Idaho couple’s killer gets 30-year term

The man who killed a Silver Valley, Idaho, couple last year so he and his friends could take the couple’s car for a joy ride was ordered Monday to serve 30 years to life in prison.

Shoshone County Prosecutor Val Siegel said he was bound by a plea agreement made by his predecessor, Michael Peacock, to seek a 20-year sentence from 1st Judicial District Judge Fred Gibler. But the judge instead sentenced 21-year-old Jon Allen Kienholz Jr., of Silverton, Idaho, to 30 years to life.

“I’m pleased with the sentence,” Siegel said.

Four others have been charged in connection to the killings last August of Neil Howard, 20, and 18-year-old Cynthia Bewick, both of the Silver Valley. Their bodies were found at the top of Dobson Pass, north of Wallace, by a man picking huckleberries. Each had been shot in the head.

Also charged in the case was Corey Reid, 20, of Kellogg, who was found in Boise with the dead couple’s stolen car. A jury last month convicted Reid of two counts of aiding and abetting first-degree murder. Reid faces a minimum of 10 years in prison on both counts, Siegel said.

“I’ve always believed that Corey Reid was equally culpable because it was Corey Reid who solicited the murders,” Siegel said. “At trial, Kienholz testified that Reid was the one who turned to them and said, ‘We’ve got to kill Neil and Cindy.’ ”

The victims had planned to marry and had a son, who is now 18 months old.

Also charged in the case was Hiram Wilson, the 17-year-old son of Pinehurst police Chief Rocky Wilson.

Hiram Wilson has pleaded guilty to two counts of accessory to murder. He faces up to five years in prison on each count.

Wilson and Reid await sentencing.

Eighteen-year-old Christan Purtill, of Kellogg, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice. Nineteen-year-old Braecyn Wood, of Silver Valley, is expected to enter a plea soon to the same charge, Siegel said.

Purtill faces up to a year in the county jail, as does Wood if he enters a similar plea.