Skull found in 2022 in southeast Idaho identified as missing Spokane woman
The Power County Sheriff's Office, ISP and other local, state and federal agencies confirmed the human remains discovered in the Fort Hall River bottoms as those of Lesiah Olivia Pickett, according to an ISP news release.
On July 30, 2022, a fisherman located a skull along the Fort Hall River in Power County, ISP said. Investigators from the Fort Hall Police Department, the FBI's Pocatello office and the Power County Coroner's Office responded . A search of the area yielded no additional skeletal remains and no signs of trauma.
The remains were turned over to the Ada County Coroner's Office and later submitted to the FBI laboratory for DNA and anthropological analysis. The FBI produced three-dimensional facial approximation images of the skull, according to the release.
In May, the skull was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, and a bulletin was distributed to law enforcement agencies in surrounding states. Through coordination between ISP Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Team, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and forensic odontologists, two possible matches were identified.
"Through the Idaho SAKI program, we were able to offer both forensic and investigative support that ultimately helped give a name back to Ms. Pickett and provided her family with some long-awaited answers," Daren Boyd, ISP SAKI site coordinator, said in the release.
One match was ruled out by DNA comparison, and the second potential match was confirmed through a comparison of dental records in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System database.
That system confirmed on June 26 the remains belonged to Pickett, who had been missing since late 2019, ISP said.
Records indicate Pickett was seen Oct. 4, 2019, in American Falls, Idaho, and Oct. 20, 2019, in the Pocatello area. She was a transient who was in Ogden, Utah, in September 2019.
"This identification reflects the power of teamwork, science, and tenacity," Power County Sheriff Joshua Campbell said in the release. "We are grateful to have worked alongside our local and federal partners to bring some measure of peace to Ms. Pickett's family. Cold cases take time, trust and collaboration, which are all in this case."
Anyone who saw Pickett after October 20, 2019, or has any information about places she may have stayed, especially in southeast Idaho or the surrounding areas, is asked to contact the Power County Sheriff's Office at (208) 226-2311.
"Behind every unidentified person is a family searching for answers, and behind every investigation like this is a team who refuses to give up," Col. Bill Gardiner, ISP director, said in the release. "This case is a testament to what dedicated investigators and forensic professionals can accomplish when they work together across agencies and jurisdictions. We're grateful to have played a part in giving Ms. Pickett her name back and bringing her family the answers they've long deserved."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
It began as a residential fire in Matthews Co. Now authorities investigating double homicide and arson.
MATTHEWS COUNTY — What started as first responders reacting to a residential fire Friday night has become a double homicide and arson investigation, authorities said. At approximately 10 p.m. Friday, first responders were called to the 17000 block of John Clayton Memorial Highway, the Matthews County Sheriff's Office said, and found a residence on fire. A man and woman were found inside by firefighters and were declared dead by authorities. Investigators found that they both had gunshot wounds, which were likely inflicted before the fire began, the sheriff's office statement read. Authorities have not released the names of the deceased, pending next of kin notification. First responders began their examination of what happened at the residence as a fire investigation. It has since been updated to a double homicide and arson investigation. 'We ask our community to pray for the victims' families during this difficult time,' the sheriff's office said in a release. No additional details were immediately available. If anyone has any information is asked to contact the Mathews County Sheriff's Office at (804) 725-7177.
New York Post
35 minutes ago
- New York Post
GOP senator subpoenas FBI for records related to Trump assassination attempt
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) subpoenaed the FBI on Friday for records related to assassination attempt against President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July. Johnson, the chairman of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, is demanding security camera footage that may show would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks' movements prior to the shooting, as well as ballistics, bullet trajectory and drone analysis reports the bureau may have on file. Sen. Ron Johnson speaking to reporters at the Capitol on June 5, 2025. AP 'One year following the assassination attempt of President Trump, the American people still do not have answers to all of their questions about the breakdown of security at the Butler campaign rally and detailed information about the would-be assassin, Thomas Crooks,' Johnson said in a statement. Johnson is also looking to obtain records related to Crooks' social media and email accounts, his internet search history, and call logs. Donald Trump being escorted by Secret Service agents in Butler, Pa. on July 13, 2024. AFP via Getty Images 'I had expected the FBI to be more forthcoming with the public and provide my office with the records we have been seeking for months,' the senator said. 'I am issuing the subpoena to help prompt transparency and I look forward to [FBI Director Kash Patel's] full cooperation.'
