Murders Rattle Small Towns Latah County Residents, Authorities Stunned By Killings In Kendrick And Troy

A murder last week on top of six arrests in an unsolved double-slaying has some Latah County residents wondering who is moving into their neighborhood.

Most days, the most exciting news in neighboring Troy and Kendrick is their high school rivalry. But last week’s bizarre criminal developments shifted conversations from the basketball court to the courtroom.

In Kendrick, parents are furious after the arrests of several trusted bus drivers, who were among six people indicted in connection with last May’s double-slaying of Missouri attorney Donna Fontaine and Fred Palahniuk of Newman Lake.

Troy residents worry their quiet small town is attracting an outside criminal element.

“We have become such a transient community,” Troy Mayor John Blum said. “It was a surprise to realize that we’ve got this stuff going on so close to home.”

On Tuesday, a Troy man was killed in a rural shooting that uncovered a marijuana-growing operation.

In taverns and cafes in the two towns, locals grumbled openly about the “out-of-staters,” since the people charged with first-degree murder in both cases had only recently moved to Idaho.

“In the coffee shop it was `Geez, all these city folks moving in,”’ said Art Broncheau, of Lapwai, who was in Troy to help his daughter and ex-wife recover from the shooting that killed his ex-wife’s son, James Vickroy, 31.

Angele Blanche Geitner, the lesbian partner of Broncheau’s daughter, has been charged with firs-tdegree murder in the case. Eighty-five marijuana plants and $18,000 cash was found at the scene.

In the Troy case, all involved had only recently moved from Eugene, Ore. Three of the six arrested in the Kendrick case - including the alleged killer, Dale Shackelford - are from Missouri. Shackelford recently had been living on the family property of his fiancee Sonja Abitz.

Sonja Abitz and both her parents, Mary and John Abitz, also were arrested. All three had driven buses for Kendrick School District, triggering safety fears among many parents.

They’re shocked that their children’s bus drivers were arrested and upset that, just the day before indictments were returned, Mary Abitz allowed another woman involved in the case to ride the bus.

Angry parents - some of them so mad they shook when they spoke - packed a Kendrick school board meeting last week. The board fired the Abitz’ from their jobs, but many were outraged the district didn’t act while they were under investigation.

“I’m an outsider in this community. I’ve only been here a few years. Yet it only took me about 30 minutes to find out what was going on, and I refuse to believe the school board didn’t know,” said Mark Guilbeau, whose son rode one of the Abitz buses.

Though the Abitz family moved to Idaho from Seattle in the mid-‘90s, residents know Mary Abitz as a “local girl,” the daughter of a beloved, longtime pastor at one of the area’s tight-knit country churches.

“The family was one that everyone has looked up to,” Kendrick School Superintendent Eldon Taylor said. “The town is frankly shocked and I think that’s where some of the frustration comes in.”

The Abitz mother and daughter are accused of conspiracy to commit murder, arson and preparing false evidence. Mary’s husband, John Abitz, was charged with perjury.

The Kendrick case has split some members of the community who are confused over what to believe about the murders and the local family’s role. They’re also torn over what school officials should have done and when.

“You couldn’t write a soap opera like this,” said Linda Davis, whose children rode one of the Abitz buses.

The Abitz family lives not far from the building where Fontaine and Palahniuk were killed last May, 15 miles outside of Kendrick.

Prosecutors allege Shackelford shot them before setting the building ablaze. At the time, Fontaine was pressing rape charges against Shackelford for an alleged incident in 1997, and a Missouri court hearing was upcoming.

Palahniuk was the father of Oregon author Chuck Palahniuk, whose book “Fight Club” spawned a motion picture by the same name starring Brad Pitt.

He recalled his father’s death in a Los Angeles Times interview last fall.

“This summer, someone murdered my father in the mountains of Idaho and burned his body down to a few pounds of bone,” Palahniuk told the Times. “… The poor publicist called me and said `This might be some kind of sick joke, but you need to call a detective in Moscow, Idaho.”’

In the following nine months, detectives traveled between Missouri and Idaho investigating. A grand jury convened in January and 45 witnesses gave more than 420 hours of taped testimony.

“It’s been thousands of man hours. It’s gone on and on. A grand jury is not a common occurrence for us,” said Latah County Sheriff Jeff Crouch.

The area where the Kendrick murders occurred is one of Latah County’s most isolated corners. Neighbors use snowmobiles to get into their property. The assessor’s office refuses to send people alone when they have to assess property in the area.

The property was logged in the 1970s, subdivided into 10-acre parcels and advertised nationally for its remote landscape. Adjacent landowners include the executive offices of the Texas-based World of Faith Outreach Church and an Aryan Nations follower who did prison time for a 1990 plot to bomb a Seattle gay bar.

“It’s about as remote as you can find. The road ends there,” Sheriff Crouch said.

Some have compared the town buzz to October 1986 when a Kendrick store owner and his fiancee were shot in the Bottom’s Up tavern by the woman’s jealous partner.

“People are sitting back sort of stunned,” said Bill Roth, 69, a long-time local newsman who published the Kendrick Gazette for 30 years before retiring. “I’m glad I’m not running the paper now, because in a small community, everything is personal.”

The Kendrick cases have been set for trial July 31. A hearing in the Troy murder is scheduled for Feb. 29.