Divers Search River For Murder Weapon

Police searched the Snake River between Idaho and Oregon on Friday, looking for the weapon believed used in the slaying of Forest Service employee David Jack Wheeler in western Idaho’s Payette National Forest.

Two teenagers who walked away from juvenile custody in Mountain Home were charged Thursday with murdering Wheeler, 49, of Baker City, Ore.

He was shot to death Wednesday while working alone at the Mann Creek Guard Station about 15 miles north of Weiser.

Ronald Stiner, 16, and Eric S. Brown, who turned 18 Friday, were held without bond on charges of first-degree murder and possession of stolen property. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for May 8.

Based on information from the youths, Washington County divers anchored by ropes searched in the fast-flowing river for the weapon, a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle.

Wheeler, a civil engineer with the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in eastern Oregon, was assigned to the Payette to inspect bridges and was working in uniform, Weiser District ranger John Baglien said.