Idaho Rancher’s Wife: ‘I Saw The Deputies Murder My Husband’
The family of an Idaho rancher who was killed last week by Adams County deputies say he was murdered needlessly right in front of them.
The death of Jack Yantis, one of the most well-known ranchers in Idaho’s small town of Council, has flared up tensions in the area, with Adams County officials claiming the incident has left them prone to hate mail and even death threats.
The incident first came to light last Monday, when news outlets published reports that two Adams County deputies had killed an Idaho rancher after a brief gunfight erupted on U.S. 95 north of Council, a county seat in Idaho with a population of approximately 1,000 people. In the official statement released by the police, it was claimed that Jack Yantis was shot and killed after he fired a shot at one of the deputies who had informed him about Yantis’ bull being hit by a vehicle on the highway.
An Idaho rancher was killed in a shootout with deputies while trying to save his bull: https://t.co/HAMHlHLVBO pic.twitter.com/Kam0rrsrUP
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) November 3, 2015
But now, in a detailed account of the night shared by Jack Yantis’ family with the Idaho Statesman, they contend that Adams County deputies murdered the 62-year-old rancher in cold blood and that top officials are trying to protect the deputies who are responsible for the killing.
As reported by the media outlet, the account is in written statements prepared with attorneys the family hired after the incident, a video statement Jack Yantis’ wife Donna made from her Boise hospital bed, and a draft transcript the lawyers prepared of one family member’s account of what happened.
According to the family’s recounting of the events on that night, Jack Yantis was informed by an Adams County deputy about one of his animals, a 2,500-pound black Gelbvieh bull, which is similar to an Angus, being hit by a car on the highway last Sunday evening. The bull, whose hind legs were shattered as the result of the accident, had allegedly started attacking people at the crash site. At the time, the Yantis couple, along with with their nephew Rowdy Paradis and family friend Joe Rumsey, had just finished having their dinner.
“They opened up with their pistols and their M16s… before Jack got there. That’s an inhumane deal… This is a 2-ton Angus bull that’s pissed off, he’s hurt and psychotic… It was blazing down there and it sounded like World War III on this bull, because they got him charging at everyone again.”
In the meantime, since the site of the crash was close to the Idaho rancher’s house, Donna Yantis had managed to reach her husband and handed him a rifle. With a heavy heart, Donna says, her husband approached the bull, prepared to shoot him in the head and rid him off the pain. According to Paradis, as Yantis was standing about four feet from the bull, aiming the rifle at the back of the bull’s head, the two deputies were having a muted conversation behind him.
“Everything was going as planned…. I did not notice any conversation at all between Jack Yantis and the deputies,” Paradis said. “Then the one cop turned around and grabbed his shoulder and jerked him backwards.”
As Yantis tried to get hold of his footing, the Idaho rancher’s family contends, the rifle in Jack’s hand might have discharged accidentally. The official statement by Adams County says one of its deputies suffered a minor injury, but it was at this moment that one of the deputies began shooting Jack Yantis. Then the other deputy started shooting, the family says.
According to the account, Donna and Paradis reached for Jack but the Adams County deputies wouldn’t allow them to.
“And then they threatened me and my nephew… threw us on the middle of Highway 95, searched us and handcuffed us, and wouldn’t let us go take care of Jack,” Donna Yantis said.
Paradis says one of the deputies pointed a gun at his head. A few moments later, Donna Yantis suffered a heart attack.
When family friend Joe Rumsey reached the scene of the accident and demanded to know what had transpired, a deputy told him that he had been grazed by the bullet.
“I asked him, ‘Where?’ I said, ‘That’s bulls**t.’ There was no blood, no torn thread, no powder burn. There was nothing.”
Even after repeatedly remonstrating with the deputies, Paradis says, they did not put an end to the bull’s suffering, who died slowly because of blood loss as the deputies had shot him in his guts.
According to latest reports, the two deputies are on paid vacation at the moment, as the family hopes to charge them with murder. An Idaho State Police investigation is underway, and the authorities are to act once the report is submitted to the prosecutor.
Meanwhile, Adams County Sheriff Ryan Zollman has said they are getting death threats, according to KTVB. He has asked everyone to remain calm until Idaho State Police concludes its investigation and has reassured Jack Yantis’ family that if the deputies are culpable of murder, they are not going to be spared.
“It was like a tidal wave had hit this community, and it’s going to take a long time for the waters to subside,” he said.
The Idaho rancher’s nephew hopes Idaho State Police will see that the investigation is thorough.
“Outside of one sheriff with Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho State Police were the first people to treat any of us as humans, let alone victims,” Paradis said.
The Idaho rancher’s wife is now recovering in the hospital and, like her nephew, she hopes the Idaho State Police will reach the correct conclusion. The family has also released some pictures of the night, which you can view here.
[Photo via Wikipedia]
