May 4, 2025 • 42 mins
Welcome back to the Lethal Library! Dani and Stephanie dive deep into the murky waters of Idaho's true crime scene with a story packed with exotic dancers, paranoia, and more prison escapes than you'd believe possible. Follow the chilling case of Stan Trineer, a man with a knack for making enemies and a rap sheet longer than a CVS receipt. After disappearing in October 1989, Stan's frozen body was found a few months later, launching an investigation filled with shady characters, suspicious motives, and some incredibly bold escapes. Buckle up for a killer episode as we untangle the web of drama, deceit, and drugs!
Contact The Lethal Library at TheLethalLibrary@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dani (00:30):
All right everyone.
Welcome back to the LethalLibrary.
I'm Stephanie.
I'm Danny.
And today we're back to tell youanother true crime tale out of
Idaho.
Danny, what do you got for us?
Yeah, small time to big time.
In today's story, we have anexotic dancer.
Stephanie (00:48):
Ooh,
Dani (00:49):
lots of trucks, lots of paranoia.
A more than one prison escapesounds very juicy.
Uh, The last time anyone heardfrom Stan Trier was October
13th, 1989.
There was a lot of talk aboutthe 44 year old's disappearance
(01:10):
among family and friends in theBoise, Idaho area.
But it took until January, 1990,before his estranged wife, Donna
Trendier, reported him missingto the police Wowy.
Wow.
So you're gonna pick up on whythat is.
Okay.
A little shady lifestyle maybe.
Oh, he is just off doing crackactivities.
(01:31):
Yeah.
Yes, ma'am.
Uh, on February 1st, 1990,Stan's partially decomposed
frozen body was located in BoiseCounty, Idaho.
Yikes.
authorities.
Had to use snowmobiles to get tothe body that was located only a
(01:53):
quarter mile into the BoiseCounty area.
So, and this is gonna play a bigdeal because, you know, money,
money, money, um, but literallya quarter mile into the county
line, his body was dumped.
(02:14):
Interesting.
Okay.
Right.
Stan had been shot.
Ada County Sheriff Captain RoyHolloway said quote, we don't
know what the motive is.
A clear cut one hasn't beenoffered yet.
Donna has reportedly givenseveral names to the
authorities.
(02:34):
Of like potential su suspects?
Yes.
Lots of enemies.
Like this guy.
Wait, that That same guy?
That same guy.
Oh, okay.
Who would wanna stand dead?
Stan had only been outta prisonfor four months when he was
murdered.
He was in prison for burglary ofthree cars in 1986.
(02:59):
And police had him undersurveillance at the time.
Oh.
I'm just saying, look, I find itkind of weird that the police
are following him.
Yeah.
Why is he under surveillance?
Like a car burglar, right?
Was he like, was that big time?
Maybe he was connected to somebig time drug dealers or
(03:21):
something like, he's gonna takeus to the kingpin.
They didn't wait for that.
No, they didn't.
You broke into three cars.
Let's go.
You are done.
According to authorities, Stanhad a really bad rap sheet.
Ro Judge Schwarzman sent Stan toprison for up to five years due
(03:44):
to his long list of priorfelonies in Oregon.
They're like, you're just doingtoo much.
Yeah, you're not getting it.
He wasn't getting it.
Mm-hmm.
In 1974, he was sentenced to 10years.
For robbery in Oregon and wasparoled after only four years in
78, but his arrests date back to1962 at the age of 14 and
(04:11):
beginning at age 18.
Stan's records show theft,narcotic and robbery convictions
living on the edge.
Apparently it's a lifestyle.
His wife, Donna.
Asked Judge Schwarzman two yearsearlier to release him from
(04:31):
prison because hit men wereclosing in on him.
But the, yeah, but the judgerefused.
Wouldn't one of the safestplaces he could be would be
jail, you would think.
Okay.
She has accused an Oregon basedcriminal enterprise.
(04:51):
Linked to more than 50 robberiesand major heroin trafficking in
the early 1980s.
So she's like, there are peopleafter him.
Yikes.
Very Kel.
Well, there was a king pen,Steven Kessler.
(05:12):
And several associates that havebeen sent to prison in the early
eighties.
Stan was a witness in Kessler's1982 trial.
That's not good.
Federal prosecutor Turner saidquote, I remember when Stan got
off the stand, he and Kesslerexchanged nods and a few words.
(05:35):
I dunno what they said.
Turner said he was contacted byDonna a couple years ago and she
was concerned that Stan had beenapproached by Kessler operatives
inside the Idaho prison.
So he's got the homeboys inthere doing his bidding.
Prosecutor Turner wrote a letterto the fourth district Judge
Alan Schwartzman, stating thewife's concerns were not
(05:58):
overstated.
Oh.
Okay.
Quote, the system is full ofKessler people.
I wrote and explained the dangerthat incarceration represented
for him.
His life was in jeopardy.
So a serious threat this time?
Yeah.
Okay.
But he made it through it.
I know what they said to eachother.
'cause it, when you see it saynods and words, it was probably
(06:22):
like, you're fucking dead.
You know you're dead.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
So all of that went down.
But I mean, he did get out.
He, he had been out of of jailfor four months when this all
went down.
But I would say that based onnot only his wife, the
(06:43):
prosecutor too.
Mm-hmm.
But the prosecutor from Oregonwas like, yeah, dude, credible
threat.
It is a very fucking crediblethreat.
He somehow made it through that.
That'd be fucking scary.
Stephanie (06:59):
Yeah.
Dani (06:59):
It would be so scary to be in jail and know that people
wanna kill you because you don'thave options.
No, you can't.
I mean, you can weaponizeyourself, I guess.
But I mean, then, and I feellike all of the, the convictions
that stand, they were there werepetty.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, he's not out therebattering people crazy or
(07:22):
murdering people, or he'srobbing outta cars and selling
drugs, likes to steal things.
Little collect.
They're pretty much legal now inOregon to do all this shit.
So they found his body February1st.
Mm-hmm.
On April 2nd.
Donna 45 dies of natural causes.
(07:42):
Wow.
And I just found that just sosad.
'cause um, I know that they wereestranged, but she loved them
still.
She was concerned about'em.
She was looking out for him.
She was the one.
And I think that that's part ofthe reason why it took a minute
for them to, for her to report.
I was like, all right, we're nottogether.
Mm-hmm.
But in her obit, it does saythat she is the wife that
(08:07):
really, she was proceeded indeath by her husband.
So I do think she, they cared,just set of differences and, and
from what I gathered, she diedof cancer.
Oh, that's terrible.
When she was young.
Yeah.
45.
Okay.
(08:28):
On June 4th, 1990, Steve Paulpriest, age 26, was arrested in
connection with the murder ofStan Trendier.
Priest is officially chargedwith first degree murder
authorities.
Didn't have to search hard forpriest.
He was in the Idaho State Prisonon a parole violation.
(08:49):
Oh, there he is.
Well, you're here.
Exactly.
You don't even want, we've beenwanting to ask you.
I You don't have anywhere to go.
Anywhere to be, right.
Can we talk to you aboutsomething quick chat?
Can you Oh, well, I'll bringthat up in a little bit.
I.
So, who is Priest?
Yeah, who is Steve Priest.
(09:11):
We have a list of crimes forthis guy too.
He was convicted for firstdegree burglary, for writing a
check on a closed account.
You can't get away with thatshit now, by the way.
Mm
Stephanie (09:22):
mm
Dani (09:23):
Um, while serving time for this offense in May of 1985,
priests escaped from the IdahoState Prison.
These damn escapes in theseventies and eighties.
So easy.
Yeah.
He and another inmate, PaulErickson stole a prison van to
escape taking that thing hotrod.
(09:45):
Who left the keys in the fuckingvan, bro?
Yeah.
Who does that?
I don't know.
Oh.
And he thinks they're gonna getaway with it.
So he is going for check fraud.
And now he just escaped fromprison.
I mean, that's essentially that,that's what's happening here.
Yes.
He's Tokyo drifting that van.
Right.
The hell.
Well, he Tokyo drifted all theway to New Orleans.
(10:06):
Damn.
Same van.
Or did they pick up a differentvehicle?
He's like, I'm out.
Uh, this thing's roomy.
This is nice.
Just pillow.
Little mattress back in here.
Well, they do leave the gas cardin there as well, like.
Priest was on the run for 21months before he was finally
(10:27):
located in New Orleans.
