Spokane7
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December 20, 2010 in Idaho
1 dead, 3 injured in Bayview hammer attack
Larry Cragun
(Full-size photo)
A North Idaho woman died Monday after she and three others were bludgeoned with a hammer in what authorities describe as an ongoing neighbor dispute that took a violent twist.
A suspect, Larry W. Cragun, 31, was arrested after employees at several Bayview businesses said he walked in after the attack and said he’d “just killed four people with a hammer,” according to police reports.
Cragun, who residents say has a history of odd behavior, remains in Kootenai County Jail on $1 million bail, charged with murder in the beating death of Patricia A. Heath, 43. Three others survived the attack, though one remains in critical condition.
The attack at Heath’s mobile home at 34552 N. Limekiln Road in Bayview followed weeks of problems between her family and Cragun, including bizarre claims by the suspect that authorities say were unfounded.
Also injured was Lorraine Y. Wallis, 58, who was in critical condition Monday. Jedidiah M. Heath, 21, was treated and released, and Michael L. Heath, 40, suffered less serious injuries that did not require medical attention.
Michael Heath said deputies had visited Cragun’s home, which is about 75 feet from Heath’s, several times to investigate false claims, including an unfounded allegation that Jedidah Heath was “placing pubic hair in Cragun’s food,” according to the report.
“Michael said deputies had been to Cragun’s residence numerous times and determined Cragun’s allegations to be false and unfounded, but Cragun apparently did not believe the deputies,” deputies noted.
Michael Heath told deputies Cragun was always angry over the last few weeks and often threw snowballs at his home and yelled profanities at his family.
But Heath said he didn’t know why Cragun attacked his family on Sunday. He said they were watching television about 1:30 p.m. Cragun burst in carrying a large kitchen knife and a large hammer, called the four a profane name, then attacked with the hammer.
Deputies found Patricia Heath bleeding heavily from head wounds and said she reportedly stated that she wanted to go to sleep. She was rushed to Kootenai Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead about 1 p.m. Monday.
As deputies were at Heath’s home, an employee at Bayview Mercantile, Paul Celeri, said Cragun had just entered the store and claimed to have killed four people.
Celeri said “Cragun was known for being odd and making crazy statements,” according to the report. A neighbor told The Spokesman-Review that Cragun had posted a letter recently accusing the government of “invading” his mind.
Deputies arrested Cragun shortly after in the parking lot of the nearby Bayview Diner.
Customers at JD’s Resort also told authorities that Cragun had said he needed to call 911 because he’d killed three or four people. He didn’t complete the phone call. Instead, he grabbed a customer’s beer “drank it, and left a dollar on the bar,” according to the police report.
Cragun’s girlfriend, Christine J. Barron, 25, told investigators Cragun often carried a hammer but that he isn’t capable “of hurting anyone, and if he did, it would only be in self defense,” according to the report.
Cragun has previous convictions for drug possession, domestic violence assault, attempting to elude police, drunken driving and battery. He completed eight hours of anger management classes after the 2002 battery conviction, according to court records.
In addition to murder, Cragun faces new charges of aggravated battery and burglary.
Staff writers Alison Boggs and Mike Prager contributed to this report.
Sex trafficking suspects released as probe continues 
misjustice on December 20 at 8:45 a.m.
The whole story isn’t being told here. Get with it S-R & get the complete picture before posting such a story.
biker on December 20 at 8:49 a.m.
Yes, the glaring question. Random, or what. REPORT!
eagleproducer on December 20 at 8:59 a.m.
If they live in Bayview I’m guessing the knew each other and this wasn’t a random act of mayhem.
Just remember folks, hammers don’t smash in skulls, people do.
johnclarke on December 20 at 9:47 a.m.
um, mods?
misjustice on December 20 at 10:37 a.m.
KXLY is reporting that the assailant is a neighbor.
Gramms; are you suggesting that the people which were attacked deserved it? Not sure? If that wasn’t/isn’t your point, I apologize…
misjustice on December 20 at 10:38 a.m.
