The Blaine County sheriff and prosecutor offices will get a little elbowroom this spring following the double murder conviction of Sarah M. Johnson, 18, of Bellevue, in the biggest investigation and trial the county has experienced since the early 1990s.
"I've had staff assigned to it every day since it happened," said Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling. "We've met on this weekly, daily even."
Prosecutors, too, have worked on the case since Sept. 2, 2003, when Johnson's parents, Alan and Diane Johnson, were found murdered in their Bellevue home.
It was the biggest trial Blaine County Prosecutor Jim Thomas or Deputy Prosecutor Justin Whatcott have ever faced. For the last seven weeks, both men worked 16- to 18-hour days, Thomas said.
They were also uprooted from their Wood River Valley homes. They moved into hotel rooms in Boise, where the trial was relocated in order to empanel an unbiased jury.
The price tag for the investigation and trial is not light. Blaine County is footing the bill for prosecuting attorneys, defense attorneys, investigators and trial proceedings. When the trial began seven weeks ago, the county had already spent $600,000. Final numbers are not yet in, but the cost is expected to total well over $1 million.
Femling said the investigation into the Johnson murders is the largest he has been involved with. The agency compiled more than 11,000 pages of reports, the largest number of pages for a single investigation in the sheriff's career. The investigation included collection of more than 400 pieces of evidence, also a career high for Femling.
Although defense attorneys harped investigators about pieces of evidence that were not collected at the murder scene, Thomas said collection of the garbage can that was almost taken away by trash collectors on the morning of the murders probably contained the most important evidence that was retained.
"Had that not been saved, we may not be here," he said, adding that if they were doing it all over again, they would probably save everything that was in the room.
The trashcan contained a pink bathrobe Johnson wore to commit the crimes, as well as a latex glove and brown leather glove that investigators also believe the girl wore.
"There were so many pieces, and they just all came together," Thomas said. "The robe and gloves, when we got the DNA in the gloves, that's when we compiled a grand jury to indict Sarah."
Not since Mitchell Odiaga went on a shooting rampage on the streets of Ketchum and gunned down two people June 22, 1990, has a Blaine County murder case gotten so much attention. Odiaga, a U.S. postal worker from Boise, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole before 2014.
Sarah Johnson arrived in court Wednesday morning in tears and left in handcuffs. Photo by Willy Cook