That's on November 13th, 80seven's.
Long stretch, but he was, he gotarrested on a minor charge
there, and then they found out,it's like, you fucking idiot.
You just escaped prison and thenyou, you keep doing low profile.
(10:47):
I don't know what the minorcharge was.
I couldn't find it.
I, I, I looked, but you know,you're like, oh, you're that
guy.
Priest is a small, I went to NewOrleans and looked up in the
newspaper.com and nobody gave ashit.
They're like, yeah, that's Lisa.
He probably was selling some poton the corner or something
stupid.
in June of 1990, priest test apreliminary trial on the charge
(11:12):
of first degree murder.
A woman that was living withPriest Anova Snow.
Colette testified.
Is she a stripper?
It sounds very Strips.
It sounds Strips and draggish.
Yeah.
She testified that priest hadtold her he was going to commit
(11:36):
the murder because Trier hadbeen stealing.
Dealing drugs and setting uphimself.
She also said that Priest andTrier had worked together doing
drug deals.
Weird snow stated priest said hehad done it and proved it with a
(11:56):
package of cigarettes thatappeared to be blood stained.
They were the same brand thattrendier smoked.
Snow said quote, he said, it'sblood as proof.
I killed Stan and he took thepack of cigarettes.
He's like, oh, you know thosearen't gonna do you no good.
(12:18):
Yeah, I'll take those.
Keep that in mind.
Okay.
Snow seems to know a lot, butnever went to the authorities.
Why?
Snow is a small time drug dealerherself.
And Moonlights as an exoticdancer called it, nailed it.
(12:39):
And you know what?
She's a working woman.
She's like, I got business todo.
I can't be dealing with nomissing people and cops and
yeah, you tell me you killedsomebody and I can't find him,
but fuck that.
I'm not even gonna go.
It's a male dominated industry.
Okay.
She was doing what she had to doexactly.
She sold eight balls severaltimes to an undercover cop.
Stephanie (13:01):
Well,
Dani (13:03):
many times.
Several.
When she was arrested, theauthorities learned of her
connection with priest.
Snow was offered a reduction inthe drug charge to testify
against him, and she said, hellyeah, I'm just gonna say I want,
I'm gonna repeat a lot of hertestimony.
(13:25):
I feel the practice was there'cause she was young and when I
start quoting her later on,you're gonna be like.
That sounds so rehearsed.
Mm.
It does sound very, so you letme know what you think.
(13:47):
Okay.
Also testifying in thepreliminary hearing is a friend
of priest Kimball Johnson.
He said priest took him toStan's body while they were out
gathering wood in the fall.
Ew.
Ew.
David.
Ew David.
Well, and who's like.
(14:08):
Hey man.
Wanna hang out today?
Yeah.
Look who get some firewood.
I wanna see a dead body stop.
I'll stand by me.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't, uh, Kimball said quote,he said, come down here from a
distance.
I saw a body lying on theground.
It looked like Stan.
(14:29):
That was my first thoughtbecause of the tattoos.
Oh.
Dude, I've been so fuckingscared.
I feel bad for this guy.
You know, they're probably doingdrugs like, let's go get some
firewood.
He is like, cool dude, let's go.
Stephanie (14:43):
Yeah.
Dani (14:44):
And then he is like, oh, wait, no, no.
I didn't sign up for deadbodies.
Yeah, I'm here for the cocaine,bro.
I'll help you get some firewoodfor some cocaine.
I didn't think I was gonna haveto look at a dead body.
Kimball said he felt the blooddrain from his face and he
started climbing up the slope.
He's like, what the fuck?
(15:05):
Quote, Steve was behind mecalling for me to slow down,
calm down.
No sir.
What?
Do any of those things, andespecially when someone shows
you that and then tells you tocalm down, you're like, calm
down.
The fuck the fuck?
Uh.
Quote, he was laughing about it.
(15:29):
Also eerie.
He enjoyed it man.
Standup guy Kimball said hefeared for his life on the ride.
Back to Boise.
Fiercer.
Little shaking in your bootsthere.
Yeah, yeah.
he said he was too afraid tocall the authorities.
(15:50):
I.
Well, it's because of drugs foryou and we've got this kingpin
Kessler that's like, is this abuddy of his, like getting in a
little too deep.
He was just there for thecocaine.
Saw a dead body.
He was there for the cocaine andfirewood.
Yeah, I'm probably a littlesnow.
Getting a little bit of snow.
(16:11):
I see what you did there.
Uh, but he was too afraid tocall the authorities, but was
relieved when the police came toquestion him about it, and
Kimball was the one that guidedthe authorities to the body on
snowmobiles because it wasFebruary.
So he gets to ride a snowmobile.
Okay, that makes it a littlecooler.
(16:33):
Priest pleads, of course, notguilty, and the trial is set for
July of next year.
In July, 1991, priest wants anew attorney.
Stephanie (16:44):
Hmm.
Dani (16:46):
This is only two weeks before his trial.
Oh.
We're gonna go a differentdirection.
Yikes.
Boss.
I wanna go a differentdirection, but fourth district
Judge Gerald Schroeder saidNope.
Yeah.
The time for that has passed.
He said there is insufficientgrounds for priests to drop his
(17:08):
attorney.
Ooh.
This doesn't cause a delay inthe trial, but several motions
from the defense does.
Ooh, it is pushed out toSeptember, and we have to talk
about the cost for this a littlebit.
Okay.
The cause for the trial isdraining the small Boise County,
just so everyone knows.
(17:30):
Contrary to popular belief,Boise.
The capital.
The city is not in Boise County.
Boise is in Ada County.
So Boise County's a very smallpopulated county.
They only have 3000 residents atthe time.
Yikes.
Yeah.
So this is these million dollartrials.
(17:54):
Are killing it.
Yeah.
They're not excited about this.
No.
They're just like, can you justgive'em the death penalty and be
done with that?
Do not murder in my town.
Uh, I do feel like if they had,if they could do like a vote,
they'd like just.
We're gonna vote on if he'sguilty or not.
And he's guilty and we're nothaving a trial.
(18:15):
Yeah.
He was a quarter mile, uh, onour boundary line.
Can we just redraw the line?
Yeah.
Let him let him have it.
Neighboring county.
You guys can have that.
I'm just They could do thatactually.
That's brilliant.
I'm like, can we just cut thislittle quarter look, this little
chunk out of this mountain?
Yeah.
Boise, ADA County can have this.
It's.
We're done.
(18:35):
Free land for you for the smallprize of a million dollars.
Come on guys.
Because it was, where he wasfound was 10 miles away from
Boise.
Mm-hmm.
Which is quarter mile in a Boisecount.
That would fucking piss me offif I was a county official.
(18:56):
Like you guys roll him.
Could down the hill orsomething.
Could you find a steeper fuckinghill please?
That sucks.
You know that there was thattalk like, come on guys, there's
gonna be no raises for anybodyin the county.
Yeah.
For like five years because theydecided to drive an extra 500
(19:18):
fucking feet.
Really?
It is.
Yeah.
Oh man, that was that.
Really?
It is that 500 feet?
Probably a little bit more.
Isn't a mile like 2,400 feet?
Oh my God.
Oh, we're gonna have to factcheck Google.
Um, because I just feel like weshould know this, how many feet
(19:47):
in a quarter mile?
1300 feet.
Oh, 1,320 feet.
Yeah.
A mile's.
Like was I thinking yards?
Why is the fucking system sostupid?
Why are we not on the other one?
(20:09):
Um, I think a mile.
I'm thinking of a ton being like2000 pounds, I think.
Yeah.
No, a mile is like, okay, let'sjust, I.
It is 13, 20 times four.
It's like 5,000 steps, I think.
Yeah.
5,200 feet.
That sounds better.
Okay.
Okay.
I'm not even gonna Google that.
We'll just roll with it.
(20:29):
I think that's, that soundsright.
1300 feet.
Yeah.
Come on.
That's like from here to the endof the subdivision.
Mm-hmm.
You couldn't have give him alittle noise.
He kind of drove a little less.
Yeah.
Anyway, they got fucked,essentially.
Yeah.
Bottom line.
It really is.
(20:49):
And there's other cases going onright now, and so it's like, it
was like a big deal.
Um, and I'm gonna talk about oneof'em later.
It on my, okay.
It's on my last.
so they're just getting hammeredmm-hmm.
With these attorney fees and allthe drama and, uh.