Moderators, please….Randy the Renegade…clean it up….
Guess we can all use the f word now…
mikeln on December 20 at 10:57 a.m.
It will be interesting to see why this guy snapped, drugs? Too many barking dogs? Love triangle,? Maybe it was just a pre-emtive strike. Whatever it was, these people did not deserve this, this is what the courts are for.
meghannc on December 20 at 11:55 a.m.
misjustice, the S-R also is reporting that the suspect is a neighbor. It’s in the first sentence.
misjustice on December 20 at 2:18 p.m.
Didn’t see it in original SR post,,,must need to clean my glasses! Or was the story updated? At any rate, thanks…
meghannc on December 20 at 2:27 p.m.
The story has been updated but that sentence has been the same since it was originally posted at 7:50 a.m. I hear you on the glasses thing. I just got bifocals.
misjustice on December 20 at 2:34 p.m.
My bad!
; )
zelda on December 20 at 3:28 p.m.
Judging by the comments on the news stations’ websites, it sounds like a perfectly lovely neighborhood (sarcasm intended). More North Idaho Noir.
BTW, curious people on KXLY want to know, “What kind of hammer?” They’re really into those kind of details. Not me. Just knowing it was a hammer paints a vivid enough scene.
hawken on December 20 at 4:46 p.m.
misjudgment!!! Reading handicap? See also, Relating to the “Fire Victims.”
Your rapid fire comments lack comprehension of what was written. I’m thinking this might be more than dirty glasses.
As I said…..
hawken on December 20 at 2:47 p.m.
misjudgment…. read the article before you comment on the headline only.
You will find the context and details of the article, helpful, and it might, just possibly, keep you from embarrassing yourself, again.
Thayne on December 20 at 4:59 p.m.
hawken, what is your problem with Misjustice? Are you jealous because she’s a lot smarter than you? Your incessant berating of her and other bloggers is getting old. The only embarrassing going on here is your constant prattling. Go back under the bridge and wait for more billy goats to come by.
hawken on December 20 at 5:03 p.m.
Thayne …. since you asked… my problem with misjudgment is that she rattles off a rapid fire response before she reads the article, knows the topic and it’s details…. based upon her hyper-left point of view….
Apparently, she’s not smarter than me, if she lacks reading comprehension.
bdr on December 20 at 5:21 p.m.
Well hes got a lifetime now to brush up on that eight hours of anger management class.
Some one will always be bigger and nastier in Jail to cool this guys jets. (gladiator school)
circle8 on December 20 at 5:22 p.m.
Sounds like we need to keep hammers from people or at least register them. They obviously are available instead of being locked up. There is no reason a normal ordinary citizen should have a hammer. Was he licensed, have the correct training or was the hammer locked up and he stole it? Why wasn’t the hammer equipped with a lock that prevented it from being used in a violent manner. The owner of the hammer must be tracked down and charged with a crime for allowing the hammer to be used in a crime. It is time to outlaw all hammers because people don’t kill people HAMMERS KILL PEOPLE.
hawken on December 20 at 5:30 p.m.
circle8…. Outstanding!
I rarely get a belly laugh on this blog. How true, your satirical analogy!
circle8 on December 20 at 5:35 p.m.
For those of you that complained the S-R did not give enough details please read how the local paper for North Idaho (CDA Press) covered the story.
“The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a case of Aggravated Battery involving four victims and one suspect that occurred Sunday in Bayview.”
That was their ENTIRE write up. You could find out more information reading a local high school newspaper. One thing I forgot to mention about the CDA Press article. It did not have a spelling error. That in itself has to be either a record or a first. Spelling errors in the Press are as common as sunrise.
johnclarke on December 20 at 6:00 p.m.
What an incredible tragedy, closely followed by the moronic, child-like posters on this story. Imagine if your mother had been beaten to death with a hammer before you post something ignorant, please. My thoughts are with the survivors, and the family and friends of the victims of this brutal crime - days before Christmas.
hawken on December 20 at 6:19 p.m.
