Five arraigned in double murder

Five suspects in a North Idaho double homicide in August were arraigned Tuesday in First Judicial District Court in Wallace.

Four entered not guilty pleas, and the fifth asked for a continuance to give a new public defender more time to review his case, said Shoshone County Prosecutor Michael Peacock.

Jon Allen Kienholz Jr., 20, of Silverton, Idaho, received the continuance. He faces two counts of first-degree murder.

The suspects are accused in the shooting deaths of Silver Valley residents Neil Howard, 20, and Cynthia Bewick, 18. The suspects allegedly told police they wanted to steal the couple’s car for a road trip.

The victims’ bodies were found a few days after the shootings at the top of Dobson Pass, north of Wallace, by a man picking huckleberries.

Corey Reid, 20, of Kellogg, is being held in the Shoshone County Jail on two counts of aiding and abetting first-degree murder.

Pinehurst resident Hiram Wilson, 17, faces two counts of aiding and abetting first-degree murder. He’s being tried as an adult and is in the Kootenai County Jail.

Wilson is the son of Rocky Wilson, chief of the Pinehurst Police Department.

Also facing two counts each of accessory to murder after the fact are Braecyn Wood, 19, a Silver Valley man; and Christan Purtill, an 18-year-old woman from Kellogg. Both are free on bond.

The victims had planned to marry and had a son, now about 11 months old.