CUSTER COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) — The Idaho Army National Guard just wrapped up its 14th search and rescue mission of the year this week, rescuing a stranded hiker.
Two hikers in Custer County got severe food poisoning while in the mountains and were too weak to hike out. The Custer County Sheriff’s Office called in the National Guard for assistance. Lifeflight was able to reach one of the hikers, but couldn’t get back to the second because of power limitations and the steep terrain.
That’s when an IDARNG crew from the National Guard responded in a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter. Within two hours after receiving the call, they were in the air and hoisted the stranded hiker, his dog, two ground search and rescue team members, and all their packs and equipment.
The hiker was taken back to Gowen Field, where he was reunited with his family. Officials say without the Army National Guard’s team’s involvement, rescuers would’ve been forced to pull the hiker out by sled in the dark.
BANNOCK COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) — A Wyoming man is now in custody after a multi-state search for a 16-year-old girl reported missing out of Utah.
Anthony Holm, 42, of Star Valley, Wyoming, was arrested and charged with felony kidnapping by the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office after deputies located him and the missing juvenile in the Lava Hot Springs area. The teen has been safely reunited with her parents.
On Friday afternoon, November 14, Bannock County dispatch received a call for assistance from the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office in Utah. The Utah agency was actively searching for the missing juvenile, who was believed to be traveling with an adult male, later identified as Holm.
Acting quickly on the provided information, a Bannock County deputy was dispatched to the area of Lava Hot Springs. Within 10 minutes of the call, the deputy located Holm’s vehicle.
Following interviews with both the adult and the juvenile, deputies arrested Holm on a charge of felony kidnapping and booked him into the Bannock County Detention Center.
The Bannock County Sheriff’s Office publicly extended its thanks to the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office for their crucial cooperation and acknowledged the efforts of all agencies involved in ensuring the juvenile’s safe return.
CHALLIS, Idaho (KIFI) — The family of Patrick Shelton is speaking out for the first time, sharing their pain and anger just hours after Allan Douglas Bruce was sentenced yesterday, Nov. 17, for Shelton’s murder. The victim, who was killed in May of this year, would have celebrated his 48th birthday this past Saturday.
Local News 8 was able to speak in an exclusive interview with members of Patrick Shelton’s family following the sentencing. It was the first time Shelton’s family went on camera to share their journey over the last seven months as they remembered the man whose life was taken far too soon.
Patrick’s daughter, Hope Shelton, emphasized her father’s selflessness, even in the face of his own hardships. “My dad was a good person,” she said. “He was homeless, and he still helped me buy my car.”
Killer’s Cold Cruelty: A Shocking 18-Page Letter
Many listeners on Monday were in tears as they listened to Patrick’s daughters give their impact statements in front of the man the court found responsible for the murder of their father. The emotional tension in the courtroom boiled over when Hope detailed the callousness of her father’s killer, a man who claimed they were friends. Bruce showed no emotion as Patrick Shelton’s two daughters confronted him.
Hope revealed she received an 18-page letter from Bruce following her father’s death. She initially believed it would be an apology. Instead, she found a letter that was filled with insults, sarcastically claiming Shelton had died from a “severe case of terminal cranial rectiumitus,” and adding the cruel claim that Bruce had saved the family the expense of a funeral.
Photos of Alan Bruce’s letter to Hope Shelton: Courtesy Shelton Family
“He stole my father away from me. And then he has the audacity to write me a letter,” raged Hope in her impact statement.
“He made it seem like he was justified, that, well, he was doing us a favor,” Hope went on to tell Local News 8. “(He said) He was doing everyone a favor by dismembering my dad and throwing him in the river… We would have paid for the funeral.”
“Something Alan Will Have to Atone for Forever”
Patrick’s oldest daughter, Shea, said in her impact statement, “worst fears become reality, he’s dead, and the hope of anything ever being recovered disappears like smoke.”
For Hope, the loss is compounded by major missed life milestones. She will turn 18 in a few days, and her father was murdered just a few weeks before her high school graduation. She never got the chance to tell him she had been accepted into Boise State University, but she believes her father would have been proud.
In her final words to the court and to the cameras, Hope focused on justice and moral debt. “Alan took a kind and good person from this world, and that’s something that Alan will have to atone for forever.”