Clarke….. how fraudulently compassionate and self-righteous you are.
Your primary purpose is clearly seen for what it is. It has nothing to do with your “thoughts” with the survivors, families and friends… days before Christmas.
Do you really believe people are this stupid?
misjustice on December 20 at 6:28 p.m.
Geez, Chickenhawken, give it a rest for cryin’ out loud.
I believe johnclarke’s intent and don’t see any reason why he should be slammed by you for expressing his concern. This isn’t a political article where personal attacks from you are expected; this is not the thread to conduct your attacks on…
hawken on December 20 at 6:31 p.m.
misjudgment… preach your sermon to Clarke.
But then again, considering your lack of reading comprehension today, on more than one occasion, maybe you didn’t comprehend what Clarke actually said.
misjustice on December 20 at 6:32 p.m.
You’re proving johnclarke’s point.
misjustice on December 20 at 6:33 p.m.
misjustice: I never even hinted that the people deserved this. I don’t know where you conjured up that thought. Just jumping on the bandwagon a bit early I guess.
People don’t just show up & start hitting people with hammers and then go shopping down the street. There was more to the story than what was posted, even I’m smart enough to see that.
Also, instead of starting a new story, the old one was just updated. So it sounds as if people are making comments on something already reported on … when it wasn’t reported… yet!
hawken on December 20 at 6:36 p.m.
Clarke has no points… only fraudulent misrepresentations and phony self-righteousness, which intelligent people see through.
misjustice on December 20 at 6:48 p.m.
Gramms; I apologized in my question to you, because I doubted if that was your intent. Please reread my post to you. You are correct, especially on the first post of this story by the SR, it was very vague.
When you stated that the whole story wasn’t being told I thought that maybe you knew something that wasn’t being reported…like perhaps a motive for the attack? But now I realize that what you were referring to was the vagueness of the report.
hhuseland on December 20 at 7:45 p.m.
Both the perp and the victims are next door neighbors. The victims are nice people that stay to themselves and cause no trouble. I wasn’t aware of the times the officers called on him regarding his fantasies, but there doesn’t seem to be any doubt of his mental instability. Some local volunteers are putting together a fund that you can donate to. It is doubtful that most if not all are uninsured. Since it is just now being set up, I’ll post the information on my blog, (Bayviews) so that people living out of town can donate, too.
Please try to tone down some of the comments. There are many here in Bayview that are hurting right now. We all know each other, so the losses are like our family. As to the snarky remark about Bayview, in the 15 years I have lived in this location, this is the first violent crime to happen here. It is a very layed back community.
johnclarke on December 20 at 7:56 p.m.
Thanks Herb, my second home is in Bayview and I want to help…just let us know how. Cheers.
hhuseland on December 20 at 8:03 p.m.
Perhaps otherwise nice folks can’t handle a full moon.
Mr_Bloggy on December 20 at 8:25 p.m.
Ball peen hammers are a favored weapon of Hell’s Angels, one because they do massive trauma and two, because you can’t be arrested for illegal possession of a hammer.
hhuseland on December 20 at 9:09 p.m.
Much of the problem with a story eaking out gradjually is that it happened on a Sunday. I called in the basics to the city desk at the S/R. The facts at that time that were released to me at the scene by police were very scanty. I knew 4 people lived there. I knew them. I knew that one was more seriously injured than the others. I knew she was unconcious. I knew that all went to the hospital intitially, with the younger man staying with other relatives. (That I didn’t learn until today.) I reached an editor about 1 hour before deadline.
It wasn’t until morning when the full crew arrived that comprehensive coverage could be given. The same applies to the Kootenai County Sheriff Department. It wasn’t until around 9:30pm that detectives arrived with search warrents and all officers finally left around 11:30.
