County honors claim for seized Cherokee
SANDPOINT — A Sandpoint man who purchased a sport utility vehicle that was later seized as evidence in a murder investigation is being compensated for his loss of the rig.
The county has agreed to pay Michael E. Armbruster $4,000 for the Jeep Grand Cherokee, according to Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler.
“It’s just the right thing to do,” Wheeler said.
Armbruster purchased the SUV from Jennifer Stephen Dunnagan Thrasher in late October of 2011, a few weeks after Michael Wyatt Smith was lured into the woods in Cocolalla and shot to death.
Sheriff’s detectives learned Thrasher sold the vehicle to Armbruster and seized it so it could be combed for evidence. Armbruster was told by deputies he may never see the vehicle again, according to a claim for damages he filed.
Wheeler said county commissioners agreed to pay Armbruster $3,500 for the vehicle and $500 for a new set of tires that he had mounted after he bought it.
Thrasher’s husband, Blake, is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly shooting Smith twice with a revolver. Jennifer Thrasher and Christopher Robin Garlin are charged as accessories to murder because they initially withheld knowledge of the killing, which occurred last September.
Garlin, despite being threatened with death if he divulged Smith’s killing, confessed to witnessing the shooting. Jennifer Thrasher led detectives to a shallow grave in the Rapid Lightning area last month.
Investigators believe Smith’s body was driven to the burial site in the SUV that Armbruster innocently purchased.
Jennifer Thrasher, 22, and Garlin, 19, are scheduled to be arraigned in 1st District Court on Monday. They remain jailed with bail set at $50,000 each.
A preliminary hearing in 19-year-old Austin Blake Thrasher’s case is set for April 2. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Smith, 19, was incorrectly described in court documents as a student of Elk Mountain Academy in Heron, Mont.
“Mike has never been a student here,” said Tom Wagoner, site manager for Elk Mountain Academy.
Smith was living at Lakeshore Recovery in Hope at the time of his murder. The facility was coincidentally founded by the operators of Elk Mountain.