Police identify two homicide victims who could be connected to escaped Idaho inmate
MERIDIAN, Idaho (ABC4) — Escaped Idaho inmate Skylar Meade was located and arrested on Thursday, and Idaho State Police released details on Friday regarding the homicides being investigated in connection to his prison break.
ISP has released more information on the victims — an 83-year-old man and a 72-year-old man — and the circumstances officials believe surrounded the deaths of the individuals. However, police also note that the cause and manner of death for both men are still under investigation.
Idaho police take escaped inmate Skylar Meade into custody on March 21, 2024, after he escaped from a Boise prison. (Courtesy: Twin Falls Police Department) Idaho police take escaped inmate Skylar Meade into custody on March 21, 2024, after he escaped from a Boise prison. (Courtesy: Twin Falls Police Department)
Officials believe that, after Meade escaped from the Idaho Department of Corrections with the help of Nicholas Umphenour in the early morning of March 20, the pair fled from Boise, Idaho, in a stolen Honda Civic.
According to ISP, Meade and Umphenour are believed to have driven through the northern part of Idaho, where they encountered a man walking his dogs near the Idaho town of Juliaetta.
Detectives believe Meade and Umpheour took the man, identified as 83-year-old James L. Mauney, and his dogs into the man’s Chrysler Pacifica and drove east. Idaho police said the Civic was found on March 20 “in a desolate area near Leland,” and the body of Mauney was also found nearby.
“At this time, detectives do not believe Mauney knew the suspects,” ISP said in a press release.
Another man was found dead near his home in Orofino, Idaho, on March 20. Investigators found the body of 72-year-old Gerald “Don” Henderson at his Orofino home, along with Mauney’s dogs and shackles ISP believes were left by Meade.
“Detectives believe Henderson may have been acquainted with the suspects, but the duration and extent are unknown,” ISP said in the release.
Mauney’s dogs were alive and unharmed, and police said they were returned to his family members.
Officers found the stolen Chrysler Pacifica at a home in Filer, Idaho, and ISP said Meade and Umphenour left that home in different vehicles but both were ultimately caught. ISP said a 52-year-old Filer woman was arrested in relation to “Meade’s flight from the residence.”
On March 21, when Meade was taken into custody, the Twin Falls Police Department said he was a passenger in a pickup truck that was being pursued by police and investigators.
The investigation is active and ongoing.
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