My beings of light

Disappointment abounds

Trauma on the slopes

GBC teams come up short in Magic Valley Holiday tourney SPORTS, PAGE B1

Pomerelle Ski Patrollers have your back OUTDOORS, PAGE B5 SUNNY 28 • 16 FORECAST, B4

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2016

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magicvalley.com

Cops: Teen killed over drugs Suspect threatened life of lead detective, court documents say ALEX RIGGINS

ariggins@magicvalley.com

TWIN FALLS — Vason Lee Widaman, the 15-year-old Canyon Ridge freshman killed in a drive-by shooting, was murdered by two Buhl men over an $800 drug debt, police said.

The suspected killers, arrested Tuesday, were formally charged with the murder Wednesday, and new court documents in their

cases show detectives were on their trail almost immediately after Widaman was gunned down May 7 in a brazen daylight shooting.

Over the months that followed, police used cellphone records, forensic evidence, Alvarez witness testimony and a confidential informant to build their case.

Jose Daniel Alvarez, 20, and Gerardo Raul Chavez, 19, were arraigned in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court on felony counts

of first-degree murder and intimidating a witness.

Chavez, who was in and out of police custody on probation violations since the killing, also threatened to kill Twin Falls Police Detective Ken RivChavez ers, according to a sworn affidavit written by the veteran detective. Rivers was the lead investigator in the case.

According to several people

A timeline of the Vason Widaman murder investigation

ALEX RIGGINS

ariggins@magicvalley.com

TWIN FALLS — This timeline was compiled using court documents and police records and shows how events unfolded according to the Twin Falls Police Department and Twin Falls County Prosecutor’s Office.

April 2016: Gerardo Raul Chavez and Austin Dobbs, roommates at a Twin Falls home, pool together between $700 and $800 Please see WIDAMAN, Page A7 to buy Xanax from Vason Lee

Widaman. Several people, including Dobbs, tell police that Widaman takes the money but never delivers the pills.

Late April: After never receiving his portion of the Xanax, Dobbs begins to believe Chavez ripped him off and kept all the pills, but Chavez tells his roommate he never got the drugs.

Chavez tells Dobbs “some kid” named Vason and “some girl” Please see TIMELINE, Page A7

Idaho ranks 3rd in population growth TIMES-NEWS

in Chicago and a winter storm later caused them to land in Twin Falls at nearly midnight.

The family of seven has lived in Tanzania for 20 years but is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The children — one girl and four boys

TWIN FALLS — Between mid-2015 and mid-2016, Idaho experienced the strongest population growth since 2008.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s latest estimates show the state’s population grew 1.8 percent, by more than 30,000 people. This put Idaho in third place nationally for the strongest increase.

The change is largely a result of a high birth rate and domestic migration, the Idaho Department of Labor said in a statement.

Nearly 19,000 people moved into Idaho from other states and countries in the one-year period, and the state’s birth rate was seventh highest in the country — 13.7 births per 1,000 women.

Idaho’s population growth was more than 1 percent annually between 1990 and 2010 — with a peak of 3 percent in 1993 and 1994. Growth dropped to just 0.7 percent in 2012, matching the national rate.

Utah became the nation’s fastest-growing state, increasing population 2 percent, exceeding 3 million people. Next on the list were Nevada, Idaho,

Please see REFUGEES, Page A7

Please see POPULATION, Page A3

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS

Ebuela Kasombwa looks around curiously while his sister, Lea Andjelani holds him Thursday in Twin Falls. Members of the Magic Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship help the family get settled into their new home with decorations, clothes and more.

‘My Beings of Light’: Church ‘adopts’ refugee family TETONA DUNLAP

tdunlap@magicvalley.com

TWIN FALLS — Instead of giving gifts this year, Monie Smith and three of her friends decided to help others in need. Now a newly arrived refugee family has an entire Unitarian Fellowship helping them acclimate to their new home in Twin Falls.

Smith reached out to the College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center and found out a family of seven would arrive Dec. 14. She quickly realized she would need more help.

When she reached out to her church, the Magic Valley Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, the entire congregation pitched

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Idaho Hunters Feeding the Hungry

COURTESY PHOTO

Mike Schroeder and his son Steven Schroeder pose with a deer they harvested in Michigan.

