Former in-law charged with Devin murders | News | idahocountyfreepress.com - Idaho County Free Press
LEWISTON — A former in-law to the Devin family was arrested Sunday evening, Oct. 31, charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Edwina “Eddy” Devin of Grangeville and Michael T. Devin of Lewiston.
Richard Brad Ross (aka Satterfield), 56, is currently incarcerated in the Nez Perce County Jail, having been set for arraignment Tuesday, Nov. 2, on charges in magistrate court. A preliminary hearing date was not available as of press time.
According to the Lewiston Police Department (LPD), Richard was taken into custody without incident at around 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Motel 6, located on Bridge Street in Clarkston, Wash. LPD, the Clarkston Police Department, the Quad Cities Drug Task Force and the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office partnered together to arrest Ross. He was turned in to police by his siblings, Barbara and Caleb Ross.
The arrest is related to the homicide by suffocation of Michael, 57, and by strangulation of Eddy, 76, being investigated jointly by both agencies. Richard is a former Grangeville resident, with a last known address out of California, and has been residing in and around Grangeville for about a year.
According to a probable cause report, on Sept. 30, Idaho County deputies responded to a possible homicide report at 340 Cove Road outside Mt. Idaho. Eddy’s body had been found by family members in a basement room, bound with cord and silver duct tape. Eddy’s body was covered with coarse sawdust and wood chips — smelling like they had been soaked in diesel fuel — piled on with pieces of wood and kindling, newspaper and other combustibles. Three five-gallon plastic fuel cans full of gasoline were in the room, their lids unscrewed and fuel spilled into large trash bags enclosing the cans. A newspaper and a cotton ball were slightly charred.
According to the report, the pathologist determined Eddy died due to strangulation. She was last heard from on Sept. 30 at 8:15 a.m. when she talked with her employer, and at 11:30 a.m. she failed to meet a coworker at the bottom of the Harpster Grade, and family members realized she was missing and began checking by phone and in person.
On Oct. 1, about 3:20 a.m., according to the report, LPD responded to a vehicle fire near the 2900 block of Nez Perce Drive, in Lewiston, in a field near a rock pit. A GMC Sierra was destroyed and a body — eventually identified as Michael — was found in the back floorboard area. The remains of silver duct tape and a burnt pair of handcuffs were found.
In the report, investigators laid out the the background and a timeline of events leading up to and past the murders.
According to the report, ICSO investigators were told by Eddy’s daughter, Beth Keeler, that Richard’s sister, Barbara, had been married to Michael. They had divorced about two years prior, and the divorce was described as difficult. Michael told Keeler — during the 20 years they were married — that he could never leave the relationship, because if he did, Richard’s family would kill him. Michael also told her if he ever was killed or turned up missing, Richard would be responsible.
The report states LPD had contact with Richard and Krystal L. Whitcomb, on a speeding stop on Sept. 21. The pair stated they were in a medical emergency, rushing his dog, Snowy, to the vet; the dog has subsequently died. In a later LPD interview with Michael’s daughter, Hailey, she stated they were worried that when/if Snowy died, Richard might “snap” and begin to take out people he had on a “list.”
According to the report, Whitcomb and Richard met about a year ago and eventually began a relationship, and she never knew his last name until she last saw him at property near Lightning Creek Road, which he claimed to own and where they occasionally stayed. Whitcomb described Richard’s demeanor after Snowy’s death as different, weird, and he seemed to distance himself from her.
On Wednesday evening, Sept. 29, according to the report, the couple was at the Lightning Creek property and Richard told Whitcomb to take him to Lewiston. She stated his behavior as if a “switch” was flipped and he was a completely different person. Richard is reported to have told her he knew where she and her family lived, to tell nobody about the trip, and he indicated he had a “list” and it would be a shame if her family went to the top of his list. He also stated instead of an “eye for an eye,” he believed in an “eye for two eyes.”
According to the report, she dropped Richard off in Lewiston at the intersection of 14th Avenue and 19th Street, approximately two blocks from Michael’s residence where he was carrying a type of black bag. Richard returned to Idaho County to the Lightning Creek Road property where Whitcomb found him extremely upset, bagging items in large dark garbage bags, “sobbing uncontrollably,” told her he was not a good person, that he wanted to commit suicide. The report stated on items recovered during a warrant search were dog hairs on clothing similar to those left at the Cove Road crime scene.
In an Oct. 31 LPD interview with Barbara Ross around 2:30 p.m, she stated at approximately 7 a.m. that same day, Richard came to her home in Clarkston, told her “he did it.” She stated Richard disclosed he went to Michael’s house, entered through the dog door and the dog’s barking woke Michael up. He had Michael get dressed, and Michael told Richard he had a lot of money at his mom’s house in a safe and he knew the code. Barbara said Michael went up to Eddy’s with Richard to “rob” her. Eddy was not supposed to be home, but she was. Michael either didn’t have the safe code or it didn’t work, and Eddy wouldn’t give them the safe.
According to the report, Richard did not specifically tell Barbara he killed Eddy or Michael; he told Barbara that Eddy was “smothered” and that Michael was dead before he lit his truck on fire. She said Richard told her he spilled gas on his pants and had to “light it” and couldn’t light where he wanted to so he lit it from “far back” and that “doubly” made it look like a murder. Richard knew he was “screwed” because he had dog hair on him from Snowy and that it would be everywhere and he would be caught. He told her he wanted to “make amends” with his father in California and daughter in Oregon, and he would come back in three weeks and let her call 911, and when the police would arrive he would pull a gun or weapon and let the police shoot him.
Also part of the Oct. 31 LPD interview, Barbara said that when Richard came to see her that Sunday morning, he was “a little unstable,” and he snapped because he remembered what Michael had done to her when they were together. Barbara said Richard always hated Michael because he had pushed her through a window, cut her up and beat her up when they were together.
The matter remains under investigation, according to Idaho County Sheriff Doug Ulmer, jointly by Idaho County and LPD.
“Idaho County Sheriff’s Office detectives and LPD detectives are working together,” he said, “and we’re moving forward.”
source: https://www.idahocountyfreepress.com/news/former-in-law-charged-with-devin-murders/article_6b50c3a6-3c2d-11ec-a57d-a7886f8a274e.html
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