Long Trail Leads To Murder Suspect Ex-Teacher’s Acquaintance Charged In 1994 Bonner County Murder

Two years ago, Paul Gruber was shot and killed, wrapped in a waterbed mattress and buried four feet under his home.

Now the case that has nagged Bonner County authorities may be solved.

Detectives arrested Daryl Kuehl, 45, Monday in Gig Harbor, Wash.

Kuehl was an acquaintance of Gruber’s and a prime suspect since the wealthy retired teacher was reported missing in February 1994.

“This is a big arrest in a very mysterious homicide,” said Sheriff Chip Roos. “We worked a couple of years to put all the pieces together and feel very strongly we have enough evidence for a conviction.”

Kuehl was charged with first-degree murder, grand theft and forgery. He is being held without bond in the Pierce County Jail awaiting extradition to Bonner County.

Roos declined to reveal the late-breaking evidence that led to the arrest. It included some “exotic” laboratory work, he said, along with clues detectives turned up while unearthing Gruber’s body and rummaging through a local landfill.

“Just about everyone thought this case was a lost cause, but our investigators and the (Idaho) attorney general’s office stuck to it and kept the trail warm,” Roos said.

Kuehl was living in Idaho and struck up a friendship with Gruber for “business reasons,” authorities said. Shortly after Gruber was reported missing by his daughter, Kuehl was questioned by detectives.

His home was searched and detectives found some of Gruber’s personal property, including his boat.

“He (Kuehl) had all kinds of stuff and a whole bunch of stories about what supposedly happened that just didn’t mesh,” Roos said.

But police still hadn’t found Gruber’s body. They searched his home on Gypsy Bay Road several times and found all his clothes were gone, along with guns, a computer, television set and personal papers.

Someone had been picking up Gruber’s mail, paying his bills and making withdrawals using his credit card at automated teller machines. It later was discovered that nearly $30,000 was missing from his account.

During another search of Gruber’s home, detectives noticed some newly installed carpeting. They ripped it up and found bloodstains underneath. DNA tests showed it was Gruber’s blood.

It wasn’t until August 1995, a year and a half after Gruber had vanished, that a deputy stumbled into a sinkhole beneath Gruber’s home.

It turned out to be a makeshift grave. Authorities used trowels and teaspoons to uncover Gruber’s body and hunt for evidence.

County Prosecutor Tevis Hull is not handling the case. He turned it over to the attorney general’s office months ago, partially because he felt there wasn’t enough evidence to support a murder charge.

Hull also declared a conflict of interest, saying the suspect was a personal friend and they had attended the same church.

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