Missing Man Found Buried Was Shot Murder Charge Expected Against Unnamed Suspect, Who Knew 53-Yearold Retired Teacher

A man who was missing for nearly two years and found dead last week was shot several times before being buried under his own home, an autopsy revealed Monday.

Bonner County authorities haven’t positively identified the murdered man, but believe he is 53-year-old Paul Gruber.

Sheriff Chip Roos said dental records and DNA testing should confirm Gruber’s identity today.

Shellie Kepley, Gruber’s 28-year-old daughter, who lives out of state, has been looking for her father since January 1994.

She said she had mixed emotions when authorities told her they found her father’s body, wrapped in a plastic waterbed mattress and buried 2 feet under the house.

“My heart always said something was wrong and I believed he was murdered,” Kepley said Monday. “I have prayed for 20 months that a hunter or fisherman or somebody would find his remains. I guess this was kind of an answer to prayer.”

The body was found last week by a Bonner County jailer who had done some work on Gruber’s house. Detectives brought the jailer out to see if he noticed anything different about the structure. While in the crawl space, the jailer stepped in a small depression in the dirt, an area that had sunk over Gruber’s decomposing body. Kepley said she is devastated by her father’s death, but at the same time elated his body was found and could help bring the killer to justice.

“I know this will help the case, but it’s still agonizing,” said Kepley, who had a baby girl just five months ago. “She will never get to see her grampa but she will sure get to hear a lot about him.”

Authorities did find several bullets in Gruber’s body. Fingerprint experts were flown in from Boise this week to scour the plastic Gruber’s body was wrapped in for clues.

“We even had an anthropologist out here helping us dig up the body,” Roos said. “We have lots and lots of evidence and items to go through yet. We are being very meticulous.”

Authorities suspected a friend of Gruber’s killed the wealthy retired Nevada teacher. The man had some of Gruber’s personal property.

Detectives were building a case against the man and were ready to file charges even without the body, Roos said.

Shortly after Gruber disappeared, detectives ripped up newly installed carpet at Gruber’s home and found traces of blood soaked into the floor. DNA testing showed it was Gruber’s blood; investigators determined he lost enough blood to kill him.

But without more evidence, Bonner County prosecutor Tevis Hull declined to file a murder charge. The case was later turned over to the Idaho Attorney General’s office for prosecution.

Hull had said he declined the case partially because there wasn’t enough evidence, but also because the murder suspect was a personal friend of his. Hull and the suspect attended the same church, and it was a conflict of interest to take the case, he said.

The Attorney General’s Office is now helping gather evidence from the house and a murder charge will be forthcoming, Roos said.

“We still only have one suspect, and all roads lead to his door,” Roos said. The suspect used to live in Bonner County but has since moved to western Washington.

, DataTimes