Suspect’s wife says she tried calling police

ST. MARIES – Becky Banderob tried to call authorities the night she says her husband shot Miriam Waltch, but the effort ended in a tirade.

The wife of 37-year-old Larry Banderob, who is charged with first-degree murder and arson in the Feb. 4 slaying of the St. Maries woman, said her husband slammed her against a dishwasher in their Hells Gulch home and screamed threats at her when she tried calling police.

In the days before his arrest, he guarded his wife and daughter, keeping them near his side and prohibiting them from making calls on their mobile phone, Becky Banderob told the St. Maries Gazette Record.

Other than a cell phone, no telephones were allowed in the family’s home because a few years earlier Becky Banderob had attempted to call police after suffering a beating from her husband, she said.

“He broke phones in a rage when I was going to call the cops on him,” she said. “We weren’t allowed to call anybody.”

Benewah County Prosecutor Doug Payne says he has no immediate plans to file charges against her, saying that the fear instilled by years of abuse and beatings hindered her from contradicting her husband.

Larry Banderob was arrested after firefighters found the body of Waltch, 76, in her charred home at 762 Goosehaven Road, just a few miles from the Banderob home. Benewah County Sheriff Robert Kirts has said it appeared Waltch also was raped during the attack.

Becky Banderob said when her 14-year-old stepdaughter, Desiree, and Larry Banderob came home Feb. 4 – the evening authorities say he broke into Waltch’s home, tied the widow with computer cord and beat her – Desiree was in shock.

She said she tried to make a call on her cell phone but her husband went wild, slamming her into walls and choking her.

He had his wife drive back to Waltch’s home with him to pull his car from the ditch with a vehicle stolen from Waltch’s garage, and then he shot the older woman with a .22-caliber rifle, Becky Banderob said.

She was shocked and terrified, she said, but knew she couldn’t leave her stepdaughter with the man she thought had gone mad. That night, at the direction of her husband, she said, she threw the casings from the rifle into a stove and hid the gun under a pile of oats.

She said she argued with her husband when he wanted her to go back to the Waltch home the following day to set the house on fire to conceal evidence.

“I did try to stand up to Larry when he wanted us to go with him,” she said. “He made it clear it wasn’t a good idea to continue to stand up to him.

“When he says that and you keep arguing, you’re going to be bruised.”

Two days after the slaying, the family opened the gift shop they operated on Main Avenue. Larry Banderob wouldn’t let his wife or daughter out of his sight, Becky Banderob said. He was taking Librium, she said, a medication used in the treatment of anxiety disorders that is also prescribed for relief of the symptoms of withdrawal in acute alcoholism.

“He was paranoid,” she said, “but he was also on two to three times the prescribed amount of Librium.”

In the days before his arrest, when Becky Banderob argued with her husband, he choked her, pulled her hair and yelled at her, she said.

And he took more pills.

“He would start shaking,” she said. “It would put him in a state … kind of like stoned.”

She said her main motivation was to stay between her husband and stepdaughter for fear his rage would be directed at Desiree.

When her husband was arrested Feb. 7, three days after the slaying, she told a deputy that she wanted to talk with police.

“The second we knew he was arrested, I took them (police) up and showed them where the car was, where everything was hidden in the house,” she said. “I came back in and gave a statement, then let them search the store.

“At that point it was just relief that Desi and I didn’t have to cover for her dad anymore.”

Becky Banderob said her husband began beating her eight years ago.

“He called it training,” she said.

She said she tried leaving several times but that he threatened to kill her family. “He liked choking me a lot,” she said.

Prosecutor Payne said he has no immediate plans to file charges against her stepdaughter.

“The juvenile is being treated as a crime victim,” he said. “There is no evidence she acted under free will.”

He said an investigation is under way to clarify events following the slaying, and whether Becky Banderob acted willingly or under duress.

“It’s a closer question,” he said. “To what extent did she act as a willing participant or simply act under coercion?”

A preliminary hearing is set for April 5.

In Idaho, first-degree murder is punishable by death.