Jeff Schroeder, executive director of Idaho

For the Times-News

What do they do? This nonprofit organization was incorporated in 2002 to provide Idaho’s surplus wild big-game meat to area food pantries and food-insecure families. Protein — especially red meat — is the least available food item food banks and pantries receive.

The meat is donated locally to

in sixth grade through 12th grade, 4 p.m. at Twin Falls Public Library, 201 Fourth Ave. E. Free.

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Volume 112, Issue 56

About this series

KAREN BOSSICK

 If you do one thing: Teens Make It and Take It activities for students

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in and quickly rounded up donations and helped prepare a home for the incoming family.

On Dec. 15, members of the Fellowship met Emmanuel Kasombwa and Sofia Makelele and their five children for the first time. The family was originally scheduled to arrive at noon Dec. 14, but a missed connection

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Food Pantry in Kimberly, Mustard Seed Ministries in Twin Falls Today we present the fourth inand the WEMA Emergency Food stallment in our series about non- Pantry in Buhl. profits making a difference in the The organization especially Magic Valley. View other parts in targets families where two or the series at Magicvalley.com. three members might draw a permit in the same year and the Richfield Community Food end up with too much meat Bank, The Hunger Coalition in for one family. It also targets Bellevue, Martha & Mary’s Food Please see IDAHO HUNTERS, Page A3 Pantry in Jerome, Rock Creek

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Refugees From A1

— range in age from 7 months to 19-years-old. In the refugee camp, they lived in a hut made from trees from the forest. On Dec. 15, they answered questions from Fellowship members who came to meet them inside their new home.

“We are so glad you are finally here,” said Marion Wallace, a Unitarian Fellowship member. “And we are looking forward to getting to know you.”

“We are happy to see you, too,” Kasombwa said through translator Emile Wilondja.

Magic Valley Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship members spent days preparing the house for their arrival. And not just putting items in their proper places, but making the house into a home.

A red banner hung from the wall that said, “Merry Christmas.” A dining room table was decorated with two Santa figurines and candles. The family is Christian but never had a Christmas tree before. The tree twinkled in the corner of the living room with a handmade star wrapped in foil on top. A shelf was filled with toys, a stuffed fox, dog and cat. A sign said, “God Bless Our Home and

Widaman From A1

who spoke to police in the days after the murder, Chavez was upset with Widaman because the Canyon Ridge freshman had failed to deliver Xanax pills he had promised Chavez in exchange for between $700 and $800.

A friend of Widaman’s who was unnamed in the affidavit told Rivers that “Widaman had been involved in a number of drug deals and he had begun ripping people off.”

Austin Dobbs, the son of Twin Falls School District Superintendent Wiley Dobbs, was Chavez’s roommate. The younger Dobbs told police that he and Chavez in April had pooled around $700 or $800 to buy Xanax, and they went to Canyon Ridge High School to pay the person who would get the drugs for them. But when the pills were never delivered, Chavez promised to “deal with” the person responsible.

“Dobbs said that several days before the homicide he was speaking with Chavez, who told him that he was going to kill someone for the missing drugs,” Rivers wrote in the affidavit. “Dobbs said this conversation occurred at the residence he shared with Chavez. Dobbs was playing a video game when

Timeline From A1

M 1

ripped them off, and Chavez “was going to have to deal with him.”

Around this time, Chavez tells Dobbs he’s going to kill the person who stole their money.

Early May: Chavez, Dobbs and Jose Daniel Alvarez go to the Devil’s Corral area on the north rim of the Snake River Canyon, where they fire a black 9 mm handgun belonging to Chavez.

May 6: Dobbs witnesses Chavez loading the 9 mm gun while wearing gloves, but when a bullet drops to the ground, Alvarez picks it up without gloves and hands it Chavez, who loads it into the gun.

May 7, 2:30 p.m.: Dobbs is leaving the residence he shares with Chavez when he passes Alvarez driving a dark gray Dodge Charger registered to Alvarez’s father.

May 7, 3:32 p.m.: Police receive a call of shots fired at North College Road West and Northern Pine Drive. Officers Egan and Gealta are first on scene and find Widaman on the ground with several gunshot wounds. They administer life-saving efforts until paramedics arrive and take over, but Widaman dies at the scene.

