Drug ‘Ripoff’ May Have Led To Murder Bonners Ferry Teen Accused Of Killing Acquaintance, 15

A drug deal gone awry and a day of smoking marijuana and drinking may have prompted a Bonners Ferry teenager to murder a 15-year-old acquaintance, authorities said.

Wayne Thurman, 18, is accused of shooting Cedar Pfenning to death in the woods south of Bonners Ferry last month. Thurman has been charged with first-degree murder.

During a day-long preliminary hearing, prosecutor Randall Day tried to link Thurman to the murder. Day called witnesses who said Thurman talked of killing Pfenning for “ripping him off” in a drug deal.

On Aug. 3, after drinking and smoking marijuana all day, Thurman went off into the woods with Pfenning. Thurman had a .44-caliber pistol holstered on his hip when the two left, witnesses said.

“Wayne said, ‘let’s you (Pfenning) and me go on a drunken stumble in the woods,”’ testified Joy Canavan, 18. She was with the two teens and several other friends camping in a meadow near Naples, Idaho.

“They left with a full vodka bottle. That was the last time I saw Cedar,” Canavan said.

Authorities found Pfenning’s body nine days later in the woods near where the group was partying. Autopsy results showed Pfenning was shot four times with a .44-caliber pistol. One bullet went through his head, the others struck him in the chest and back.

Boundary County authorities learned of the murder from one of the teens in the group. The teenager said Thurman confessed to shooting Pfenning and leaving him for dead.

Thurman was arrested the day Pfenning’s body was recovered. He still was wearing the pistol holstered on his hip, said Sheriff Greg Sprungl.

In court, Canavan told of picking up Thurman in Naples on Aug. 3 and taking him along with several others friends to Bonners Ferry.

The group bought several bottles of liquor and Thurman purchased marijuana from one of Canavan’s relatives, she said. Everyone except Canavan smoked and drank in the car and Thurman talked of murdering Pfenning, Canavan said.

“He said he should kill Cedar for ripping him off in a drug deal,” Canavan testified.

Later that day the group met up with Pfenning at a campsite near Naples, about eight miles south of Bonners Ferry. Thurman and Pfenning went of into the woods alone, even though others in the group tried to stop them.

“When Wayne (Thurman) left the tent I said, ‘no,’ meaning not to do what he said in the car,” Canavan testified. The others at the camp left for a few hours and when they returned only Thurman was there. Canavan said she noticed the bottle of vodka that Pfenning and Thurman had still was full.

“I asked why he and Cedar didn’t drink it and Wayne said, ‘I did drink after the shots.’ Then he laughed.”

Thurman is being held without bail in the Boundary County Jail and his hearing will continue today.

Day has not said if he will seek the death penalty in the case.

, DataTimes