Divers Fail To Find Murder Weapon In River

Members of a Cassia County dive team unsuccessfully searched a stretch of the Snake River for a gun thought to have been used in the slaying of a Rupert, Idaho, teenager.

Martin Fernandez was bound over to 5th District Court last week after his preliminary hearing and will stand trial on first-degree murder charges in the death of 18-year-old Gustavo Tafolla.

Tafolla’s body was found in late December 1997, wrapped in plastic bags and stuffed in the trunk of a car.

Divers combed a stretch of the Snake River in Minidoka County on Tuesday after a tip from a witness helped sheriff’s deputies narrow the possible location of the gun, Cassia County Sheriff Billy Crystal said.

But the search was discontinued, Crystal said Wednesday, because deputies had scoured the area thoroughly.

Divers had searched the area once before, but they were more organized and had better equipment on Tuesday. However, they still were unable to locate the gun in the silt along the bank.

But “the weapon is by no means the crux of the investigation,” Crystal said.