May 7, 6 p.m.: Alvarez, driving the gray Charger, picks up Dobbs at his mother’s home. Chavez is in the back seat, and Alvarez’s girlfriend is in the front seat. Dobbs tells the others there’s been a shooting and suggests they go see the crime scene. Chavez leans forward and tells Alvarez to avoid the scene, and instead the group drives to the College of Southern Idaho, and then to Buhl to Alvarez’s girlfriend’s house.

May 7: As police begin investigating the killing, they find five 9 mm shell casings around Widaman’s body. They also scour Widaman’s cellphone for clues, where they find he’s been in contact with someone listed in his phone as “G.” Looking through police records, the number for “G” matches Chavez’s cellphone number.

All Who Enter.”

“The home is good,” Kasombwa said.

As fellowship members prepared the home, they learned there were a lot of other people who wanted to help.

Costco donated new winter coats, gloves, hats, socks and towels for each person in the family.

The winter gear was waiting for the family when their plane finally landed in Twin Falls. A random shopper who gave Susan Bachtold, a Fellowship member, information on space heaters at Home Depot also handed her $70 to purchase the heater after hearing about the arriving family. It was the last one on the shelf, Bachtold said, and will be used to heat a cold back bedroom. Then, a woman who gave Bachtold advice on baby items, winded up buying a child booster seat and a child car set for the family.

“All these wonderful people played a part in helping this new family start a new life here,” Bachtold said. “I call you all ‘My Beings of Light.’ Miracles happen all the time, one just has to be open to them and believe.”

Wilondja told the Fellowship members that the family didn’t sleep last night after their long day of traveling. As cold rain turned snow into ice outside, Smith asked

Thursday, December 22, 2016 | A7

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

Monie Smith, with the Magic Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, welcomes a family from Tanzania into their new home Thursday in Twin Falls. the family if they had gone outside to touch the snow. Kasombwa said they learned about snow in videos, but this was the first time they saw it in person.

“You have to touch it,” Smith said.

Kasombwa and Makelele smiled, but no one moved toward the door. Makelele wore sandals and a long skirt. When Monie

asked if they had enough blankets, they said they found the blankets, but it was still too cold.

Robin Romney, another Fellowship member, also helped collect donations. Romney said she plans to check on the family from time to time.

“I love the generosity of this area,” Romney said. “I love the kindness of the heart and willing-

ness of people to jump in and do whatever is good for anyone else.”

Romney has been a member of the Magic Valley Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship since 2007.

Every second Sunday the Fellowship takes collections gathered at services and donates them to a charity or family.

“We call it ‘Pay it forward,’” Romney said. “We collect it in the hopes that they would be in the position to help someone else.”

Romney held back tears when she talked about meeting the family for the first time.

“I don’t know the words,” Romney said. “You feel like your heart is this huge light. That’s how I felt anyway.”

The family speaks French and Swahili. When Micheal Johnson, Smith’s husband and a Fellowship member, arrived, he introduced himself in French. But he told the family he only knew a little.

“So I will have to learn to speak Swahili,” Michael said. “I know one word: Hakuna Matata.”

Kasombwa threw back his head to laugh loudly, as Makelele smiled wide.

“When we came here,” Smith said. “The house was empty. It’s been a really incredible experience for us to set this up. It shows that our community is kind and progressive.”

Chavez said, ‘Look at me.’ Dobbs said he looked at Chavez. Chavez said he was going to kill the person who stole their money.”

Days after the killing, on May 10, Dobbs, Alvarez and Chavez were all detained for questioning. Chavez was arrested on a misdemeanor warrant for probation violation, while Alvarez and Dobbs were released. After Chavez posted bond, he and Alvarez took Dobbs to the Devil’s Corral area on the north side of the Snake River Canyon — an area where all three men had gone on a previous occasion to shoot a 9 mm handgun — and the two murder suspects “interrogated him about what he had told law enforcement.”

“Dobbs said that during this questioning, he thought they might kill him,” Rivers wrote in the sworn affidavit. “Dobbs said that Chavez asked him about what he had told law enforcement and Alvarez yelled at him for even speaking with law enforcement.”

Prosecutors charged Chavez and Alvarez with intimidating a witness based on that incident, and Magistrate Judge Roger Harris entered no-contact orders between the two suspects and Dobbs.

Police also say Chavez talked about the killing in October while he was drunk and threatened to kill the detective.