Uh, priest is very busy in pri.
He, he wants to be educated.
(21:11):
Educated.
Stephanie (21:12):
Oh
Dani (21:13):
no, he does some shit in prison.
So the trial begins on September9th.
In opening statements, deputyattorney Michael Kane said,
quote, he did it and we're gonnaprove it.
Kane told the jury that thebackdrop of the case is a dark
mix of illicit drugs andex-felons.
(21:34):
Very exciting quote.
You may not like some of thesepeople.
I think he was talking aboutsnow, and there's another guy
here.
Hang on.
If you saw hi them on thestreet, you might cross it to
avoid them.
He also explained how Stan andPriest had met while they were
in prison together, and priestlater hired Stan to act as a
(21:58):
bodyguard for snow.
Wow.
Mm-hmm.
Boise County Public Defender,Robert Chastain, declined to
present an opening statement.
He reserved that option for thestart of the defense case.
All La Lori Vallow.
Stephanie (22:16):
Right,
Dani (22:17):
right.
I don't get that.
It's not very common.
No.
Most of the time, you see,here's our, here's the
prosecution, here's the defense.
To answer to it.
It's your but opportunity, butthe defense can wait until the
prosecution's done.
Little ri.
Stephanie (22:38):
Mm-hmm.
Dani (22:38):
Is that a word?
It's our word.
Thank you.
Matthew Taylor, a client ofstands, testified, I don't know
what to call'em.
A customer?
A client?
Maybe.
Customer, yeah.
Because I'm like, wow, this isvery sophisticated.
Mm-hmm.
He says Stan was supplying himspeed and that is how he met
(23:01):
priest.
he says Stan was supplying himspeed and that is how he met
priest.
Priest was fond of a 38 caliberdinger that Matthew owned.
Matthew stated he sold priestthe gun only a week before the
murder of Stan.
And it was like, he said, it waslike, it was like$50 a week.
(23:24):
I don't know what the totalamount was, but like it was on
payment plans, having a nicelittle steady drug supply
payment plan.
Yeah.
And probably after all of thiswent down, he is like, I, you
own it.
Like, I don't even know this gunanymore.
Yep.
(23:45):
He testified that priest toldhim Stan was stealing from the
people priest worked for.
Oh, okay.
You ready to hear from our girlSnap?
Yes I am.
'cause she seems to know somethings.
snow is on the stand.
She said she had known Stan andhis family for a long time, and
(24:06):
that he looked out for her aftershe was assaulted while doing an
exotic dance gig.
Stan introduced her to Priest.
That hit me hard.
'cause we know what that means.
Yeah.
Without deeds wasn't related todrugs, but yeah.
(24:29):
Priest was to be her bodyguardin return for a place to stay.
Food and the use of her car.
That's quite a lot.
Gotta live with you.
Mm.
Drugs.
Snow said priest was veryintelligent in white collar
crimes, ways of killing peopleand how to carry and place
(24:50):
bugging devices.
Drugs.
Yeah.
Okay.
Ready?
I'm ready.
Quote, priest told me the secretof robbing or killing someone
was to watch the person'spatterns.
I.
Stephanie (25:08):
Hmm.
Dani (25:10):
People get a lot of bra like bravado on the cocaine and
the meth and overstate theirabilities.
So I can totally see someonebeing like, I'm kind of the best
at a lot of things.
Snow said she got confused anddidn't know who to believe at
times.
Who could be trusted?
Stan or Priest.
(25:31):
There was lots of drugs.
Mm-hmm.
Priests told me people wereafter me and I soon stayed
hiding in my house.
Well, that's very convenient fora bodyguard to say, because you
wanna stay employed, right?
You got to create that.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
On the day stand died, priesttold her, today is the day I am
(25:53):
gonna kill Stan.
Just saying it.
Just announcing it.
Snow said, priests believe standto be responsible for a drug
bust of one of priest's friend'shome.
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
This is all paranoia.
Yeah.
Drug fueled bullshit.
Quote, priests told me theofficers came into the house and
(26:16):
went directly to the coat thatStan had left there moments
earlier and found the drugs inStan's coat pocket.
Stephanie (26:23):
Hmm.
Dani (26:24):
Yeah.
Not sounding.
Super credible to me.
Paranoia drugs.
Mm-hmm.
Priest told me he had toldtrendier that he had some
information about the bus and hewas gonna set trendier up to get
rid of him.
Snow said that priest toldtrendier that they were to cut
some trees.
(26:45):
Yeah.
So the firewood, you know,situation, it worked out for him
several times.
Yeah, like let's go get somewood.
I just saw a spot up here.
Yeah.
And I wouldn't wanna be in thatspot.
On the morning of the murderpriests left the house
mid-morning and didn't returninto the afternoon snow.
Said quote.
When priests returned to myhouse, we decided to get
(27:07):
something to eat.
He was hungry.
Long day.
We had to stop at the car washand wash all the traces of dirt
from the car.
When we arrived at King's Tablefor dinner, priests pulled out a
pack of camel filters that hadwhat appeared to me be dry blood
(27:28):
on the opening of the package ofthe cigarette.
Priest said, here's proof that Ikilled Stan.
These are very strangestatements.
Do you, do you see like that?
Very, I feel like it's veryrehearsed.
It's very dry.
It's not how people talk.
That was all quotes.
(27:49):
Snow also testified when sheasked for her set of car keys,
priest said they were in Stan'spocket and asked her if she
would like to go with him to get'em.
Ew.
No go.
I said no Pass.
Priest continued by sayingpeople died differently.
Stan cried and begged for hislife.
(28:12):
Well, that's awful KimballJohnson is on the stand again.
He told how Priest took him upto the woods to give firewood
and showed him the body On thedrive back, Kimball said, quote,
priest was laughing about it andsaid Stan didn't die an
(28:33):
honorable death, and that Iwould get over it in a few days.
He said, that is what happens topeople who mess with the wrong
people.
He told me that I wasn't goingto tell the police because he
had an inside helper at thepolice department.
A priest was around me all thetime after that, I couldn't get
rid of him.
That's terrifying.
(28:55):
Can you imagine the drive backtoo?
And someone like just laughingcasually and you're like, ha,
ha, ha.
What the fuck is the big deal?
Oh, I murdered somebody.
You were Shut the fuck up.
Like yeah.
Ah, and I mean, that was hisspeed deal.
Mm-hmm.
Like I drugs.
Oh yeah.
(29:15):
People are willing to put upwith a whole lot.
Like, I don't wanna bother you,Mr.
Drug dealer, but could you notshow me dead bodies?
Thank you.
No, you're, you're killing allmy fun.
I'm coming down.
You're ruining my high.
I don't wanna go on any morefield trips.
I can just come to your houseand, yeah.
(29:38):
Better yet, you can just drop itoff.
DoorDash.
DoorDash Stove, all a DoorDash.
The delivery lift up on at themat, there's the money.
Just put it right there.
Yeah.
The defense said the prosecutionfailed to prove their case.
Attorney Chastain said, quote,the prosecutor's key date of
October 13th is misleading.
(30:01):
There has been testimony thatTrier was spoken to as late as
October 18th.
The FB, I couldn't tie thebullet to anything.
And that maybes are not goodenough.
Stephanie (30:15):
Hmm.
Dani (30:17):
I don't know.
In my opinion, I'm like, does itreally matter what exact day?
I'm just seeing that if somebodyshows me a dead body and if I'm
high on a lot of meth, maybe Idon't even remember the date.
Right.
Okay.
They kind of run into eachother.
I can't remember if I was.
Picking myself to death.
I was scrubbing the floor with atoothbrush or killing people on
(30:40):
that date.
I just, I'm a very busy druguser.
Priest did not testify in hisdefense.
Bummer.
No shit.
After three hours ofdeliberation, the jury convicted
priest of first degree murder.
Quickie.
Hmm.
On October 4th, less than sixweeks before his sentencing
(31:04):
priests dismissed his publicdefenders.
Robert Chastain and JeffreyWilson.
Priests claimed his attorneyswere not adequately prepared for
the trial and that their tacticswere doing nothing.
They said, quote, that less wasbest, and I mean.
(31:24):
Can't disagree.
Shut the fuck up.
Yeah.
Chastain said the priest was notcooperating with counsel, which
doesn't surprise me.
No, he's kind of a know-it-all.
Anyway.
I'm surprised he didn't wannarepresent himself.