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bryan Kohberger believed he committed ‘the perfect murders' until one key mistake shattered his plot: author
Bryan Kohberger, a painfully awkward, arrogant introvert and criminal justice student, believed he could have committed "the perfect murders," James Patterson said. "One of the things that professor [Dr. Katherine Ramsland] said that with murderers like this, they get tunnel vision – they panic, and they miss things," the award-winning author told Fox News Digital. "So here was Kohberger who almost committed the perfect murders – except [he had] that tunnel vision," Patterson shared. "He left that knife sheath behind. And that's what ultimately led to his arrest." Watch 'Savage Instincts: The Mind Of Bryan Kohberger' On Fox Nation Patterson, who has sold more than 425 million books, published over 260 New York Times bestsellers, and won 10 Emmy Awards, has teamed up with investigative journalist Vicky Ward to write a new book, "The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy." He is also a producer on the new Prime Video docuseries, "One Night in Idaho: The College Murders," which is based on the book. Several loved ones of the victims spoke out in the film. Read On The Fox News App Fox News Digital reached out to Kohberger's lawyer for comment. Kohberger, a former Washington State University criminology Ph.D. student, pleaded guilty on July 2 to killing four University of Idaho students on Nov. 13, 2022, as part of a deal with prosecutors to escape the death penalty. The 30-year-old faces four consecutive life sentences for fatally stabbing 21-year-olds Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, as well as 20-year-olds Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at their off-campus house. For the book, Patterson and Ward conducted more than 300 interviews and took a deep dive into Kohberger's upbringing. "He was inappropriate – he didn't know how to socialize very well," Patterson explained. "… He was a teaching assistant, and he was just turning people off. He graded the women poorly. He had an inability to deal with women, yet he thought he was popular. It was a thought of, why aren't these people, these women, loving him? Because he found himself very worthy. And in this documentary, most of this comes out." Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X According to the book and docuseries, Kohberger may have been inspired by one killer – Elliot Rodger. The 22-year-old was obsessed with exacting "retribution" after experiencing what he claimed was a lifetime of social and sexual isolation, The Associated Press reported. In 2014, Rodger killed six people in a stabbing and shooting spree in Isla Vista, California, before turning the gun on himself. "No one knows that, like Rodger, Bryan is a virgin who hates women," the book claimed. "No one knows that Bryan copes with loneliness by immersing himself in video games. Like Rodger, he goes for night drives. Like Rodger, he visits the gun range. And, like Rodger, he goes to a local bar and tries to pick up women." "Elliot Rodger wrote that he kept trying to place himself in settings where he could pick up women," the book continued. "But no one noticed him. Bryan must think that surely he'll be noticed. Women must spot his looks, his intelligence, and they must want him. They don't." Patterson pointed out that at the Seven Sirens Brewing Company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Kohberger would push his way into unwanted conversations with female bartenders and patrons. He went as far as asking for their addresses. Some women, according to the book, started complaining to the brewery's owner about "the creepy guy with the bulging eyes." Kohberger was adamant that women would notice him. But Patterson noted that to many, he was simply "off-putting." "He made people uncomfortable," said Patterson. "The bartenders and owners remembered him as being this weird duck who would sit at a bar and just weird everybody out and talk inappropriately. He had a lot of trouble socializing." Sign Up To Get The True Crime Newsletter According to the book, Kohberger felt that by going to Moscow, Idaho, across the state border, he could find a girl willing to date him. He read about a place online called the Mad Greek where they sell vegan pizza – he's vegan. When he walked inside, he noticed a blonde waitress – "Maddie" Mogen. It's been speculated by sources who spoke to Patterson that Mogen rejected Kohberger. The book pointed out an