Supremacist Leads Sheriff To Body Suspect Confesses To Killing, Seeks Death Penalty
Faron Lovelace, a federal fugitive captured here, has confessed to murdering a Bonner County man - a white supremacist who had plotted with Lovelace to kill several elected officials.
Lovelace led authorities to a shallow grave this week and is cooperating with authorities, saying he wants the death penalty for his crimes.
“He told us he murdered someone, that he shot the guy and buried him. Then he led us right to the spot,” Sheriff Chip Roos said.
The murdered man, whose name has not been released, was a friend of Lovelace’s and shared his white-supremacist philosophy, Roos said.
“They had planned projects together which included killing people they considered their enemies. One plan included killing me and other elected officials outside the county,” Roos said.
The sheriff said he was on Lovelace’s hit list for statements he had made during Randy Weaver’s standoff with federal agents at Ruby Ridge in 1992.
Lovelace confessed to the murder and the murder plots because he wants to be put to death, Roos said.
“He told me he has spent 17 years in prison and would rather die than spend the rest of his life in jail. He believes an eye for eye is proper justice and said he took a life, so he owes his,” the sheriff said.
According to authorities, Lovelace, 39, had a falling-out with his Aryan friend in July 1995. He shot the man in Bonner County, then hauled the body up Pack River Road into Boundary County. There, Lovelace dug a 6-inch-deep grave and buried the body.
“He gave us all the details about what they did before he killed him and told us how it all happened,” Roos said. “He probably knows a lot about other people and their involvement in other crimes, too, but I doubt he’s going to share that.”
The dead man, believed to be about 25 years old, never officially was reported missing. He lived in Bonner County for several years but did not work.
The man’s neighbors asked officers to check his house after they failed to see him for months at a time. But Roos said deputies found nothing out of the ordinary at the house and had no idea the man was missing or dead.
The man’s relatives have been contacted and authorities have called in a forensic dentist to positively identify the remains before releasing a name.
Lovelace will be charged with murder later this week and Roos said he will push for the death penalty as Lovelace has asked.
Lovelace was arrested in Priest River on Sunday after hiding out for two years in the mountains around Priest Lake. He was convicted of armed bank robbery and escaped from a prison in Wisconsin. Since then federal agents have hunted Lovelace, who was ranked No. 15 on the U.S. Marshal Service most-wanted list.
Lovelace was squatting on land at Priest Lake where he pitched a rustic camp site and cleared an area for a home. When FBI agents searched the site, they confiscated nine weapons, one possibly being the murder weapon, Roos said. Lovelace also had the area booby-trapped with homemade bombs.
Detectives have talked with Lovelace for several days and are making a videotape of his confession and plea for the death penalty.
Lovelace wanted an attorney who will not fight the death penalty and will make sure he is tried properly so a death sentence cannot be appealed.
“He said death is the route he wants to take and wants to make sure we have enough information for a capital case,” Roos said.
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