Me too.
You know what though?
I give him a little credit.
He's smart enough to know, Lori,you do not represent yourself.
(31:45):
Right?
Well, there's a saying, right?
He who represents himself as afool for a client.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's it.
Uh, in June, 1993, priest isfinally sentenced, so I wanna
take just, there's a, I havenever seen this months and
(32:06):
months and months, month.
In June, 1993, priest has hissentencing hearing.
There is three possiblesentences, okay.
For the jury, for the judge toconsider life with a possibility
of parole life without thepossibility of parole and the
(32:27):
death penalty.
And the prosecutors are like,yep, let's fuck this fucker up.
Let's go.
He, they want the death penalty.
Okay.
Several people testified inpriest's behalf, Jenny Auer,
priest's fiance testified thatshe lived with him for three and
a half months before his arrest,and they plan on getting married
(32:51):
three and a half months.
Wow.
Yeah.
Very deep connection.
Super deep.
She said the priest helped herovercome her low self-esteem and
served as a good father figureto her daughter while on drugs.
Mm.
Yeah.
I don't, I don't buy any of thatquote.
(33:11):
He's been trying really hard todo things the right way.
Have you, sir?
Stephanie (33:18):
I
Dani (33:18):
don't think so.
Auer also said that priest hopesto practice law after he is
released.
Oh.
And that he has became acertified paralegal while
serving time in prison on aparole violation.
And he did.
Good for you, bud.
Maybe you should have justrepresented yourself.
I wonder if he's still thinkingback.
(33:39):
Ah, gosh.
If I only would've let me, Adam,a prison guard.
Randy Anderson said Priest was arole model for other inmates.
He said priest was respectedamong inmates because he helped
them with legal issues.
'cause he was paralegal.
Hmm.
(34:00):
A certified, he found somethingelse to do.
Yeah.
Oh, I'm not hustling drugs.
I'm gonna hustle.
Legal advice.
Yeah, I bet you got so much shitfor that.
Like, you want me to write thisup?
Yeah.
Okay.
Well I need your commissary forthe next six weeks, right?
Oh yeah.
Fuck yeah.
Stephanie (34:19):
Mm-hmm.
Dani (34:20):
Uh, can you get your family to put some money on my
books?
Alright.
See what I can do.
So this is June, 1993.
All this is going on and myresearch, I was like, what the
fuck happened?
Looking, looking, looking.
(34:41):
Nothing until March 25th, 1994.
This is not how this works.
Yeah.
This is not how this works.
You don't go to a sentencinghearing and have it drag on for
nine fucking months.
Yeah.
I wonder what the hell?
It was weird.
I'm like, wait, and Iimmediately like the story's
(35:01):
gonna go nowhere.
I'm like searching and there'snothing.
It does go somewhere, but.
Nine months later on March 25th,1994, three inmates escaped from
the Canyon County Jail.
Oh, priest, Daniel AlvarezCortez and Michael Allen Jala.
(35:27):
He's on my list, escaped fromtheir cells around 10:00 PM
Canon County Jail.
Yeah, priest has not beensentenced yet.
It's fucked.
This just blew my mind.
Priest is at the county jail forhis March 28th, sentencing nine
(35:48):
months.
A series of defense motions hasdelayed the sentencing hearing
that originally started in Juneof 1993.
Well, and since he's aparalegal, he probably knows
everything to do to jam up thesystem.
I, I totally feel that.
Can you, ima nine months afteryour commit, we see six weeks,
eight weeks, even three monthswith all their jostling and
(36:12):
getting pre-sentencing, hearing,uh, psychological, all that
stuff.
Mm-hmm.
No.
Nine months.
You don't hear that?
No, but he sounds like he wasplotting and scheming a scammer
scam.
So the group entered jaw cellbefore evening lockdown, and
(36:34):
then they knocked a hole throughthe ceiling.
What They pry up a metal ceilingtile with a piece of metal taken
from a folding table.
They made their, they made theirway off the main jail roof and
jumped down onto the roof of theworkout center.
Jola and Cortez were located inminutes.
(36:56):
Officers finally located prieststwo hours later sitting in a
pipe on the roof, so they didn'tget too far.
They called the fire.
The fire department was a, itwas a fucking mess.
Could you imagine the excitementfrom the other inmates though?
Like what an exciting happening?
There were several incidents.
(37:16):
I should do a whole episode onjust how many people escaped or
attempted to escape.
I can't, I think it was likeseven people.
Stephanie (37:25):
God damn.
Dani (37:26):
Uh, in a very short amount of time because the county, the
Canyon County Jail was only 14months old.
Get a better fucking architect.
Yeah, an engineer.
Um, and it has been plagued withproblems.
IE prisoner breaks.
George, uh, sheriff George Nursesaid quote, certainly we need
(37:51):
some work done on the ceiling.
Yeah, I'm, I would say so.
We paid someone to work onthings, but it wasn't enough.
No shit.
There was a thing made out ofcardboard or what.
Great investment county.
County winning.
So these metal ceiling panelsare riveted in.
Sheriff nurse said he's lookinginto having them welded.
(38:15):
Oh, you think finally on March28th, 1994, priest is sentenced
to life without the possibilityof parole.
Well, there you go.
Couple couple prison breaks.
Yeah.
To have two.
That's pretty extraordinary.
He's like, anybody got a vanwith some keys in it?
(38:36):
Well, and to be delaying it sofar so that he doesn't go to a
different,'cause he probablywent to a different prison for
his life, right.
Life sentence or whatever.
Yeah.
The Idaho, he's so, he's like,yeah, this place is built out of
bullshit.
I need to have some more time toplop my, he had 21 months out
of.
Prison last time.
Yeah.
And so he's probably had sometime to do a little bit better
(38:57):
planning.
And I do believe, like Snowsaid, that he is very smart.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, he's being a para, youknow, I just, it's like, uh, who
is that?
Like the motorcycle mayhem one?
Uh, he could have been apolitician.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
This guy could have beensomething, but you had to be a
(39:18):
weirdo and be killing people andshowing other people the body
and doing drugs.
Drugs.
Drugs.
Drugs.
And then you get in prison whereyou can apply yourself and look
at you.
Look what you can do when you'renot on drugs.
Some people thrive in prison.
They need that structure.
Should have went into themilitary.
His mama probably should havestructured them.
Yeah.
Structured'em up.
Right.
Good.
(39:38):
Mm-hmm.
So in 2025, Stephen Priest is 61and in custody at the Idaho
State Correctional Center.
I wonder if he's still sellinghis paralegal.
Oh, damn straight.
Yeah.
Actually, I read an article andI couldn't find backup to it, so
(39:59):
I didn't report it that he hadbecome a licensed attorney in
two states.
Oh shit.
But I couldn't find any backup.
Like it sounds like he would.
He's got nothing but time and heis already done other things.
So I would, and I imagine that.
If he can write up briefs forthese people as a paralegal.
(40:20):
Mm-hmm.
And like submit.
He's living a high life.
Yeah.
He has any flavor or ramen.
He wants any flavor.
And he probably has some tappotato or something.
Oh yeah.
Fuck yeah.
He's, he's getting down.
He might even have like fuckingsodas.
I know he has the JPay player.
(40:40):
Oh yeah.
Somebody bought that for him forsure.
Mm-hmm.
No, he's living the high life.
I almost feel like it's, uh,Shawshank e.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
So he's like we said, he's nowthe life, his legal advice.
So he has an office set up inthe library.
Gosh, what a different path youcould have had on the outside if
(41:00):
you weren't dumb, and all thesefucking drugs.
Drugs are bad drugs.
Yeah.
Kids don't do drugs.
Well, thank you Danny.
This was a good one.
I appreciated the two escapes byone guy.
Yeah.
I'm like, what the fuck is this?
Rare, but apparently not unheardof and snow.
Snow was fun.
Snow was fun.
(41:21):
Yeah.
She was in her twenties justdoing her thing.
And she probably knew all thedeeds being a dancer.
She probably knew people.
Yeah, she absolutely.
But she was like, I know thedeeds, but I don't wanna get
involved.
Oh wait, I have to get involved.
'cause I sold eight balls.
God, couple times I sold eightballs to an officer.
I was new.
Okay.
This morning.
(41:44):
Well guys, thank you forlistening.
Again.
Follow us TikTok, Facebook.
Instagram, we're available justabout anywhere to listen and
send us an email if you havequestions, comments, concerns,
or just wanna say something.
