Police ID, hunt suspect in murder

SANDPOINT — Fabian Rebeterano has been identified as the suspect in the murder of Blas Salvadore Alonzo “Duke” Dias, who was shot and killed at the Meandering Moose apartments last year, city officials announced on Wednesday.

Rebeterano, 40, is not in custody, according to police Chief Corey Coon.

Coon said Rebeterano, 40, was identified as a person of interest early on in the homicide investigation. The investigation included multiple search warrants, reviewing surveillance camera footage in the area and evidence recovered near the scene, which includes a handgun.

“We have been working very closely with Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall and his office to bring this case to a conclusion. We appreciate the public’s patience and support as the Sandpoint Police detectives have been vigorously working this case,” Coon said in a statement.

Dias, 34, was fatally wounded by a gunshot wound to the chest after he opened the door to his apartment at 317 Marion Ave. on Aug. 6, 2018. The Meandering Moose is a former motel converted into apartments. The lone male suspect fled on foot and Dias was taken to Bonner General Health, where he died of his injury, police said.

Several weeks before he was slain, Dias was involved in an altercation at his apartment in which he allegedly choked and punched a 16-year-old girl. Dias was awaiting trial on misdemeanor battery and malicious injury to property charges at the time of his killing.

Authorities, however, have not said if Dias murder is linked to the battery case.

Ten days after the shooting, Sandpoint Police executed a search warrant on Namaste Path. The search stood out in dispatch records because it was conducted 20 miles outside the city limits and on a road where the alleged battery victim lived.

The victim in the battery case is listed as a friend of Rebeterano’s on his Facebook page.

Rebeterano pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery in Bonner County in 2015, according to Idaho’s iCourt database.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.