“I just wanted to let you know,

From left, Jose Daniel Alvarez and Ben Andersen, chief deputy public defender, listen to Judge Roger Harris during Alvarez’s arraignment Wednesday in Twin Falls County Court. that kid who stole our money, I handled it,” Chavez allegedly told Dobbs. “I’m also going to get Ken Rivers, and when I say something is going to happen, it does.”

It apparently wasn’t the first time Chavez talked about the killing, though. In July, an inmate at the Twin Falls County Jail contacted police telling them that Chavez, in jail on a probation violation, was talking about Widaman’s murder.

“I met with this inmate who was upset about the homicide of a 15-year-old person and wanted to assist the Twin Falls Police in our

investigation,” Rivers wrote. “This inmate became a confidential informant … and agreed to record conversations between himself and Chavez … (He) recorded a conversation between himself and Chavez where Chavez said the victim in the homicide owed him $700.”

Cellphone data showing contact between Chavez and Widaman also helped investigators zero in on the suspects, while data from cellphone towers showed Chavez’s phone in the area of the shooting at the time it was reported.

Several witnesses also identified the suspect vehicle as a dark Dodge

Charger, which police linked back to Alvarez’s gray 2014 Dodge Charger. And several people who knew Widaman mentioned Chavez and Alvarez as possible suspects because of their feud over the Xanax that was never delivered.

At the scene of the shooting, police recovered five 9 mm shell casings, which were sent to a lab in Utah, court documents said.

The forensic analysis showed Alvarez’s DNA — or the DNA from another male in his family — was on the casings.

Alvarez and Chavez are both being held without bond because of the gravity of their case and made their initial court appearances Wednesday via video from the jail. Alvarez was represented by the Twin Falls County Public Defender’s office, while Doug Nelson from the Roark Law Firm was at the hearing on Chavez’s behalf.

Nelson told the judge he would “pick a different time and day” to address the court “when I know more about the case.”

Both Alvarez and Chavez face 10 years to life in prison on the murder charges, and they could potentially face the death penalty. Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs’ office has 60 days to decide whether to seek it.

Both suspects are due back in court Dec. 30 for preliminary hearings.

Officers canvass the North Pointe subdivision looking for witnesses. One witness tells them she saw a dark sedan driving slowly next to a boy on a bicycle about 3:30 p.m. The witness said she thought the car was a Ford Mustang, but after looking at pictures of both a Ford Mustang and Dodge Charger, she said it looked more like a Charger.

Police contact three juveniles who live in the area, two of whom say they knew Widaman. One says a man named “White Jose,” later identified as Alvarez, might be involved. Another tells police “it was common knowledge that Widaman was a drug dealer,” and says Alvarez drives a dark Dodge Charger and he “could be involved.”

A friend of Widaman’s tells police a Hispanic man nicknamed “G” was involved in the shooting, and the friend witnessed Widaman and “G” involved in drug deals in the past. The friend said “G” was driving a black, four-door diesel truck — the same type of truck registered to Chavez’s mother.

Widaman’s friend identifies a photograph of Chavez as the person known as “G.” The friend also tells police that a few weeks prior to the shooting, Widaman had ripped off “G” for about $700 or $800.

Another of Widaman’s friends tells police the 15-year-old “had been involved in a number of drug deals and he had begun ripping people off.”

Unknown date: After finding that Widaman was in contact with Chavez, police obtain phone records showing texts and calls from Chavez’s phone for May 6 and 7. The records show that at 3:27 p.m. on May 7, five minutes before the shooting was reported, Chavez’s phone was “at or near the location of the shooting of Vason.”

May 8: Police go to Chavez’s last known address, in Buhl, in hopes of talking to him about the killing.

Chavez is not at the home, but up the street, outside the home of Alvarez’s girlfriend, they see the dark Dodge Charger registered to

Alvarez’s father. Detectives knock on the door at Alvarez’s girlfriend’s home, but nobody answers. Dobbs later tells police that he, Chavez, Alvarez and Alvarez’s girlfriend were all inside — Chavez and Alvarez were “freaking out” — but they hid and didn’t open the door.

May 9: Police go to Chavez and Dobbs’ Twin Falls residence and detain both men for questioning.

Alvarez is also brought in. After lead investigator Ken Rivers speaks to all three men, Alvarez and Dobbs are released. Chavez is arrested on a misdemeanor warrant for a probation violation.