It's the lethallibrary@gmail.com and I'm always
looking for ideas.
Yes.
(42:04):
or inside.
If you know any of these cases,please.
We like it.
Yeah, we'd love to hear fromyou.
Well, Danny Tan, four rubberducky.
Fuck yeah.
All right everyone.
Welcome back to the LethalLibrary.
I'm Stephanie.
I'm Danny.
And today we're back to tell youanother true crime tale out of
Idaho.
Danny, what do you got for us?
Yeah, small time to big time.
In today's story, we have anexotic dancer.
Stephanie (00:48):
Ooh,
Dani (00:49):
lots of trucks, lots of paranoia.
A more than one prison escapesounds very juicy.
Uh, The last time anyone heardfrom Stan Trier was October
13th, 1989.
There was a lot of talk aboutthe 44 year old's disappearance
(01:10):
among family and friends in theBoise, Idaho area.
But it took until January, 1990,before his estranged wife, Donna
Trendier, reported him missingto the police Wowy.
Wow.
So you're gonna pick up on whythat is.
Okay.
A little shady lifestyle maybe.
Oh, he is just off doing crackactivities.
(01:31):
Yeah.
Yes, ma'am.
Uh, on February 1st, 1990,Stan's partially decomposed
frozen body was located in BoiseCounty, Idaho.
Yikes.
authorities.
Had to use snowmobiles to get tothe body that was located only a
(01:53):
quarter mile into the BoiseCounty area.
So, and this is gonna play a bigdeal because, you know, money,
money, money, um, but literallya quarter mile into the county
line, his body was dumped.
(02:14):
Interesting.
Okay.
Right.
Stan had been shot.
Ada County Sheriff Captain RoyHolloway said quote, we don't
know what the motive is.
A clear cut one hasn't beenoffered yet.
Donna has reportedly givenseveral names to the
authorities.
(02:34):
Of like potential su suspects?
Yes.
Lots of enemies.
Like this guy.
Wait, that That same guy?
That same guy.
Oh, okay.
Who would wanna stand dead?
Stan had only been outta prisonfor four months when he was
murdered.
He was in prison for burglary ofthree cars in 1986.
(02:59):
And police had him undersurveillance at the time.
Oh.
I'm just saying, look, I find itkind of weird that the police
are following him.
Yeah.
Why is he under surveillance?
Like a car burglar, right?
Was he like, was that big time?
Maybe he was connected to somebig time drug dealers or
(03:21):
something like, he's gonna takeus to the kingpin.
They didn't wait for that.
No, they didn't.
You broke into three cars.
Let's go.
You are done.
According to authorities, Stanhad a really bad rap sheet.
Ro Judge Schwarzman sent Stan toprison for up to five years due
(03:44):
to his long list of priorfelonies in Oregon.
They're like, you're just doingtoo much.
Yeah, you're not getting it.
He wasn't getting it.
Mm-hmm.
In 1974, he was sentenced to 10years.
For robbery in Oregon and wasparoled after only four years in
78, but his arrests date back to1962 at the age of 14 and
(04:11):
beginning at age 18.
Stan's records show theft,narcotic and robbery convictions
living on the edge.
Apparently it's a lifestyle.
His wife, Donna.
Asked Judge Schwarzman two yearsearlier to release him from
(04:31):
prison because hit men wereclosing in on him.
But the, yeah, but the judgerefused.
Wouldn't one of the safestplaces he could be would be
jail, you would think.
Okay.
She has accused an Oregon basedcriminal enterprise.
(04:51):
Linked to more than 50 robberiesand major heroin trafficking in
the early 1980s.
So she's like, there are peopleafter him.
Yikes.
Very Kel.
Well, there was a king pen,Steven Kessler.
(05:12):
And several associates that havebeen sent to prison in the early
eighties.
Stan was a witness in Kessler's1982 trial.
That's not good.
Federal prosecutor Turner saidquote, I remember when Stan got
off the stand, he and Kesslerexchanged nods and a few words.
(05:35):
I dunno what they said.
Turner said he was contacted byDonna a couple years ago and she
was concerned that Stan had beenapproached by Kessler operatives
inside the Idaho prison.
So he's got the homeboys inthere doing his bidding.
Prosecutor Turner wrote a letterto the fourth district Judge
Alan Schwartzman, stating thewife's concerns were not
(05:58):
overstated.
Oh.
Okay.
Quote, the system is full ofKessler people.
I wrote and explained the dangerthat incarceration represented
for him.
His life was in jeopardy.
So a serious threat this time?
Yeah.
Okay.
But he made it through it.
I know what they said to eachother.
'cause it, when you see it saynods and words, it was probably
(06:22):
like, you're fucking dead.
You know you're dead.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
So all of that went down.
But I mean, he did get out.
He, he had been out of of jailfor four months when this all
went down.
But I would say that based onnot only his wife, the
(06:43):
prosecutor too.
Mm-hmm.
But the prosecutor from Oregonwas like, yeah, dude, credible
threat.
It is a very fucking crediblethreat.
He somehow made it through that.
That'd be fucking scary.
Stephanie (06:59):
Yeah.
Dani (06:59):
It would be so scary to be in jail and know that people
wanna kill you because you don'thave options.
No, you can't.
I mean, you can weaponizeyourself, I guess.
But I mean, then, and I feellike all of the, the convictions
that stand, they were there werepetty.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, he's not out therebattering people crazy or
(07:22):
murdering people, or he'srobbing outta cars and selling
drugs, likes to steal things.
Little collect.
They're pretty much legal now inOregon to do all this shit.
So they found his body February1st.
Mm-hmm.
On April 2nd.
Donna 45 dies of natural causes.
(07:42):
Wow.
And I just found that just sosad.
'cause um, I know that they wereestranged, but she loved them
still.
She was concerned about'em.
She was looking out for him.
She was the one.
And I think that that's part ofthe reason why it took a minute
for them to, for her to report.
I was like, all right, we're nottogether.
Mm-hmm.
But in her obit, it does saythat she is the wife that
(08:07):
really, she was proceeded indeath by her husband.
So I do think she, they cared,just set of differences and, and
from what I gathered, she diedof cancer.
Oh, that's terrible.
When she was young.
Yeah.
45.
Okay.
(08:28):
On June 4th, 1990, Steve Paulpriest, age 26, was arrested in
connection with the murder ofStan Trendier.
Priest is officially chargedwith first degree murder
authorities.
Didn't have to search hard forpriest.
He was in the Idaho State Prisonon a parole violation.
(08:49):
Oh, there he is.
Well, you're here.
Exactly.
You don't even want, we've beenwanting to ask you.
I You don't have anywhere to go.
Anywhere to be, right.
Can we talk to you aboutsomething quick chat?
Can you Oh, well, I'll bringthat up in a little bit.
I.
So, who is Priest?
Yeah, who is Steve Priest.
(09:11):
We have a list of crimes forthis guy too.
He was convicted for firstdegree burglary, for writing a
check on a closed account.
You can't get away with thatshit now, by the way.
Mm
Stephanie (09:22):
mm
Dani (09:23):
Um, while serving time for this offense in May of 1985,
priests escaped from the IdahoState Prison.
These damn escapes in theseventies and eighties.
So easy.
Yeah.
He and another inmate, PaulErickson stole a prison van to
escape taking that thing hotrod.
(09:45):
Who left the keys in the fuckingvan, bro?
Yeah.
Who does that?
I don't know.
Oh.
And he thinks they're gonna getaway with it.
So he is going for check fraud.
And now he just escaped fromprison.
I mean, that's essentially that,that's what's happening here.
Yes.
He's Tokyo drifting that van.
Right.
The hell.
Well, he Tokyo drifted all theway to New Orleans.
(10:06):
Damn.
Same van.
Or did they pick up a differentvehicle?
He's like, I'm out.
Uh, this thing's roomy.
This is nice.
Just pillow.
Little mattress back in here.
Well, they do leave the gas cardin there as well, like.
Priest was on the run for 21months before he was finally
(10:27):
located in New Orleans.
That's on November 13th, 80seven's.
Long stretch, but he was, he gotarrested on a minor charge
there, and then they found out,it's like, you fucking idiot.
You just escaped prison and thenyou, you keep doing low profile.
(10:47):
I don't know what the minorcharge was.
I couldn't find it.
I, I, I looked, but you know,you're like, oh, you're that
guy.
