Strange Murder in Owyhee County, Idaho

Owyhee County is a county on the very southwest corner of Idaho. With a land area of 7,697 mi², it is the second largest county in Idaho in terms of land area (to put the size in perspective, that is larger than the state of Connecticut and almost as large as New Jersey), but it only has a population of about 12,000. The terrain varies from the flat arid plain south of the Snake River to the majestic Owyhee Mountains along the Idaho-Oregon border. It so resembles terrain found in the Middle-East that the Federal Government took a sizable chunk of the County to use a bombing/practice range for the Air Force.

    According to The Idaho Press,  50-year-old Mark Warner is being held on felony charges related to the death Rod St. Clair, an elderly farmer from the Marsing, Idaho, area. Warner is purportedly a member of a small Owyhee County chapter of an outlaw motorcycle gang known as Vagos. From the article:

      According to court documents, deputies were called out to St. Clair’s home on Island View Drive the evening of Nov. 15 for a report of a man beating on the doors and windows of the home.

      St. Clair went outside with a gun to look for the man, but didn’t find him. Instead, he told deputies when they arrived at the home, he discovered a black backpack sitting next to a tree.

     Inside the bag was a cell phone charger, several sets of keys and clothing, including a green bandanna and a black T-shirt with the Vagos motorcycle gang logo on it.

     St. Clair told deputies he had been in his living room when he heard two pops — sounds deputies later determined were from someone hitting and breaking the windshield and front windows of a car parked outside the house.

     According to court documents, St. Clair was headed out to investigate when he heard a man calling for help. The victim then headed into his bedroom, where he could see a man standing outside with his face pressed up against the glass.

      When St. Clair turned on the lights, the man took off running. The homeowner told deputies he called out “what do you want?” but only heard the man laughing in response.

     Owyhee County Sheriff’s Office deputies searched the area and the fields around the house, but did not find anyone. The investigators found that a lamp outside and the back bedroom window had also been broken.

      St. Clair’s step-daughter told the deputies that she also had seen the man calling out that he was hurt while standing up against the outside bedroom door.

      While deputies were speaking to the victim and his family, dogs at a house to the south began to bark “in an aggressive, alerting manner” according to the probable cause affidavit.

      The deputies went to check that house, but as they were searching, they heard several gunshots from St. Clair’s home. Back at the victim’s home, the investigators found St. Clair’s lying dead on the ground, and one of his female relatives, Debra Thomson standing with a gun in her hand.

     Thomson told deputies that the unknown man — identified as Warner — had charged at her and St. Clair swinging a long, shiny object. The weapon was later determined to be a flail — a two-pound spiky metal ball on a rope.

      Thomson said both she and St. Clair were armed, and that she shot at the man who was running at them, but he did not stop. Warner hit St. Clair with the flail, according to court documents, continuing to attack him as Thomson fired.

      Thomson said the attacker grabbed onto St. Clair and turned him in her direction “as to use Rod as a shield from being shot.” At the same time, Thomson said, she fired her gun, and believed the bullet struck St. Clair.

      The man then ran away around the corner of the home, she said. St. Clair died at the scene.

     Officials say St. Clair was shot in the back. A medical examiner will make the final determination of whether it was Thomson’s bullet that killed him.

     Deputies from Owyhee and Canyon counties were continuing the search for Warner, when they heard a noise, then heard the suspect say “I’m Mark,” according to court documents. Warner was lying on his stomach in the bushes, on top of a Vagos motorcycle gang vest, and had been shot twice in the abdomen.

 Another man was arrested nearby and charged with felony possession of a firearm. There does not appear to be any connection between Warner and St. Clair.

Warner is currently facing a charge of involuntary manslaughter “due to the action of Mark putting Rod in the line of gunfire and thus killing him,” according to court documents. He is also charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and malicious injury to property.

     There are several takeaways from this story. First, even if you are living in a rural area, you are not immune from being the victim of a crime.

     Second, the dead man, St. Clair, did what he was supposed to--called police and armed himself--but still ended up dead. As John Correia of Active Self Protection likes to remind viewers of his You Tube channel, you need to be spiritually prepared in the event the time comes for the end of your mortal existence.

     Third, it is not clear whether St. Clair shot at Warner, but St. Clair's step-daughter did so, and it did not dissuade Warner from his attack. Moreover, getting shot twice in the abdomen did not dissuade the attack. A firearm is not a talisman that magically wards off danger, and even discharging the firearm and striking the attacker may not stop the attack.

     Fourth, although not precise in its description, the article indicates that Warner was struck twice in the abdomen. This might be poor aim, or it could be good aim at the wrong place. I'm thinking in particular about the old "center of mass" which if literally applied ends up with bullets striking below the vitals. "Center of mass" needs to be reformulated as "center of chest" so hits will actually have a better chance to stop the attacker.

    Fifth, it is hard to make good hits once people start moving around and are close together. In this case, it appears that St. Clair's step-daughter shot St. Clair in the back while St. Clair and Warner were tangled up in their fight. This is a difficult position to be in because as the attacker and victim are in close proximity and possibly move around, it would be easy to strike the victim if you attempted a shot.