Police arrest Idaho man in brutal stabbing

BOISE - Idaho State Police arrested a 58-year-old man on Friday, saying he battered and stabbed to death an elderly U.S. Navy veteran to hide an attempt to swindle him out of about $30,000.

Troopers arrested Douglas Everett Anderson in Salmon with the help of local authorities in Lemhi County. They said they plan to charge Anderson, who until recently lived in Emmett in southwestern Idaho, with grand theft and first-degree murder in the death of Darole Carpenter of Emmett on July 8.

Carpenter, who was 78, was found bludgeoned in the head and stabbed multiple times in the abdomen at his home. Investigators say Anderson is a swindler who killed Carpenter to hide that he had stolen about $30,000 that he was supposed to use to buy cattle and hay.

Police didn't immediately release the cause of Carpenter's death as they worked to gather evidence and identify the killer. In the end, police said, DNA evidence and video footage helped lead them to Anderson, who was arrested near his residence in Salmon without incident.

"A spot of Carpenter's blood in Anderson's vehicle ... has been confirmed by DNA testing by Idaho State Police Forensic Services," Teresa Baker, an Idaho State Police spokeswoman, said in a statement. "Additionally, police have obtained video evidence placing Anderson's vehicle at Carpenter's residence at the time of the murder."

According to his obituary, Carpenter served in the Navy for two years in Guam and Adak, Alaska, in the 1950s.

More recently, friends knew him as a talented leather worker who made Western saddles and other beautifully tooled items, a skill he learned while in the military.

In addition to the murder and grand theft counts, police said they plan to charge Anderson with forgery and two additional grand theft counts, related to a separate transaction in which he also promised to buy livestock and feed from another Idaho couple.

In that case, authorities said Anderson forged the signature of his wife on a promissory note in which he said he would purchase cattle and hay with about $230,000 received from the couple under false pretenses.

Following his arrest Friday morning, Anderson was being held in the Lemhi County Jail on $1 million bond. He's due to be arraigned on Monday on the murder and theft charges.

Lemhi County Sheriff Lynn Bowerman told The Associated Press Friday that Anderson indicated he has an attorney, but Bowerman didn't know the attorney's name.

He expects Anderson to be transferred to Gem County, where Emmett is located, shortly after Monday's arraignment.