Priest is a small, I went to NewOrleans and looked up in the
newspaper.com and nobody gave ashit.
They're like, yeah, that's Lisa.
He probably was selling some poton the corner or something
stupid.
in June of 1990, priest test apreliminary trial on the charge
(11:12):
of first degree murder.
A woman that was living withPriest Anova Snow.
Colette testified.
Is she a stripper?
It sounds very Strips.
It sounds Strips and draggish.
Yeah.
She testified that priest hadtold her he was going to commit
(11:36):
the murder because Trier hadbeen stealing.
Dealing drugs and setting uphimself.
She also said that Priest andTrier had worked together doing
drug deals.
Weird snow stated priest said hehad done it and proved it with a
(11:56):
package of cigarettes thatappeared to be blood stained.
They were the same brand thattrendier smoked.
Snow said quote, he said, it'sblood as proof.
I killed Stan and he took thepack of cigarettes.
He's like, oh, you know thosearen't gonna do you no good.
(12:18):
Yeah, I'll take those.
Keep that in mind.
Okay.
Snow seems to know a lot, butnever went to the authorities.
Why?
Snow is a small time drug dealerherself.
And Moonlights as an exoticdancer called it, nailed it.
(12:39):
And you know what?
She's a working woman.
She's like, I got business todo.
I can't be dealing with nomissing people and cops and
yeah, you tell me you killedsomebody and I can't find him,
but fuck that.
I'm not even gonna go.
It's a male dominated industry.
Okay.
She was doing what she had to doexactly.
She sold eight balls severaltimes to an undercover cop.
Stephanie (13:01):
Well,
Dani (13:03):
many times.
Several.
When she was arrested, theauthorities learned of her
connection with priest.
Snow was offered a reduction inthe drug charge to testify
against him, and she said, hellyeah, I'm just gonna say I want,
I'm gonna repeat a lot of hertestimony.
(13:25):
I feel the practice was there'cause she was young and when I
start quoting her later on,you're gonna be like.
That sounds so rehearsed.
Mm.
It does sound very, so you letme know what you think.
(13:47):
Okay.
Also testifying in thepreliminary hearing is a friend
of priest Kimball Johnson.
He said priest took him toStan's body while they were out
gathering wood in the fall.
Ew.
Ew.
David.
Ew David.
Well, and who's like.
(14:08):
Hey man.
Wanna hang out today?
Yeah.
Look who get some firewood.
I wanna see a dead body stop.
I'll stand by me.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't, uh, Kimball said quote,he said, come down here from a
distance.
I saw a body lying on theground.
It looked like Stan.
(14:29):
That was my first thoughtbecause of the tattoos.
Oh.
Dude, I've been so fuckingscared.
I feel bad for this guy.
You know, they're probably doingdrugs like, let's go get some
firewood.
He is like, cool dude, let's go.
Stephanie (14:43):
Yeah.
Dani (14:44):
And then he is like, oh, wait, no, no.
I didn't sign up for deadbodies.
Yeah, I'm here for the cocaine,bro.
I'll help you get some firewoodfor some cocaine.
I didn't think I was gonna haveto look at a dead body.
Kimball said he felt the blooddrain from his face and he
started climbing up the slope.
He's like, what the fuck?
(15:05):
Quote, Steve was behind mecalling for me to slow down,
calm down.
No sir.
What?
Do any of those things, andespecially when someone shows
you that and then tells you tocalm down, you're like, calm
down.
The fuck the fuck?
Uh.
Quote, he was laughing about it.
(15:29):
Also eerie.
He enjoyed it man.
Standup guy Kimball said hefeared for his life on the ride.
Back to Boise.
Fiercer.
Little shaking in your bootsthere.
Yeah, yeah.
he said he was too afraid tocall the authorities.
(15:50):
I.
Well, it's because of drugs foryou and we've got this kingpin
Kessler that's like, is this abuddy of his, like getting in a
little too deep.
He was just there for thecocaine.
Saw a dead body.
He was there for the cocaine andfirewood.
Yeah, I'm probably a littlesnow.
Getting a little bit of snow.
(16:11):
I see what you did there.
Uh, but he was too afraid tocall the authorities, but was
relieved when the police came toquestion him about it, and
Kimball was the one that guidedthe authorities to the body on
snowmobiles because it wasFebruary.
So he gets to ride a snowmobile.
Okay, that makes it a littlecooler.
(16:33):
Priest pleads, of course, notguilty, and the trial is set for
July of next year.
In July, 1991, priest wants anew attorney.
Stephanie (16:44):
Hmm.
Dani (16:46):
This is only two weeks before his trial.
Oh.
We're gonna go a differentdirection.
Yikes.
Boss.
I wanna go a differentdirection, but fourth district
Judge Gerald Schroeder saidNope.
Yeah.
The time for that has passed.
He said there is insufficientgrounds for priests to drop his
(17:08):
attorney.
Ooh.
This doesn't cause a delay inthe trial, but several motions
from the defense does.
Ooh, it is pushed out toSeptember, and we have to talk
about the cost for this a littlebit.
Okay.
The cause for the trial isdraining the small Boise County,
just so everyone knows.
(17:30):
Contrary to popular belief,Boise.
The capital.
The city is not in Boise County.
Boise is in Ada County.
So Boise County's a very smallpopulated county.
They only have 3000 residents atthe time.
Yikes.
Yeah.
So this is these million dollartrials.
(17:54):
Are killing it.
Yeah.
They're not excited about this.
No.
They're just like, can you justgive'em the death penalty and be
done with that?
Do not murder in my town.
Uh, I do feel like if they had,if they could do like a vote,
they'd like just.
We're gonna vote on if he'sguilty or not.
And he's guilty and we're nothaving a trial.
(18:15):
Yeah.
He was a quarter mile, uh, onour boundary line.
Can we just redraw the line?
Yeah.
Let him let him have it.
Neighboring county.
You guys can have that.
I'm just They could do thatactually.
That's brilliant.
I'm like, can we just cut thislittle quarter look, this little
chunk out of this mountain?
Yeah.
Boise, ADA County can have this.
It's.
We're done.
(18:35):
Free land for you for the smallprize of a million dollars.
Come on guys.
Because it was, where he wasfound was 10 miles away from
Boise.
Mm-hmm.
Which is quarter mile in a Boisecount.
That would fucking piss me offif I was a county official.
(18:56):
Like you guys roll him.
Could down the hill orsomething.
Could you find a steeper fuckinghill please?
That sucks.
You know that there was thattalk like, come on guys, there's
gonna be no raises for anybodyin the county.
Yeah.
For like five years because theydecided to drive an extra 500
(19:18):
fucking feet.
Really?
It is.
Yeah.
Oh man, that was that.
Really?
It is that 500 feet?
Probably a little bit more.
Isn't a mile like 2,400 feet?
Oh my God.
Oh, we're gonna have to factcheck Google.
Um, because I just feel like weshould know this, how many feet
(19:47):
in a quarter mile?
1300 feet.
Oh, 1,320 feet.
Yeah.
A mile's.
Like was I thinking yards?
Why is the fucking system sostupid?
Why are we not on the other one?
(20:09):
Um, I think a mile.
I'm thinking of a ton being like2000 pounds, I think.
Yeah.
No, a mile is like, okay, let'sjust, I.
It is 13, 20 times four.
It's like 5,000 steps, I think.
Yeah.
5,200 feet.
That sounds better.
Okay.
Okay.
I'm not even gonna Google that.
We'll just roll with it.
(20:29):
I think that's, that soundsright.
1300 feet.
Yeah.
Come on.
That's like from here to the endof the subdivision.
Mm-hmm.
You couldn't have give him alittle noise.
He kind of drove a little less.
Yeah.
Anyway, they got fucked,essentially.
Yeah.
Bottom line.
It really is.
(20:49):
And there's other cases going onright now, and so it's like, it
was like a big deal.
Um, and I'm gonna talk about oneof'em later.
It on my, okay.
It's on my last.
so they're just getting hammeredmm-hmm.
With these attorney fees and allthe drama and, uh.
Uh, priest is very busy in pri.
He, he wants to be educated.
(21:11):
Educated.
Stephanie (21:12):
Oh
Dani (21:13):
no, he does some shit in prison.
So the trial begins on September9th.
In opening statements, deputyattorney Michael Kane said,
quote, he did it and we're gonnaprove it.
