Winda Benedetti

Police display an estimated $6,000 worth of goods allegedly taken by a juvenile burglar. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Don Houser stood over Angie LaSarte's body. "Oh my God, I accidentally shot her," he screamed, as the mother of four lay bleeding on the ground. In his right hand, he still gripped the silver .22-caliber handgun he had shot her with.

After a long day of interviews, sheriff's investigators said late Tuesday they have no suspects and no motive in the fatal shooting of a newspaper deliveryman. Gary Loesch, a 56-year-old father of two, died early Monday morning while delivering The Spokesman-Review newspaper to homes in the Post Falls area. "It is a pretty big mystery," said Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger. "We don't have any great suspects at this time or obvious motives to work with."

Kootenai County sheriff's investigators examine car in which Gary Loesch was killed Monday morning. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Stratton

1. Terry Atkins owner, Golf USA 2. Ron Thompson, who opened HomeScenes, an upscale furniture store in Hayden, found himself in a building adjacent to a sewage pumping station, which is just outside his window. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Coulter

More than a year after the state Court of Appeals released him from prison, Jehn Wood is behind bars again for the death of a toddler. After six hours of deliberations Thursday, a jury found the 34-year-old Fernwood, Idaho, man guilty of felony injury to a child. It wasn't the first time.

A rupture in a pipeline sent natural gas spewing into the evening air Thursday and shut down a mile of state Highway 41 for more than two hours. The Washington Water Power Co. pipeline broke open about 5 p.m. near Highway 41 and Nagle Road south of Rathdrum.

A Coeur d'Alene man became the third person to be charged with a crime for participating in a pyramid scheme that swept through Kootenai County in April 1994. Dan Edwards, 25, was charged Wednesday with participating in an illegal money-making scheme that eventually involved more than 400 people in North Idaho and Eastern Washington.

Abbey, a gasoline-sniffing dog, gets a treat from Glenn Lauper in Post Falls Thursday. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

For the third time in recent months racial slurs have shown up in graffiti scrawled in Kootenai County. "KKK," "Hitler is a stud" and "White Power" were among the phrases spray-painted on the Post Falls water tower sometime between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

Seven months after a wheelchair-bound man was run down by a truck and left lying in the road, a Coeur d'Alene man has been charged in connection with the crime. On Friday, Coeur d'Alene prosecutors charged Terry G. Calvert, 43, with failure to give immediate notice of an injury accident, a misdemeanor crime.

Reason to cheer. Sandpoint fans go nuts as the Bulldogs beat Bonneville to win their first match on Friday. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Ron and Rita Marcussen disappeared in 1973. Until Thursday, his fate was unknown. File/The Spokesman-Review

A U.S. Bank secutiry camera shot this picture of Friday's robbery suspect.

John Erwin of Post Falls, with his daughter, Kelsey, talks about the skull he found near Athol. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Capt. Willis Brownlee has returned home. After nine years away from North Idaho, the veteran police officer will head up the Idaho State Police's Coeur d'Alene office.

1. Uniform affection. Willis Brownlee, right, has 28 under his command at the ISP's Coeur d'Alene office, including, at left, his son Todd Brownlee. For more on the Brownlee, see Page B1. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Thomas and his wife, Post Falls officer Becky Thomas. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

In Kim Conigliaro's first-grade class at Ponderosa Elementary School, each sheet of handwriting paper is sliced into several pieces. That way, numerous students use a single piece of paper.

Officer Jerry DuFresne thought he had awakened in the middle of a gunbattle Wednesday morning. He wasn't alone.

State narcotics officers say they found three pounds of methamphetamine Monday when they arrested a Bonner County man. It was the largest methamphetamine bust ever made in North Idaho, said Wayne Longo, supervisor for the state Criminal Investigations Bureau in Coeur d'Alene. Ron Keys, 51, of Blanchard, Idaho, was arrested on a charge of trafficking in methamphetamine. He faces 10 years in prison if convicted.

It wasn't a bird; it wasn't a plane. And even UFO experts don't think it was a spaceship. "It was a big, bright light; it was not quite round-shaped, and the whole back end was on fire," said Helen Swofford of Coeur d'Alene.

Evidence of drug explosion. Chet Park holds color spot tests for methamphetamine. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review