Accused Aryan Knights who pulled off prison escape charged with 1st-degree murder after dayslong manhunt: Report

For the murder of an 83-year-old man, police in Idaho announced that a grand jury has charged two alleged members of the white supremacist group the Aryan Knights with first-degree murder.

The charges are just the latest developments in a saga that began in March when prisoner Skylar Meade, 31, was poised to be transported from Boise's Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center back to a local prison during the early morning hours of March 20.

During this time, corrections officers escorting Meade said they were ambushed and fired on by Nicholas Umphenour, 28. The men managed to flee to the nearby remote town of Leland, Idaho, after shooting and injuring two correction officers outside of the hospital near the emergency bay entrance. A third corrections officer was also shot in the melee because he was reportedly mistaken for an armed suspect by Boise Police, according to the Idaho Statesman.

It was reported that Meade had only managed to get himself to the medical center because he was self-harming in prison. A police detective that appeared in court for a preliminary hearing this April said security footage from the medical center showed Meade being moved out of the emergency room with three correction officers flanking him before getting to the ambulance bay where a prison van was waiting. Meade had shackles on his legs, waist and wrists.

Once the duo fled and a manhunt was underway, prosecutors say it was in Leland where James Mauney's body was later found.

Mauney, a resident of Juliaetta, was reported missing after he had failed to return from his usual morning walk with his dogs. This prompted a police search. The Spokesman-Review reported Wednesday that prosecutors allege Meade and Umphenour took Mauney while he was walking in Juliaetta. Then, they believe the men drove Mauney's car to a farm area in Leland because that is where Mauney's body was found.

Another man, according to prosecutors, was also killed by Meade and Umphenour while they were on the run: 72-year-old Gerald "Don" Henderson.

Henderson died on March 20 near his remote cabin in Orofino, Idaho, according to the Idaho Statesman. Henderson reportedly knew Umphenour from roughly a decade ago, meeting Umphenour when the younger man was hanging out with a friend. Umphenour was invited to stay at Henderson's cabin in Orofino after he told him that he was having troubles with his father.

It wasn't long, however, before Umphenour started to display "frightening behavior," according to Henderson's longtime partner, Ron Thompson. The couple were put off and asked Umphenour to leave.

Thompson told the Statesman in April that Umphenour would often talk about shooting people and had a "volatile temper."

The couple hadn't heard from Umphenour again until this February when he suddenly came hiking up to the Orofino cabin. Thompson reportedly told police he didn't think anything of the visit at the time. Henderson and Umphenour had coffee for an hour and that was that, he said.

Thompson's perspective on that visit changed after the ambush at the medical center in March. After he hadn't heard from his partner and called local sheriffs to conduct a welfare check, police eventually found Henderson dead at his cabin. He had already been dead for several hours.

Police, with the help of the FBI, finally started closing in on Umphenour and Meade when they were spotted on March 21. An FBI agent surveilling an area just outside of Twin Falls, Idaho, said he saw Umphenour leave a residential neighborhood. While in pursuit of Umphenour, the FBI said it then located Meade in the passenger seat of a different truck and started pursuing him. The Idaho Statesman reported that the car was being driven by a woman named Tonia Huber.

Allegedly fleeing from police at excessive speeds, the woman finally pulled into the parking lot of a Walgreens where police managed to stop her with a PIT maneuver. She was arrested and charged with harboring a fugitive, eluding a police officer in a motor vehicle and possession of a controlled substance. The last charge was for fentanyl pills allegedly found on her person. Huber has since posted bond.

After Meade's arrest, the Statesman reported that Umphenour was arrested too but the exact location was not disclosed. Police did say however that Umphenour was driving a car that belonged to one of the men he allegedly murdered. They did not say which man.

For the moment, both Meade and Umphenour are being held in jail in Ada County on $2 million bond per man. Most court records remain sealed while an investigation is pending.

In addition to the first-degree murder charge, Umphenour is charged with one count of escaping prison, a single count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and three counts of aggravated battery upon certain personnel. Enhancements were added to his felonies, including an enhancement for being a persistent violator. There was also an enhancement on the weapons charge since he used it in the commission of a felony. Umphenour reportedly stood silent for his plea, forcing Judge Nancy Baskin to enter his not guilty plea on his behalf instead, the Statesman reported.

Meade has pleaded guilty to the felony escape charge as well as to a persistent violator enhancement but no plea has been entered on other enhancements at this time. Meade entered his plea without striking any sort of plea agreement, the Lewiston Tribune reported.

"These indictments are the first step in the process of seeking justice for James Mauney. We have a long way to go to reach the conclusion we want and will continue to work diligently with law enforcement agencies throughout the State to ensure we have the strongest case possible to present at trial," Nez Perce prosecutor Justin Coleman said Wednesday.

It is expected that Umphenour will go to trial in October.