Found gun not from slaying of UI student

Tue., Sept. 28, 2004

Thomas Clouse Staff writer

A litter crew found a gun Friday while picking up trash along the route where two suspected killers were spotted driving. After an hour of wishful thinking, authorities determined it was not the gun that killed a University of Idaho student athlete last week.

Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers said Monday that the crew was working along the highway between Colfax and Pullman when they found a loaded, old-style .44 magnum revolver next to the road.

“We were certainly hoping it was related,” Myers said. “It turned out to be a gun reported missing about a year earlier.”

Suspects Matthew R. Wells, 26, and his brother, James J. Wells, 25, remain in the Whitman County Jail, where they await trial on felony charges of attempting to elude officers who chased them 150 miles across Washington. They were arrested near Vantage.

After that case is completed, the brothers are expected to return to Latah County, Idaho, to face first-degree murder charges in connection with the Sept. 19 killing of Eric R. McMillan.

On Saturday, searchers from Latah and Whitman counties searched along State Highway 26 that eventually leads from Colfax to Vantage.

After the shooting, pursuing officers saw a passenger in a white BMW toss plastic baggies out of the fleeing car along the route.

Myers said the searchers, including more than 60 volunteers, found some “items of interest” that were turned over to Moscow police. “But we can’t say for certain they are related.”

Myers wouldn’t describe those items.

As for the gun found at about 3:30 p.m. Friday, it turned out to be owned by a man from the Palouse region.

“The owner had been shooting with the gun and set the gun on the hood or roof of his car and drove from Pullman to Colfax,” Myers said. “He realized he lost it and made a report of it.”

The gun was in working order and was returned to its owner, he said.

“It’s not unheard of to find a gun along a road,” he said.

If residents do find a weapon, Myers suggested that they notify local law enforcement or the Washington State Police.

The Wells brothers, both of Seattle, asked to postpone their formal arraignment on the eluding charges until Oct. 8.

McMillan was shot in the chest at his Moscow apartment at about 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 19.

Witnesses told police they saw men matching the Wells brothers’ descriptions fleeing the scene in a white BMW.

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