May 9: Police hold a press conference before the City Council meeting. They don’t take questions, but they release grainy surveillance photographs of the dark sedan seen near the shooting.

May 10: Chavez is arraigned on his misdemeanor probation violation, and a judge sets his bond at $10,000. Chavez posts the bond and is released from custody.

May 10: A Canyon Ridge high schooler tells the school resource officer that she witnessed the shooting. She says she was driving near the high school when she saw a dark gray or black vehicle with chrome or silver wheels, and she saw a gun come out of the passenger side window and fire several shots. Scared after realizing what happened, she drove away. Later, she said she was confused, and the gun might have been held out the driver’s side window.

May 11: Rivers interviews a resident who lives 200 feet from the shooting and may have witnessed the aftermath. The witness tells police she was in her front yard when she heard gunshots, and looking that way, saw a gray or black Dodge with tinted windows leaving north on Northern Pine Drive. She says the front passenger window was down and describes the passenger as a young Hispanic man with a round face, but when presented with two photo lineups, she can’t positively identify a suspect.

May 16: Another witness in the

area of the shooting tells Rivers she watched “the confrontation between a boy on a bike and a person in a vehicle.” She says she saw the passenger in the car shoot the boy on the bike, watched the boy fall down, and then watched the car leave northbound on Northern Pine Drive. She described the car as dark gray with silver wheels, and when shown photos of Alvarez’s Charger, she said it looked “exactly” like the car she’d seen.

May 26: Chavez appears in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court on a probation violation hearing in his drunken driving case from October 2015.

June 14: Sorenson Forensics Laboratory in Salt Lake City sends a forensic analysis to the Twin Falls Police Department reporting there’s enough DNA on the shell casings “to make a comparison of a possible suspect.”

June 16: Chavez is in court again for a probation violation hearing in the drunken driving case. He’s taken into custody after failing a drug test.

June 27: Two police officers spot Alvarez sitting in his Charger outside the Twin Falls County Jail. Knowing there’s a warrant out seeking his DNA sample, they arrest Alvarez. In his car they find drugs and drug paraphernalia and he’s charged with two felonies, though the case has since been dismissed. At some point, a DNA sample is collected and Rivers sends the sample to the Utah laboratory to be tested against the shell casings.

Early July: An inmate at the Twin Falls County Jail contacts police and says Chavez, in custody at the jail for his probation violation, is talking about Widaman’s murder. The inmate agrees to become a confidential informant and records a conversation in which Chavez tells him Widaman owed him $700.

July 7: Chavez is released from jail on the probation violation.

Aug. 3: Prosecutors again allege that Chavez has violated his probation. A warrant is issued for his arrest.

Early October: Dobbs and Chavez are driving around “after Chavez had consumed alcohol.”

Chavez tells Dobbs to pull over, turn off his phone and give it to him. Dobbs hands his phone to Chavez, and Chavez tells him, “I just wanted to let you know, that kid who stole our money, I handled it.” He also tells Dobbs, “I’m also going to get Ken Rivers, and when I say something is going to happen, it does.”

Oct. 25: Police interview Dobbs.

Oct. 28: Rivers receives a report from the Utah laboratory showing Alvarez’s DNA matches the DNA found on the shell casings. Due to the type of test used — which identifies the male Y-chromosome — the results cannot distinguish the DNA between males on Alvarez’s father’s side of his family.

Nov. 6: Police arrest Chavez on the probation violation warrant from August and prosecutors charge him with two new misdemeanors for resisting or obstructing arrest and providing false information. Chavez posts bond in both cases and promises to appear for a hearing. It’s the last known contact he has with police until Tuesday’s stand-off.

Nov. 16: When Chavez doesn’t show up for his court hearing he promised to attend, a new arrest warrant is issued.

Monday: Police and prosecutors obtain warrants for Chavez and Alvarez on first-degree murder charges.

Tuesday, 2:01 p.m.: Alvarez is arrested while driving on U.S. 30 near Pole Line Road just east of Buhl by the Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, who were conducting surveillance.

Tuesday, 3 p.m.: A police SWAT team surrounds the home at 348 Locust Street North and asks for Chavez to exit the house with his hands up. About an hour later, Chavez comes out and gives himself up peacefully.

Wednesday: Chavez and Alvarez are arraigned on felony counts of first-degree murder and intimidating a witness. They’re held without bond.

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS