Kidnapping Suspects Held; Victim Still Missing Searchers Comb Palouse For Car Salesman Abducted Saturday

Pete Stucky’s friends took to the air Monday while co-workers and authorities scoured rural Whitman County roads, intensifying the search for the popular Lewiston car salesman kidnapped Saturday.

“We have people all over the Palouse area looking,” said R.L. Tony Copeland, owner of the Hall-Copeland Ford dealership where the 60-year-old Stucky has worked for 17 years.

“We believe he’s still alive and have all the hope in the world,” Copeland said.

A two-day manhunt for Stucky’s suspected kidnappers ended Monday after a police dog located a couple hiding in a haystack - their tennis shoes visible - high on a mountain pass in southwestern Montana.

Walter Eric Weischedel, 27, and Stacy L. Weischedel, 25, were not armed and offered no resistance, Powell County Sheriff Scott Howard said.

Arrest warrants issued in Lewiston on Monday charged the Weischedels with second-degree kidnapping, grand theft and possession of a stolen vehicle. The couple, who have family in both Oregon and Washington, are being investigated for other crimes in both states.

They remain in the county jail in Philipsburg, Mont., on $1 million bond each.

Authorities believe the Weischedels kidnapped Stucky when he got in a new Ford F350 pickup with the couple for a test drive Saturday afternoon in Lewiston.

When Stucky did not return, the dealership contacted police.

Authorities believe Stucky may have been with the couple as far as Pullman, where a witness reported seeing the three of them buying diesel fuel with cash Saturday afternoon. About 40 minutes later, an attempt was made to use Stucky’s credit card in nearby Colfax, which is just a 15-minute drive from Pullman.

A later attempt to use Stucky’s credit card failed in Missoula, and authorities caught up with the Weischedels 150 miles east of there.

According to the Granite County Sheriff’s Department, a high-speed chase through Anaconda, in southwestern Montana, ended when the stolen Ford became mired in snow on a mountain logging road and the couple fled on foot.

While dozens of law enforcement agents, including members of the FBI, swept through a large snow-covered area of the Deerlodge and Bitterroot national forests looking for the couple, a rancher told police that one of his haystacks appeared ruffled. That led authorities to the Weischedels, but not Stucky. The couple was found 6 miles from the abandoned truck, which officials confirmed was found with blood inside, the Granite County Sheriff’s Department said.

On Saturday, the couple abandoned a stolen motor home from Oregon in a nearby Lewiston parking lot before asking to test drive the truck, according to the Lewiston Police Department.

“It’s an unusual crime,” said Lewiston Police Capt. Paul D. Ayers.

“We don’t have a lot of good information except that he (Stucky) might have very well gotten as far as Pullman,” Whitman County Sheriff Steve Tomson said.

On Sunday and Monday, Stucky’s friends, relatives and co-workers posted fliers and photos in gas stations and small businesses between Colfax and Spokane. Stucky was well-known in Lewiston, where he volunteered for youth groups and was active in 4-H.

“He’s a helluva guy, a friend and an excellent character,” said Copeland. “He’s salt of the earth.”

A “top of the board,” salesman, Stucky had numerous opportunities to advance into management, Copeland said, but he never did “because he wanted to deal with the people.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.