Sheriff wins reelection versus former police chief known for leading Bryan Kohberger case

Latah County Sheriff Richie Skiles decisively won a third term in Tuesday’s general election, fending off a challenge from two former members of local law enforcement who tried to unseat him.

The Republican incumbent faced two conservative-leaning independent candidates: James Fry, Moscow’s former police chief; and Christopher Middleton, a former Idaho State Police trooper and Latah County sheriff’s deputy.

With 100% of precincts in the county reporting, Skiles captured 57.9% of the vote. Fry received 34.8%, while Middleton received 7.3%. Voters cast nearly 20,000 ballots in the race, results showed.

Skiles, 59, of Potlatch, served in the U.S. Marines before tenures as a Latah County sheriff’s deputy and the chief of police in the small town of Troy. After the bulk of results were in, he told the Idaho Statesman he spent election night with his wife and adult son, and was grateful for the continued trust of voters.

“It means a lot to me,” Skiles said in an interview early Wednesday morning. “I’ve worked hard for eight years as sheriff and I worked hard as a deputy, and that’s one of those things that’s helped me as sheriff. I just try to do the right things for the right reasons, and it shines through when people keep us in office.”

Fry, 55, who lives in Troy, retired in May after 29 years with the Moscow police, including the past eight years as its chief. He quickly announced his intent to run for sheriff, and Middleton, 55, of unincorporated Moscow, threw his name in the hat not long after.

Early Wednesday morning, Fry told the Statesman that Skiles ran a good race. He said he planned to contact the sheriff to offer his congratulations.

“I wish him well and success for the next four years,” Fry said in a text message to the Statesman.

Fry said he wasn’t sure what he would do next. “Time will tell,” he said.

Fry gained statewide and national recognition while overseeing the investigation into the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. After nearly seven weeks, Fry announced the arrest of Washington State University graduate student Bryan Kohberger on suspicion of murder.

During the course of the homicide investigation, Fry and other local officials also garnered criticism. He chose not to hold a press conference for three days after the students’ violent deaths, in addition to withholding various pieces of information about the case from the public.

The national stage granted to Fry during the high-profile investigation made for an intriguing variable in the local sheriff’s race. But it did not win the day with Latah County voters.

“To be honest, I didn’t know how people were going to vote. Moscow is a little bit of a wild card, and I wasn’t sure how people felt about how he did or didn’t do in crisis,” Skiles said. “That crisis would be difficult for anybody, and, honestly, we learned a lot, he learned a lot, we learned a lot from the things that happened there.”

Also Tuesday, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, who is leading the prosecution of Kohberger, ran unopposed in the election. First elected to the office in 1992, the Democrat secured his ninth term, which runs through 2028.

This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 10:56 PM.

Kevin Fixler

Idaho Statesman

208-377-6204

Kevin Fixler is an investigative reporter with the Idaho Statesman and a three-time Idaho Print Reporter of the Year. He holds degrees from the University of Denver and UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Support my work with a digital subscription