Rape Suspect Has Strong Alibi Man’S Friends Insist He Was In Las Vegas At Time Of Crime

A Las Vegas man charged with committing a rape in Spirit Lake has been released from jail while Kootenai County authorities try to determine if they have accused the wrong man.

Clyde J. Seidler, formerly known as William J. Peterson, turned himself in at a jail in Las Vegas on May 25 after learning he was being sought. He remained in the Clark County Detention Center until his release Monday evening.

Kootenai County authorities, who had planned to extradite Seidler, say they still consider him a suspect. But prosecutors decided to release Seidler after learning he may have been wrongly identified.

“It’s enough of a question that we need to take a look at it,” deputy prosecutor Traci Post said. “We need to take a look at it to make sure we have the right person.”

A 28-year-old woman identified Seidler as the man who had raped her between 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on April 2 along state Highway 41 near Spirit Lake.

The woman picked Seidler’s picture out of a photo lineup, authorities said. He had been arrested in 1991 on drug charges.

Seidler has maintained his innocence since learning of the allegation. He said Tuesday by phone from Las Vegas that he has family in Coeur d’Alene but has not been to North Idaho for nearly four years.

“I was guilty until I was proved innocent, according to Coeur d’Alene,” Seidler said. “It took them 14 days to understand I had credible witnesses here, a lot of them.”

Seidler said he found out about the allegations when he called his mother on Mother’s Day.

“There were times I feared the worst could happen and he could be railroaded and spend the rest of my life in prison,” said Seidler’s wife, Alisha. “On the other hand, we had the truth on our side, and I knew my husband was innocent.”

Friends and relatives rallied to support Seidler’s claim during the two weeks he spent in jail. About a dozen provided Las Vegas police with character references and alibi statements last week.

“They all seemed like upstanding members of the community to me,” said Las Vegas Det. Doug O’Hair, who took statements from the three. “They were very adamant about the specific date that he was here.”

Post asked that Seidler be released Monday afternoon after reviewing copies of the statements O’Hair had collected.

“Once that happened, it gave us something to look at,” Post said.

Despite the question of Seidler’s identity, authorities believe the woman was attacked.

The woman told deputies a 1980s Bronco approached her twice while she walked along Highway 41, according to a sheriff’s report. The truck stopped the second time and one of the two men inside got out.

She reported that the man punched her, raped her and kicked her in the stomach before climbing back into the truck.

Kootenai County sheriff’s investigators are looking for both men, Sgt. Ken Sopher said. Seidler has not been ruled out as a suspect in the case, he said.

Seidler’s relatives do not understand why he has not been crossed off investigators’ lists.

The woman described her attacker as in his early 30s, 6 feet 4 inches tall and 250 pounds, the report said. The man had wavy, strawberry-blonde hair that was long in back, a full beard and crooked teeth.

A picture taken when Seidler was booked into the Las Vegas jail shows he had short, brown hair that O’Hair described as “thick and bushy.” Seidler also has false teeth, according to O’Hair and Kootenai County court records.

Court records show Seidler still has a four-year-old contempt-of-court warrant. It alleges he failed to pay a $132.50 fine stemming from a 1991 conviction on a charge of frequenting a place where drugs are used.

Alisha Seidler said she sent a cashier’s check Tuesday to settle the debt.

If authorities determine they have enough evidence to charge Seidler, the warrant will be reinstated and he will be brought to Kootenai County, Post said.

This sidebar appeared with the story: SEIDLER’S ALIBI Statements from a Las Vegas bar owner and waitress indicate Clyde J. Seidler had dinner at the Blue Diamond Saloon with his wife the night of the Spirit Lake attack. The couple left about 9:30 p.m., the waitress said. Seidler’s boss gave Las Vegas police copies of company time sheets that indicate Seidler worked for the construction company the day of the attack and the day after.