Suspect in Idaho motel killing was in jail weeks earlier. Why was he released?
A Mountain Home man is facing a first-degree murder charge after authorities said he killed a man in a motel and was found in California. But that wasn’t his first charge of a violent crime in the span of two months.
Less than two weeks before Brian McGehee allegedly killed a man at the Thunderbird Motel, off of U.S. 30 in Mountain Home, he was in custody at the Elmore County Jail on charges including felony strangulation, felony domestic violence with a traumatic injury and four misdemeanors. Authorities said he choked and threatened to kill his then-girlfriend in April, according to court records obtained by the Idaho Statesman.
But the two felony charges were dismissed, which led McGehee to bond out of jail. Had he been convicted, those charges would have carried a sentence of up to 25 years in prison in Idaho.
Elmore County prosecutors at McGehee’s preliminary hearing last month said they couldn’t move forward that day because of a lack of evidence, adding that the woman who accused him of the crimes wasn’t present, according to minutes filed with the court. Under Idaho law, defendants in custody are entitled to a preliminary hearing, where the prosecution will present evidence to prove the crimes occurred, within two weeks of their initial hearing.
The Elmore County Prosecutor’s Office didn’t respond to questions sent by the Statesman, including one on what led to the dismissal of those charges. Prosecutors can still file charges against someone without the alleged victim.
McGehee had been in custody at the Elmore County Jail since April 10 and had his initial appearance the following day, court records showed. The prosecution then requested that 4th District Judge Brian Peterson, who handles criminal cases in Elmore County, dismiss the two felony counts with prejudice, meaning that they can’t be refiled.
The defense didn’t object to the motion and requested that McGehee be released on his own recognizance, which means he wouldn’t have to pay anything to bail out of jail. Instead, Peterson reduced McGehee’s bond from $5,000 to $2,000, the minutes showed. McGehee paid the bond and was released that same day.
The Mountain Home Police Department reported to the Thunderbird Hotel 11 days later to conduct a welfare check on a missing person when officers found a man dead in one of the rooms, according to a news release from the agency. Police determined that it was a homicide, and that McGehee had fled with the victim’s car, the release said.
McGehee turned himself in to the Santa Monica Police Department in California a week after Elmore County issued a warrant for his arrest, according to the city of Mountain Home. The Elmore County Coroner’s Office declined to release any identifying information about the victim for this story.
McGehee accused of strangling then-girlfriend
McGehee is now awaiting extradition back to Idaho. If convicted, McGehee faces up to life in prison.
Mountain Home Police Chief Jon Thompson told the Statesman by email that the Elmore County Prosecutor’s Office is working with officials in California on the extradition, but that there’s no timeline for his return. The Police Department also sent investigators to California to work on the case.
Thompson said there’s “no indication” that the domestic violence incident and the killing were in any way connected.
Around 8 a.m. April 10, the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office responded to a storage facility just outside Mountain Home’s city limits, after McGehee placed his then-girlfriend in a chokehold, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Elmore County Sheriff Sgt. Lucas Varela. McGehee and the woman lived in a home connected to the storage facility.
The girlfriend told the Sheriff’s Office in an interview that while she was in the kitchen, McGehee got behind her, began choking her and told her that she was ruining his life, she told the Sheriff’s Office.
“I’m going to kill you,” McGehee told her while choking her, the affidavit said.
After the woman attempted to grab her phone to call for help, McGehee began to choke her again while slamming her head into the cabinet for roughly 30 seconds, and then threw her onto the ground and began kicking her, the affidavit said. He also destroyed her phone, the affidavit said, but she was able to use the office phone to call for help.
Varela in the affidavit said the woman had a scratch under a swollen eye, and that he collected the victim’s broken phone as part of the investigation and a pen that she attempted to stab him with to defend herself, the affidavit said.
McGehee was arrested later that day around 4 p.m. and charged with the two felonies and four misdemeanors. The Elmore County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately respond to a phone call seeking additional information.
This story was originally published June 13, 2024 at 2:35 PM.