eerie similarity. "Elliot Rodger wrote of reuniting with a childhood friend named Maddy in the months before the day of retribution," read the book. "She was a popular, spoiled USC girl who partied with her hot, popular blonde-haired clique of friends," Rodger wrote, as quoted by the book. "My hatred for them all grew from each picture I saw of her profile. They were the kind of beautiful, popular people who lived pleasurable lives and would look down on me as inferior scum, never accepting me as one of them. They were my enemies. They represented everything that was wrong with this world." When asked if we'll ever know Kohberger's true motives for committing the murders, Patterson replied, "Oh, I think we already do [know]." "I think he had decided that Maddie… You could see it when you went by the house. You could see her room. Her name was up in the window of her room. We think it seems like he went there to deal with her. It seems fairly obvious. Will we know more? I don't know. If he wants to be interviewed at this stage, I'm happy to go there and do an interview. And I've done that before – people who've gone to prison, and they decide that, all of a sudden, they want to talk." GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE True Crime Hub Past acquaintances described Kohberger as frustrated by females – and even sexist as a result. One woman who met Kohberger on a Tinder date several years ago claimed on social media that her interaction with him was so awkward she pretended to vomit just to get him to leave her apartment. He also appeared to be well-versed in "incels," or "involuntary celibates." "Pretty much everybody we talked to just said, 'This is a strange man with a strange look – couldn't look people in the eye,'" said Patterson. "If he did look at you in the eye, sometimes people wished that he hadn't. And his impression of himself was totally out of whack with the way other people perceived him." The book describes Kohberger as having once expressed an "offensive, anachronistic view of gender roles." And following the murders, he may have viewed himself as a criminal mastermind. Moscow, Idaho, was overwhelmed by the gravity of his heinous crimes and the public scrutiny that came with it. "You've got not only the murders here, but all of a sudden, you've got press from around the world in this small town," Patterson explained. "You've got all of these rumors. One of the things in the book, and one of the saddest things that we discovered in the documentary, is the way that this stuff gets picked up by these true crime people, some of whom are vampires. They're awful, they don't care. They don't take responsibility for their actions. And when you write a book or do a documentary, you have to be responsible for it. And we were responsible." WATCH: ATTORNEY FOR MADISON MOGEN'S FAMILY VOWS TO EMBARK ON A NEW PATH FOLLOWING BRYAN KOHBERGER'S GUILTY PLEA And it could have been that "tunnel vision" Kohberger had that reportedly made him believe he wouldn't get caught. "Dr. Ramsland teaches her students that killers get tunnel vision when they are committing murder," the book shared. "That's why mistakes get made. Amid the high adrenaline and hyper-focus on the act itself, killers can forget things they otherwise would not." And Kohberger's family isn't to blame, said Patterson. "I think from everything we can gather, his parents did their best," said Patterson. "They seemed to have done their best with him." Kohberger's guilty plea doesn't end the quest to seek more answers. "Look, people talk," said Patterson. "… When you're in a big city, like New York, you're kind of used to, unfortunately, to violence. But you've got these two college towns, Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Washington, and they don't know what to make of this. "… It's a story of these families, and these kids… And, to some extent… the documentary – it will make you afraid. It will certainly make you feel what it was like to be in those towns during this period. What it was like the next day – the shock, the fear." Watch: 'Bryan Kohberger: I Am Blank' On Fox Nation "It was a hard case to solve," he reflected. "[Investigators] were very fortunate that Kohberger made that one really big blunder… He didn't make a lot of mistakes. So it was a tough investigation… He might've never been caught. We might've been writing about God knows what right now."Original article source: Bryan Kohberger believed he committed 'the perfect murders' until one key mistake shattered his plot: author
