For the week of September 3 - 9, 2003

Police investigate double homicide in Bellevue

Couple shot while sleeping

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

A Bellevue man and woman were killed by gunshot wounds Tuesday morning in their Glenn Aspen Drive home.

Alan and Diane Johnson were apparently sleeping at, or just prior to, the time of their death, Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said in a short press briefing near the scene of the crime Tuesday afternoon.

Femling said the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office received 911 calls at about 6:25 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 2, from neighbors who awoke to the firing of a gun. The Johnsons’ daughter, Sarah, fled the home to tell neighbors that shots had been fired in her house.

"We believe there are some suspects," Femling said at about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, qualifying that Sarah Johnson was not one of them. "We are working this as a homicide at this point. We’re looking at every angle possible. We have multiple agencies and multiple officers running down leads."

No suspects were in police custody by mid-afternoon Tuesday.

"At this point, we have two victims that are still in the house," Femling said.

Tuesday afternoon, between 25 and 30 law enforcement officers worked the crime scene in the quiet south-Bellevue neighborhood. The Blaine County Sheriff’s Office, Bellevue Marshall’s Office, Idaho State Police and Hailey and Sun Valley police departments all combed the scene. An Idaho State Police forensics unit was also there, Femling said.

Sheriff’s Office deputies guarded the entrance to Glen Aspen Drive from Riverview Drive. Only local residents and law enforcement personnel were allowed to pass, said Blaine County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jamie Shaw, who guarded the road. No garbage collection, mail deliveries or lawn mowing services were permitted to enter the neighborhood. Sheriff’s deputies also declined to allow reporters to knock on doors at local residents’ homes.

Blaine County Coroner Russel Mikel arrived at the scene at approximately 3 p.m. Cause of death would not be official until Mikel issues a declaration.

Femling said only three people lived at the Glen Aspen Drive home, and all three were there sleeping at the time of the crime. Sarah Johnson’s older brother, Matt, was away.

Law enforcement personnel were caring for Sarah Johnson Tuesday afternoon, Femling said.

"We’re trying to help her with this right now," he said.

"The people around here are in total shock," he added. "They’re saddened by this event."

Alan Johnson had been an employee at Webb Landscaping for the last five years and was a long-time friend of Doug Webb, the company’s chief executive. Diane Johnson had worked at the Hailey Medical Clinic but had recently switched jobs, Webb said.

Webb called the couple "involved local people, the kind of people who would come to help when you need it."

Sarah Johnson, a junior at Wood River High School, is a member of the high school volleyball team. Wood River’s match at Gooding Tuesday night was canceled after news of the incident reached the Hailey school.

Her older brother, Matt Johnson, a 1999 Wood river graduate, was attending the University of Idaho.

For years, Alan Johnson was one of the premier trapshooters in southern Idaho.

 

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