On November 4, 1974, John Wayne Bradford, a 40-year-old house painter, was shot and killed near Donnelly, Idaho, after offering a ride to two hitchhikers. Edward Thomas Arnold, who was traveling with Bradford, was also shot; both bodies were later found in a barrow pit alongside Highway 55. The victims’ blood-spattered car was recovered the next day, which led investigators to track down the pair who had accepted the ride.

The hitchhikers were identified as Thomas Eugene Creech and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Carol Spaulding; both were arrested a few days later in Glenns Ferry, Idaho. At trial, Creech at times made multiple confessions to other killings but denied responsibility for these two murders. A jury convicted Creech of first-degree murder in the deaths of Bradford and Arnold and initially imposed the death penalty; that sentence was later commuted because mandatory death penalties were found unconstitutional. Spaulding pleaded guilty to abetting a fugitive and received a two-year prison term.

Anyone who knew John Wayne Bradford, his work as a painter, or who remembers the area near Highway 55 in November 1974 is asked to share what they remember.