Kane told the jury that thebackdrop of the case is a dark
mix of illicit drugs andex-felons.
(21:34):
Very exciting quote.
You may not like some of thesepeople.
I think he was talking aboutsnow, and there's another guy
here.
Hang on.
If you saw hi them on thestreet, you might cross it to
avoid them.
He also explained how Stan andPriest had met while they were
in prison together, and priestlater hired Stan to act as a
(21:58):
bodyguard for snow.
Wow.
Mm-hmm.
Boise County Public Defender,Robert Chastain, declined to
present an opening statement.
He reserved that option for thestart of the defense case.
All La Lori Vallow.
Stephanie (22:16):
Right,
Dani (22:17):
right.
I don't get that.
It's not very common.
No.
Most of the time, you see,here's our, here's the
prosecution, here's the defense.
To answer to it.
It's your but opportunity, butthe defense can wait until the
prosecution's done.
Little ri.
Stephanie (22:38):
Mm-hmm.
Dani (22:38):
Is that a word?
It's our word.
Thank you.
Matthew Taylor, a client ofstands, testified, I don't know
what to call'em.
A customer?
A client?
Maybe.
Customer, yeah.
Because I'm like, wow, this isvery sophisticated.
Mm-hmm.
He says Stan was supplying himspeed and that is how he met
(23:01):
priest.
he says Stan was supplying himspeed and that is how he met
priest.
Priest was fond of a 38 caliberdinger that Matthew owned.
Matthew stated he sold priestthe gun only a week before the
murder of Stan.
And it was like, he said, it waslike, it was like$50 a week.
(23:24):
I don't know what the totalamount was, but like it was on
payment plans, having a nicelittle steady drug supply
payment plan.
Yeah.
And probably after all of thiswent down, he is like, I, you
own it.
Like, I don't even know this gunanymore.
Yep.
(23:45):
He testified that priest toldhim Stan was stealing from the
people priest worked for.
Oh, okay.
You ready to hear from our girlSnap?
Yes I am.
'cause she seems to know somethings.
snow is on the stand.
She said she had known Stan andhis family for a long time, and
(24:06):
that he looked out for her aftershe was assaulted while doing an
exotic dance gig.
Stan introduced her to Priest.
That hit me hard.
'cause we know what that means.
Yeah.
Without deeds wasn't related todrugs, but yeah.
(24:29):
Priest was to be her bodyguardin return for a place to stay.
Food and the use of her car.
That's quite a lot.
Gotta live with you.
Mm.
Drugs.
Snow said priest was veryintelligent in white collar
crimes, ways of killing peopleand how to carry and place
(24:50):
bugging devices.
Drugs.
Yeah.
Okay.
Ready?
I'm ready.
Quote, priest told me the secretof robbing or killing someone
was to watch the person'spatterns.
I.
Stephanie (25:08):
Hmm.
Dani (25:10):
People get a lot of bra like bravado on the cocaine and
the meth and overstate theirabilities.
So I can totally see someonebeing like, I'm kind of the best
at a lot of things.
Snow said she got confused anddidn't know who to believe at
times.
Who could be trusted?
Stan or Priest.
(25:31):
There was lots of drugs.
Mm-hmm.
Priests told me people wereafter me and I soon stayed
hiding in my house.
Well, that's very convenient fora bodyguard to say, because you
wanna stay employed, right?
You got to create that.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
On the day stand died, priesttold her, today is the day I am
(25:53):
gonna kill Stan.
Just saying it.
Just announcing it.
Snow said, priests believe standto be responsible for a drug
bust of one of priest's friend'shome.
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
This is all paranoia.
Yeah.
Drug fueled bullshit.
Quote, priests told me theofficers came into the house and
(26:16):
went directly to the coat thatStan had left there moments
earlier and found the drugs inStan's coat pocket.
Stephanie (26:23):
Hmm.
Dani (26:24):
Yeah.
Not sounding.
Super credible to me.
Paranoia drugs.
Mm-hmm.
Priest told me he had toldtrendier that he had some
information about the bus and hewas gonna set trendier up to get
rid of him.
Snow said that priest toldtrendier that they were to cut
some trees.
(26:45):
Yeah.
So the firewood, you know,situation, it worked out for him
several times.
Yeah, like let's go get somewood.
I just saw a spot up here.
Yeah.
And I wouldn't wanna be in thatspot.
On the morning of the murderpriests left the house
mid-morning and didn't returninto the afternoon snow.
Said quote.
When priests returned to myhouse, we decided to get
(27:07):
something to eat.
He was hungry.
Long day.
We had to stop at the car washand wash all the traces of dirt
from the car.
When we arrived at King's Tablefor dinner, priests pulled out a
pack of camel filters that hadwhat appeared to me be dry blood
(27:28):
on the opening of the package ofthe cigarette.
Priest said, here's proof that Ikilled Stan.
These are very strangestatements.
Do you, do you see like that?
Very, I feel like it's veryrehearsed.
It's very dry.
It's not how people talk.
That was all quotes.
(27:49):
Snow also testified when sheasked for her set of car keys,
priest said they were in Stan'spocket and asked her if she
would like to go with him to get'em.
Ew.
No go.
I said no Pass.
Priest continued by sayingpeople died differently.
Stan cried and begged for hislife.
(28:12):
Well, that's awful KimballJohnson is on the stand again.
He told how Priest took him upto the woods to give firewood
and showed him the body On thedrive back, Kimball said, quote,
priest was laughing about it andsaid Stan didn't die an
(28:33):
honorable death, and that Iwould get over it in a few days.
He said, that is what happens topeople who mess with the wrong
people.
He told me that I wasn't goingto tell the police because he
had an inside helper at thepolice department.
A priest was around me all thetime after that, I couldn't get
rid of him.
That's terrifying.
(28:55):
Can you imagine the drive backtoo?
And someone like just laughingcasually and you're like, ha,
ha, ha.
What the fuck is the big deal?
Oh, I murdered somebody.
You were Shut the fuck up.
Like yeah.
Ah, and I mean, that was hisspeed deal.
Mm-hmm.
Like I drugs.
Oh yeah.
(29:15):
People are willing to put upwith a whole lot.
Like, I don't wanna bother you,Mr.
Drug dealer, but could you notshow me dead bodies?
Thank you.
No, you're, you're killing allmy fun.
I'm coming down.
You're ruining my high.
I don't wanna go on any morefield trips.
I can just come to your houseand, yeah.
(29:38):
Better yet, you can just drop itoff.
DoorDash.
DoorDash Stove, all a DoorDash.
The delivery lift up on at themat, there's the money.
Just put it right there.
Yeah.
The defense said the prosecutionfailed to prove their case.
Attorney Chastain said, quote,the prosecutor's key date of
October 13th is misleading.
(30:01):
There has been testimony thatTrier was spoken to as late as
October 18th.
The FB, I couldn't tie thebullet to anything.
And that maybes are not goodenough.
Stephanie (30:15):
Hmm.
Dani (30:17):
I don't know.
In my opinion, I'm like, does itreally matter what exact day?
I'm just seeing that if somebodyshows me a dead body and if I'm
high on a lot of meth, maybe Idon't even remember the date.
Right.
Okay.
They kind of run into eachother.
I can't remember if I was.
Picking myself to death.
I was scrubbing the floor with atoothbrush or killing people on
(30:40):
that date.
I just, I'm a very busy druguser.
Priest did not testify in hisdefense.
Bummer.
No shit.
After three hours ofdeliberation, the jury convicted
priest of first degree murder.
Quickie.
Hmm.
On October 4th, less than sixweeks before his sentencing
(31:04):
priests dismissed his publicdefenders.
Robert Chastain and JeffreyWilson.
Priests claimed his attorneyswere not adequately prepared for
the trial and that their tacticswere doing nothing.
They said, quote, that less wasbest, and I mean.
(31:24):
Can't disagree.
Shut the fuck up.
Yeah.
Chastain said the priest was notcooperating with counsel, which
doesn't surprise me.
No, he's kind of a know-it-all.
Anyway.
I'm surprised he didn't wannarepresent himself.
Me too.
You know what though?
I give him a little credit.
He's smart enough to know, Lori,you do not represent yourself.
(31:45):
Right?
Well, there's a saying, right?
He who represents himself as afool for a client.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's it.
Uh, in June, 1993, priest isfinally sentenced, so I wanna
take just, there's a, I havenever seen this months and
(32:06):
months and months, month.
