Hayden man once falsely accused of murdering 78-year-old woman is missing, sheriff’s office says

A man once falsely accused of murdering a woman near Hope, Idaho, has gone missing, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.

Nathan L. Utt, 43, was last seen at about 11:30 a.m. Monday in the 9000 block of Maple Street in Hayden. He said he was going to the Hayden Walmart but never returned, the sheriff’s office said Friday.

Utt is about 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing jeans and a red shirt. The sheriff’s office said he is deaf and depends on daily medications.

Anyone with knowledge of Utt’s whereabouts should call (208) 446-1300, the sheriff’s office said.

In April 2017, Utt was arrested in Spokane and extradited to Idaho on suspicion of killing 78-year-old Shirley Ann Ramey, the former city clerk of Hope. Her husband had found her shot to death in their home on April 5. Utt lived in a trailer a quarter-mile away.

Within days of his arrest, however, Bonner County prosecutors dropped charges against Utt after learning he had been in Eugene, Oregon, at the time of the killing.

Ramey’s death remains unsolved. So does the death of 73-year-old George Andres, who was found shot to death in early December 2017 in his home near Clark Fork, a town 10 miles south of Hope along state Highway 200. Investigators have said Andres may have been killed after interrupting a burglary.