Man Charged With Murder, Conspiracy Detectives Seeking At Least One Other Suspect

Prosecutors charged a 29-year-old Rathdrum, Idaho, man Tuesday with murdering a man found in a snowdrift earlier this year.

Franklin B. “Murdoc” Johnson is being held without bond in the Kootenai County Jail on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy. Johnson has been jailed since January on unrelated gun charges.

Kootenai County sheriff’s detectives are seeking at least one other suspect in Jorge Isais Gonzalez Garcia’s death. Court records identify one of them as Dutch R. Renecker.

Deputy Prosecutor Rick Baughman said Renecker, 18, is in jail in Oregon on an unrelated charge. Renecker has not been charged in Garcia’s murder.

Detectives discovered Garcia’s body buried in a snowdrift off Diagonal Road seven weeks ago. Garcia, 25, had been shot twice in the head with a .38-caliber handgun, court records say.

Prosecutors allege in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday that Johnson and Renecker planned to rob Garcia of drugs, money and other items. Court documents are not clear as to who authorities believe shot Garcia.

Detectives and prosecutors have disclosed few details about Garcia’s murder during interviews.

After receiving numerous tips, officers searched for Garcia’s body Jan. 14 along Diagonal Road - which runs northeast from Rathdrum to an area near Silverwood Theme Park. A search-and-rescue dog quickly found the body, which appeared to have been left a few days earlier.

Court records say Johnson and Garcia wrestled before the shooting. A man told detectives he witnessed the shooting, but court records do not name the gunman.

Prosecutors allege Johnson helped lure Garcia to the site of his death, brought a gun and held him while he was shot. They say Johnson helped hide Garcia’s body and benefited from the robbery.

About a half-dozen friends gathered in the jail lobby Tuesday to watch Johnson’s first appearance on a closed-circuit television screen. They insisted Johnson did not murder Garcia, saying the man is being victimized because he has a criminal record.

“This man is innocent,” said Kimberly Burr, a friend. “He did not kill nobody. If he did something he’s the type of person who would stand up to it.”

Burr said Johnson came to Coeur d’Alene to get away from a troubled life in Yakima.

Johnson has been in jail since the day after detectives found Garcia’s body. Deputies arrested Johnson when they spotted him walking along Highway 41 at Alabama Street.

Court records allege Johnson was carrying a Jennings model .38-caliber handgun and a magazine with seven rounds of ammunition for the semi-automatic pistol.

Johnson has pleaded not guilty to charges of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He has convictions for second-degree burglary and larceny in Colorado and felony eluding in Washington, according to court and sheriff’s department records.

The gun Johnson was allegedly carrying when he was arrested in January does not appear to be related to Garcia’s murder, said sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger.

Johnson told detectives he found the gun in a Dumpster outside a Coeur d’Alene Taco Bell restaurant and has pleaded not guilty to the concealed weapons charge.

Little is known about Garcia, who was from Yakima. Johnson moved from Yakima to Rathdrum less than two months before detectives found Garcia’s body.

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