In June, 1993, priest has hissentencing hearing.
There is three possiblesentences, okay.
For the jury, for the judge toconsider life with a possibility
of parole life without thepossibility of parole and the
(32:27):
death penalty.
And the prosecutors are like,yep, let's fuck this fucker up.
Let's go.
He, they want the death penalty.
Okay.
Several people testified inpriest's behalf, Jenny Auer,
priest's fiance testified thatshe lived with him for three and
a half months before his arrest,and they plan on getting married
(32:51):
three and a half months.
Wow.
Yeah.
Very deep connection.
Super deep.
She said the priest helped herovercome her low self-esteem and
served as a good father figureto her daughter while on drugs.
Mm.
Yeah.
I don't, I don't buy any of thatquote.
(33:11):
He's been trying really hard todo things the right way.
Have you, sir?
Stephanie (33:18):
I
Dani (33:18):
don't think so.
Auer also said that priest hopesto practice law after he is
released.
Oh.
And that he has became acertified paralegal while
serving time in prison on aparole violation.
And he did.
Good for you, bud.
Maybe you should have justrepresented yourself.
I wonder if he's still thinkingback.
(33:39):
Ah, gosh.
If I only would've let me, Adam,a prison guard.
Randy Anderson said Priest was arole model for other inmates.
He said priest was respectedamong inmates because he helped
them with legal issues.
'cause he was paralegal.
Hmm.
(34:00):
A certified, he found somethingelse to do.
Yeah.
Oh, I'm not hustling drugs.
I'm gonna hustle.
Legal advice.
Yeah, I bet you got so much shitfor that.
Like, you want me to write thisup?
Yeah.
Okay.
Well I need your commissary forthe next six weeks, right?
Oh yeah.
Fuck yeah.
Stephanie (34:19):
Mm-hmm.
Dani (34:20):
Uh, can you get your family to put some money on my
books?
Alright.
See what I can do.
So this is June, 1993.
All this is going on and myresearch, I was like, what the
fuck happened?
Looking, looking, looking.
(34:41):
Nothing until March 25th, 1994.
This is not how this works.
Yeah.
This is not how this works.
You don't go to a sentencinghearing and have it drag on for
nine fucking months.
Yeah.
I wonder what the hell?
It was weird.
I'm like, wait, and Iimmediately like the story's
(35:01):
gonna go nowhere.
I'm like searching and there'snothing.
It does go somewhere, but.
Nine months later on March 25th,1994, three inmates escaped from
the Canyon County Jail.
Oh, priest, Daniel AlvarezCortez and Michael Allen Jala.
(35:27):
He's on my list, escaped fromtheir cells around 10:00 PM
Canon County Jail.
Yeah, priest has not beensentenced yet.
It's fucked.
This just blew my mind.
Priest is at the county jail forhis March 28th, sentencing nine
(35:48):
months.
A series of defense motions hasdelayed the sentencing hearing
that originally started in Juneof 1993.
Well, and since he's aparalegal, he probably knows
everything to do to jam up thesystem.
I, I totally feel that.
Can you, ima nine months afteryour commit, we see six weeks,
eight weeks, even three monthswith all their jostling and
(36:12):
getting pre-sentencing, hearing,uh, psychological, all that
stuff.
Mm-hmm.
No.
Nine months.
You don't hear that?
No, but he sounds like he wasplotting and scheming a scammer
scam.
So the group entered jaw cellbefore evening lockdown, and
(36:34):
then they knocked a hole throughthe ceiling.
What They pry up a metal ceilingtile with a piece of metal taken
from a folding table.
They made their, they made theirway off the main jail roof and
jumped down onto the roof of theworkout center.
Jola and Cortez were located inminutes.
(36:56):
Officers finally located prieststwo hours later sitting in a
pipe on the roof, so they didn'tget too far.
They called the fire.
The fire department was a, itwas a fucking mess.
Could you imagine the excitementfrom the other inmates though?
Like what an exciting happening?
There were several incidents.
(37:16):
I should do a whole episode onjust how many people escaped or
attempted to escape.
I can't, I think it was likeseven people.
Stephanie (37:25):
God damn.
Dani (37:26):
Uh, in a very short amount of time because the county, the
Canyon County Jail was only 14months old.
Get a better fucking architect.
Yeah, an engineer.
Um, and it has been plagued withproblems.
IE prisoner breaks.
George, uh, sheriff George Nursesaid quote, certainly we need
(37:51):
some work done on the ceiling.
Yeah, I'm, I would say so.
We paid someone to work onthings, but it wasn't enough.
No shit.
There was a thing made out ofcardboard or what.
Great investment county.
County winning.
So these metal ceiling panelsare riveted in.
Sheriff nurse said he's lookinginto having them welded.
(38:15):
Oh, you think finally on March28th, 1994, priest is sentenced
to life without the possibilityof parole.
Well, there you go.
Couple couple prison breaks.
Yeah.
To have two.
That's pretty extraordinary.
He's like, anybody got a vanwith some keys in it?
(38:36):
Well, and to be delaying it sofar so that he doesn't go to a
different,'cause he probablywent to a different prison for
his life, right.
Life sentence or whatever.
Yeah.
The Idaho, he's so, he's like,yeah, this place is built out of
bullshit.
I need to have some more time toplop my, he had 21 months out
of.
Prison last time.
Yeah.
And so he's probably had sometime to do a little bit better
(38:57):
planning.
And I do believe, like Snowsaid, that he is very smart.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, he's being a para, youknow, I just, it's like, uh, who
is that?
Like the motorcycle mayhem one?
Uh, he could have been apolitician.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
This guy could have beensomething, but you had to be a
(39:18):
weirdo and be killing people andshowing other people the body
and doing drugs.
Drugs.
Drugs.
Drugs.
And then you get in prison whereyou can apply yourself and look
at you.
Look what you can do when you'renot on drugs.
Some people thrive in prison.
They need that structure.
Should have went into themilitary.
His mama probably should havestructured them.
Yeah.
Structured'em up.
Right.
Good.
(39:38):
Mm-hmm.
So in 2025, Stephen Priest is 61and in custody at the Idaho
State Correctional Center.
I wonder if he's still sellinghis paralegal.
Oh, damn straight.
Yeah.
Actually, I read an article andI couldn't find backup to it, so
(39:59):
I didn't report it that he hadbecome a licensed attorney in
two states.
Oh shit.
But I couldn't find any backup.
Like it sounds like he would.
He's got nothing but time and heis already done other things.
So I would, and I imagine that.
If he can write up briefs forthese people as a paralegal.
(40:20):
Mm-hmm.
And like submit.
He's living a high life.
Yeah.
He has any flavor or ramen.
He wants any flavor.
And he probably has some tappotato or something.
Oh yeah.
Fuck yeah.
He's, he's getting down.
He might even have like fuckingsodas.
I know he has the JPay player.
(40:40):
Oh yeah.
Somebody bought that for him forsure.
Mm-hmm.
No, he's living the high life.
I almost feel like it's, uh,Shawshank e.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
So he's like we said, he's nowthe life, his legal advice.
So he has an office set up inthe library.
Gosh, what a different path youcould have had on the outside if
(41:00):
you weren't dumb, and all thesefucking drugs.
Drugs are bad drugs.
Yeah.
Kids don't do drugs.
Well, thank you Danny.
This was a good one.
I appreciated the two escapes byone guy.
Yeah.
I'm like, what the fuck is this?
Rare, but apparently not unheardof and snow.
Snow was fun.
Snow was fun.
(41:21):
Yeah.
She was in her twenties justdoing her thing.
And she probably knew all thedeeds being a dancer.
She probably knew people.
Yeah, she absolutely.
But she was like, I know thedeeds, but I don't wanna get
involved.
Oh wait, I have to get involved.
'cause I sold eight balls.
God, couple times I sold eightballs to an officer.
I was new.
Okay.
This morning.
(41:44):
Well guys, thank you forlistening.
Again.
Follow us TikTok, Facebook.
Instagram, we're available justabout anywhere to listen and
send us an email if you havequestions, comments, concerns,
or just wanna say something.
It's the lethallibrary@gmail.com and I'm always
looking for ideas.
Yes.
(42:04):
or inside.
If you know any of these cases,please.
We like it.
Yeah, we'd love to hear fromyou.
Well, Danny Tan, four rubberducky.
Fuck yeah.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.