Hayden homicide victim identified as 35-year-old man

A homicide victim found with “traumatic injuries” before dying on a rural property north of Hayden Lake was identified as 35-year-old Kenneth B. Caldero, of Kootenai County.

A person called 911 Monday afternoon to report an injured man on his property and blood on the front porch of his residence in the 15000 block of North Hamlet Trail, according to a Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office news release. Caldero died at the property.

Law enforcement searched the residence and the immediate area for any other victims and possible suspects, but did not find anyone, the sheriff’s office said.

The Kootenai County Coroner’s Office identified the man as Caldero, according to the sheriff’s office. The “specific cause” of Caldero’s death is under investigation.

Detectives are investigating the “suspicious death.”

Undersheriff Brett Nelson wrote in an email the sheriff’s office is not releasing further information on the cause of death, pending the investigation.

Caldero has a lengthy criminal history, according to court documents.

He burglarized a Spokane home in 2020 and was subsequently shot in the leg by a man who lived at the home, according to court documents. He was sentenced to one year behind bars for burglary.

In Kootenai County, he’s been convicted of several charges, including burglary, attempted grand theft, battery on a law enforcement officer, DUI, battery and possession of a controlled substance.

Caldero was also a combat veteran from Hayden who told a Kootenai County judge at a 2018 sentencing for burglary, grand theft and battering a police officer that he was self-medicating with methamphetamine, according to a Coeur d’Alene Press story. Caldero, a Scout Sniper in Afghanistan, told the judge he was honorably discharged from the service, the Press reported.

Anyone with information about Monday’s incident is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (208) 446-1854.