LATAH COUNTY AUTHORITIES STRING ALONG FAMILIES OF MURDERED UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO STUDENTS IN MOSCOW FOR POLITICAL AND TACTICAL ADVANTAGES

It's clear that after more than 20 years Latah County (Idaho) law enforcement officials, and in particular the Latah County Prosecutor's Office, continue to cut corners and intentionally stall investigations in major crimes, like the murder of four University of Idaho students in Moscow over the second weekend of November so to create their own courtroom narrative in the interest of gaining convictions, or cover up government ineptitude once an arrest is made rather than getting to the truth of the tragedies that occur.

Not one day after the discovery of the killings of the four U of I students in Moscow, Latah County Prosecutor William Thompson was videotaped walking through the crime scene, where clearly he had no reason to be. This was likely the impetus for the declaration by Former FBI Special Agent Maureen O'Connell during a Fox News Channel interview (aired on 11/25/22) that there were a lot of people who had no business being there traipsing around [in the crime scene]. Indeed, being in the scene, even in his capacity as a prosecutor, makes him a witness that can be called at trial by the defense, though this isn't the first time Thompson's office has gotten away with shady investigative and trial practices.

In 1999, Donna Fontaine and Fred Palahniuk were found dead in rural Latah County Idaho, where the City of Moscow is the county seat. For nine months in an investigation spearheaded and personally directed by Prosecuting Attorney William Thompson, police and prosecutors focused not on an actual investigation into the deaths, but on "Missouri Sharpshooting", the practice of shooting a hole in a barn then drawing the target around the bullet hole, or making the narrative fit the state's case and evidence rather than determining the true facts.

Tactical leaks of false information, innuendo, implications and outright lies from Thompson's office, as well as misconduct of his deputy prosecutors were designed to handicap any (future) defense or due process, and to cover up the fact that the 1999 crime scene was not only left unsecured (literally no law enforcement presence) for more than three days after finding burned bodies of Fontaine and Palahniuk, but that friends, family and neighbors walked through and picked through the charred remains of the garage where the bodies were found days before evidence (other than the bodies) was collected or documented.

Fontaine's ex-husband Dale Shackelford, his [then] fiance, her mother and two of Shackelford's employees were subsequently arrested and convicted of charges related to the deaths. After a three month trial, Shackelford was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to death in 2001, with others spending nearly a year in jail while Latah County officials coerced and cajoled them into entering pleas to other charges. Shackelford's death sentences were reversed on appeal and he was sentenced to consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole because, despite the judge's ruling, the jury did not find facts which would allow capital punishment in the case.

Only after Shackelford had been on Idaho's death row for more than three years was it discovered that Thompson's office had withheld vital autopsy information from the defense which proved that Fontaine's death had been the result of accident rather than murder. However, courts (at the insistence of Thompson) have refused to review or even consider the information. Shackelford remains incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Center near Boise.

While it is the duty of law enforcement to investigate the murders of the four U of I students, you can bet your last dollar it is Thompson and his crew that are actually in charge of what is being done, not done, swept under the rug and hidden from the public as he has been doing for more than 20 years, all the while hiding behind the cloak of his office.

_____________
You can read what really happened in the deaths of Donna Fontaine and Fred Palahniuk by going to idahoprisonblog.org and clicking on the "Dale's Case" link on the sidebar.