I did call KLXY with the lead on the story, but it still took hours before any news media had information released by the authorities. I believe, for those purists that the hammer was a simple claw hammer. It could have been a framing hammer. (No pun intended)
I hope this helps with the general understanding as to how this was handled. The Main Stream Media simply is unprepared to cover stories that develop on Sunday afternoons.
zelda on December 20 at 9:27 p.m.
Herb — My apologies for snide comments about Bayview. I jumped to conclusions, thinking it was yet another case of meth madness. (That’s not particularly funny either but has entered the realm of the absurd because it’s pervasive.)
There is so much senseless violence going on these days that one can easily become calloused or just plain numb to it all. However, many who comment on this website (esp. former law enforcement officers) talk about the toll that untreated mental illness exacts on our communities.
This particular crime is so utterly horrid and surreal, perhaps it’s a defensive rmechanism to joke about it. Otherwise, it’s too painful to contemplate what happened to the victims, the witnesses and the neighborhood.
I’m sure a lot of Bayview residents are in a state of shock and will never forget this day as much as they may want to.
misjustice on December 20 at 10:00 p.m.
I’ve read a few other sites’ reports on this attack and some of the statements made about the accused, and things he is alleged to have said, make him sound like a paranoid schizophrenic.
Scoutster on December 20 at 11:04 p.m.
Herb writes…The Main Stream Media simply is unprepared to cover stories that develop on Sunday afternoons.
I’m sorry, Herb…which media IS prepared to cover stories that develop on Sunday afternoons?
misjustice on December 21 at 8:49 a.m.
My complaint about the story is that the S-R wants to be the first to report………. while there’s nothing to report, yet. Just wanting to be the first that gets it on the news/in print.
What happened to journalism ethics? Too bad there isn’t a competing paper for this area. Maybe then the S-R would wake up.
Ryan Pitts on December 21 at 10:26 a.m.
@Gramma - The story we published, from the very beginning, has had plenty of facts about a pretty horrific incident. We’re more than willing to take honest criticism, but in this case what you’re saying doesn’t ring true.
Ryan Pitts on December 21 at 10:58 a.m.
Regarding the comments about the media not being prepared to cover stories that happen on Sunday afternoons, you know, there’s a lot of truth to that. Just like all media outlets these days, we have to be careful about how we deploy our resources, and having someone covering all day Sunday is a luxury most times. It’s just not that often that big breaking news happens then.
I’m not going for sympathy here — as readers, we all want the news when it happens, and shouldn’t be expected to make accommodations for what the economy’s done to newsroom resources. But it is what is.
The other side of the coin, though, is that there are a lot of breaking news stories we can’t report without official comment or confirmation. And Sunday afternoon isn’t exactly the best time to try to get someone to talk to you, especially if they’re justifiably busy doing their OWN job. I’m not saying that came into play in this particular story, because I have no idea. But there definitely are challenges to reporting news that happens in certain places at certain times.
Sadbuttrue on December 24 at 8:00 a.m.
You are going to see more and more of these monstrous attacks in the near future, and it is a direct result of the lack of resources spent on mental health treatment. More and more untreated mentally ill people are going to be released from prison, along with masses of dangerously unhinged untreated drug offenders who no longer have anything to lose and who are unemployable and have no intention of returning to prison.
This is what the “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” law enforcement/prison/ industrial/complex has wrought. To call the people who created this monstrous existential threat “public safety” is a profound joke. Maybe the Spokane area police finally have it right: Just shoot them on sight. As the epic, cruel disaster known as the War on Drugs unwinds to its inevitable catastrophic conclusion, pulling more and more of society into its collapsing evil center, we will pay dearly for the sins of our fathers.
Pursuant to the Iron Law of Prohibition, drugs will only get more powerful, cheap and available congruently with greater law enforcement effort. Law abiding citizens will reside on military outposts for their own safety while cops and drugs armies battle it with tanks and daisy cutters in the ruined husks of the inner cities. Once cops have “succeeded” in eradicating the meth scourge, it will be predictably replaced by a one-time, radioactive demonic concoction that will permanently turn the user into a conscious less psycho-killer.