Utah Detectives Checking Cda River Evidence Homicide Charges Filed Against Rancher, Employee In Deaths Of Cowboy, Girlfriend

Utah detectives investigating a double murder are on their way to Kootenai County today to sift through potential evidence found in a river here, authorities said.

Duchesne County Sgt. Wally Hendricks said Kootenai County detectives told them little about what they found Thursday in the Coeur d’Alene River.

But, “they’re telling us it’s worth the trip,” Hendricks said.

Kootenai County sheriff’s officials said only that the department’s dive team was recovering evidence Thursday. They would not discuss what was found.

Meanwhile, homicide charges were filed Thursday against an eastern Utah rancher and his employee in the deaths of a couple who authorities believe were shot and their bodies blown apart by explosives.

John R. Pinder, 40, and Filomeno Valenchia Ruiz, 34, were charged in the deaths of cowboy Rex K. Tanner, 48, and his girlfriend, June Flood, believed to be in her mid 50s.

Pinder remained at large late Thursday and is believed to be traveling with a Rose Lake woman. The couple, both estranged from their spouses, are rumored to have been in the Salt Lake Valley on Thursday, Hendricks said.

The Rose Lake woman, who authorities have not identified, is being sought for questioning, but has not been charged with a crime.

An arrest warrant was issued for Pinder, who also was charged with tampering with evidence, a second-degree felony. Ruiz, charged Monday with theft, evidence-tampering and driving without a license, was arraigned Thursday before 8th District Judge John R. Anderson on amended charges.

In addition to murder and witness-tampering charges, Ruiz was charged with burglary of the victims’ Strawberry River trailer home, a second-degree felony.

Bond for both men, who could face the death penalty if convicted, was set at $1 million each.

Hendricks said he has talked with Pinder’s family and attorney three times about contacting the man. Authorities are hopeful they can convince him by phone to surrender.

“We’d offer him every opportunity to surrender himself into our custody,” said Hendricks, who added that he’s not certain Pinder’s family or attorney knows his whereabouts.

Duchesne County Sheriff Ralph Stansfield said the state medical examiner confirmed Tanner had been shot in the chest and authorities believe Flood also was shot.

Their bodies were then exploded on rangeland owned by Pinder’s family, Hendricks said.

A search of a hillside where the bodies were destroyed in Lake Canyon, 20 miles southwest of Duchesne, on Thursday turned up no other bodies or explosives, Stansfield said.

Family members reported Tanner and June missing on Nov. 5. Deputies found body scattered remains Saturday among a remote area of sagebrush at the bottom of a steep canyon valley about 120 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.