In October, Oregon agreed to provide up to 10 wolves over the coming winter. Ten wolves captured in Oregon were released in Colorado in December.
Colorado wildlife officials have also talked with Washington state officials about potentially capturing wolves there. While Washington officials previously said they could not provide wolves for the first release, they indicated they were open to further conversations.
(Associated Press) – Multiple communities in Idaho have been evacuated after lightning strikes sparked fast-moving wildfires.
Videos posted to social media include a man fleeing the town of Juliaetta, driving past a building and trees engulfed in flames as a tunnel of smoke rises over the roadway.
As that and other blazes scorch the Pacific Northwest, authorities say California’s largest wildfire is zero-percent contained after destroying 134 structures and threatening 4,200 more.
A sheriff says it was started by a man who pushed a burning car into a gully.
Officials say they have arrested a 42-year-old man who will be arraigned Monday.
The Biden administration’s new Title IX rule expanding protections for LGBTQ+ students has been temporarily blocked in four states after a federal judge in Louisiana found that it overstepped the Education Department’s authority.
In a preliminary injunction granted Thursday, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty called the new rule an “abuse of power” and a “threat to democracy.” His order blocks the rule in Louisiana, which filed a challenge to the rule in April, and in Mississippi, Montana and Idaho, which joined the suit.
The Education Department did not immediately respond to the order.
The Louisiana case is among at least seven backed by more than 20 Republican-led states fighting Biden’s rule. The rule, set to take hold in August, expands Title IX civil rights protections to LGBTQ+ students, expands the definition of sexual harassment at schools and colleges, and adds safeguards for victims.
Doughty, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, is the first judge to block the rule. It deals a major blow to the new protections, which were praised by civil rights advocates but drew backlash from opponents who say they undermine the spirit of Title IX, a 1972 law barring sex discrimination in education.
Louisiana is among several Republican states with laws requiring people to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their sex assigned at birth, restricting transgender students from using facilities that align with their gender identity. President Biden’s rule clashes with those laws and claimed to supersede them.
The Louisiana lawsuit argued that the new rule would force schools across the four states to pay millions of dollars to update their facilities. In his decision, the judge called it an “invasion of state sovereignty” and concluded that the states were likely to succeed on the merits of the case.
His order says the rule likely violates free speech laws by requiring schools to use pronouns requested by students. It also questions whether the Biden administration has legal authority to expand Title IX to LGBTQ+ students.
“The Court finds that the term ‘sex discrimination’ only included discrimination against biological males and females at the time of enactment,” Doughty wrote in his order.
The judge expressed concern that the rule could require schools to allow transgender women and girls to compete on female sports teams. Several Republican states have laws forbidding transgender girls from competing on girls teams.
The Biden administration has proposed a separate rule that would forbid such blanket bans, but it said the newly finalized rule does not apply to athletics. Still, Doughty said it could be interpreted to apply to sports.
“The Final Rule applies to sex discrimination in any educational ‘program’ or ‘activity’ receiving Federal financial assistance,” he wrote. “The terms ‘program’ or ‘activity’ are not defined but could feasibly include sports teams for recipient schools.”
Judges in at least six other cases are weighing whether to put a similar hold on Biden’s rule. The Defense of Freedom Institute, a right-leaning nonprofit that backed the Louisiana lawsuit, applauded Doughty’s order.
“We are confident that other courts and states will soon follow,” said Bob Eitel, president of the nonprofit and a Trump administration education official.
Biden issued the new rule after dismantling another one created by Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos. That rule narrowed the definition of sexual harassment and added protections for students accused of sexual misconduct.
On social media Thursday, DeVos called the Louisiana decision a victory, saying Biden’s “anti-woman radical rewrite of Title IX is not just crazy but it’s also illegal.”
What does Naples, Florida, and Boise, Idaho, have in common? According to a new ranking by U.S. News and World Report, they lead the pack for the 150 Best Places to Live.
Beachgoers soak in the sun in Naples, Florida, (top) which tops U.S. News’ list of Best Places to Live. Coming in behind the coastal town is Boise, Idaho, (bottom) at No. 2. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images (Top) and Getty Images/iStockphoto/knowlesgallery (Bottom) )
Beachgoers soak in the sun in Naples, Florida, (top) which tops U.S. News’ list of Best Places to Live. Coming in behind the coastal town is Boise, Idaho, (bottom) at No. 2. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images (Top) and Getty Images/iStockphoto/knowlesgallery (Bottom) )
What do Naples, Florida, and Boise, Idaho, have in common? According to a new ranking by U.S. News and World Report, they lead the pack for the 150 Best Places to Live.
“I think what did surprise me the most was the variety of different places at the top of the list,” said Erika Giovanetti with U.S. News and World Report.
Topping the list is Naples, and it’s not just the sunshine behind the desire to live there but also the strong job market.
“Naples has a really low unemployment rate and relatively high salaries,” she said. “It’s a resort city. So of course, there’s the tourism industry, but it’s also a place where a lot of retirees live. So, a lot of health care work in Naples.”
Boise was No. 2 and did better than Naples when it comes to quality of life. Colorado Springs, Colorado, was No. 3 followed by Charlotte and Raleigh in North Carolina, which rounded off the top five.
D.C. came in at No. 44 — not bad for a big city, according to Giovanetti.
“It was really lifted up by its strong job market and quality of life,” she said.
The cost of living was a big mark against the city, which left the District, and several other pricey big cities, further down on the list.
No other cities in the D.C. region made the ranking. In Virginia, Virginia Beach did come in at No. 8 and Richmond ranked No. 64. In Maryland, Baltimore was ranked No. 118 and Salisbury was No. 126.
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6 people killed, 10 others injured in Idaho when pickup crashes into passenger van
Updated: 2:25 AM PDT May 19, 2024
Six people were killed Saturday in Idaho in a two-car accident that included a large passenger van, authorities said.Ten others were injured in the crash on U.S. Highway 20 in Idaho Falls and taken to local hospitals, Idaho State Police said in a statement.An eastbound pickup crossed the centerline about 5:30 a.m. and hit a westbound passenger van, police said.The van’s driver and five passengers died from their injuries at the scene. Nine other passengers in the van and the pickup’s driver were hospitalized, according to police.Police have not released other details of the accident, including where the 15 people in the van were from or where they were headed. Idaho State Police, which is handling the investigation, did not immediately return phones messages or emails Saturday to The Associated Press.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho —
Six people were killed Saturday in Idaho in a two-car accident that included a large passenger van, authorities said.
Ten others were injured in the crash on U.S. Highway 20 in Idaho Falls and taken to local hospitals, Idaho State Police said in a statement.
An eastbound pickup crossed the centerline about 5:30 a.m. and hit a westbound passenger van, police said.
The van’s driver and five passengers died from their injuries at the scene. Nine other passengers in the van and the pickup’s driver were hospitalized, according to police.
Police have not released other details of the accident, including where the 15 people in the van were from or where they were headed. Idaho State Police, which is handling the investigation, did not immediately return phones messages or emails Saturday to The Associated Press.
