Murder-suicide suspect had ties to community
(Photo via FACEBOOK) Ian Star Stone posted this image of he and Jaclyn Dawn Zabel on their ninth wedding anniversary. Stone allegedly shot Zabel before turning the gun on himself last month near Caldwell.
CALDWELL — A martial artist who once resided and trained in Bonner County shot and killed his wife before turning the gun on himself on Thursday.
Authorities in southwestern Idaho say the deaths of Ian Star Stone and Jaclyn Dawn Zabel were the result of a murder-suicide, according to the Associated Press.
Canyon County sheriff’s officials say Stone shot Zabel and then himself at a home west of Caldwell on May 28. Officials said the shooting was the result of domestic violence.
Zabel, 29, died of her injuries at a Boise hospital on May 29 and Stone, 37, died later that night, according to the AP report. Both had gunshot wounds to the head, Idaho Press reported.
The couple has four children, two of whom were fathered by Stone.
The couple trained at Bonners Ferry Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Three Mile. Stone, who was deaf, was profiled in 2017 by the Bonners Ferry Herald.
Stone also lived in Bonner County and trained in a least one local martial arts studio, according to posts he made to social media.
Stone was arrested in Ponderay on News Year’s Day 2015 for domestic battery and destruction of a telecommunication line, Bonner County Magistrate Court records indicate. He pleaded to a reduced charge of disturbing the peace and was given a 180-day jail sentence with 175 days suspended. He was required to undergo domestic violence counseling, an obligation which he fulfilled, court records show.
In a post to Facebook on the morning of the shooting, Stone accused his wife of infidelity. The post has since been removed from Stone’s Facebook page.
Zabel’s mother said Stone purchased a single red rose and a coffee drink immediately before the shooting.
“My daughter had been abused by this man Ian Stone for 9 years, she was trying to leave him and protect her children,” Dawn Jantzen said in a May 30 social media post.
A online fundraising account has been established to aid the couple’s children and cover funeral expenses (gofundme.com/jaclynzabel).
Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.