Preliminary hearings set in shooting
SANDPOINT — Day-long preliminary hearings are tentatively set for three Bonner County residents implicated in the slaying of a 19-year-old from Hope.
The hearings will determine if the state has enough evidence to sustain criminal charges against Austin Blake Thrasher, Jennifer Dunnagan Thrasher and Christopher Robin Garlin.
Austin Thrasher, 19, is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly shooting Michael Wyatt Smith to death in Cocolalla last fall. Thrasher’s 22-year-old wife, Jennifer, and Garlin, also 19, are charged with accessory to murder for withholding knowledge of Smith’s murder from law enforcement for several months.
Austin Thrasher is being held at the Bonner County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. Bail is set at $50,000 each for Garlin and Jennifer Thrasher. Coeur d’Alene attorney Michael G. Palmer, who represents Jennifer Thrasher, is seeking a bond reduction in her case.
The preliminary hearings are set for Feb. 24, although some expect them to be postponed because of a significant amount of discovery in the case. Investigators, for instance, obtained at least 16 search warrants for vehicles, residences, mobile phones and computers.
Smith was last seen on Peninsula Road in Hope on the night of Sept. 13, 2011. Sheriff’s detectives believe Smith was slain shortly after he went missing.
Smith’s remains were recovered from a shallow grave in the Rapid Lightning Creek drainage on Feb. 3. They were led to the location of Smith’s body by Jennifer Thrasher, according to unsealed probable cause hearing testimony.
An autopsy revealed that Smith suffered gunshot wounds to the torso and head.
A sheriff’s investigator testified on Monday that Austin Thrasher and Smith appeared to have been at odds over Smith’s relationship with a 16-year-old girl with whom Austin Thrasher had some form of relationship.
Austin Thrasher and Jennifer Thrasher were married in May of last year, according to documents filed at the Bonner County Recorder’s Office.
Garlin disclosed the homicide to investigators last month, while all three suspects were in custody on burglary charges.
The trio allegedly picked up Smith and drove him to Cocolalla. Smith apparently thought they were going to party, but a more sinister plan was in the works.
“The plan had already been somewhat established that they were going to take Mike into the wooded area and, according to Chris Garlin, beat him up, scare him (and) leave him there. That escalated into the actual shooting itself,” Det. Sgt. Gary Johnston testified during the probable cause hearing.
Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall asked Johnston if he believed the remote location and time of day gave credence to the detective’s suspicions there was “a plan by Mr. Thrasher to lure Mr. Smith out into the woods to kill him.”
“Correct,” Johnston answered.