Murder victims in Idaho white supremacist prison break ID’d as men aged 83 and 72: Latest

Escaped prisoner Skylar Meade and his accomplice Nicholas Umphenour have been recaptured after the two men coordinated a prison escape in Idaho on Wednesday, officials have said.

The men were later reported to have been associates while spending time behind bars at the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC). Both had links to the same white supremacist gang.

Here’s what we know:

Police in Idaho say they captured Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour near Leland, Idaho on Thursday afternoon.

The two men were found after an extensive manhunt which was launched after Meade escaped from prison. Law enforcement alleges that Umphenour pulled up to the ambulance bay of a hospital where Meade was being treated and opened fire on police. Meade escaped with Umphenour in a vehicle.

But after tracking the car that the two men were seen driving off in, law enforcement found two other homicide victims and eventually, Meade and Umphenour.

It is unclear if the two homicides are connected to the inmate and the accomplice, an investigation into those are underway.

Detectives are now investigating two homicides at separate locations, and as Paris and Clearwater counties, in Idaho, that are believed to be tied to the escape of Skylar Meade.

Both homicides involve adult males and detectives are actively investigating according to Lieutenant Colonel Sheldon Kelly, of Boise Police.

No further information on the homicides is available at this time, though the county coroner will provide identity as well as the official cause of death in due course, Mr Kelly told reporters.

Three correctional officers shot and wounded – one by a responding police officer – in a chaotic firefight as Skyle Meade, a prisoner serving a 20-year sentence, was sprung by armed accomplice.

After both men were captured on Thursday, here’s everything we know about the incident:

In a press conference on Thursday, Josh Tewalt, the director of the Idaho Department of Corrections, said that Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour shared housing at one point while serving in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.

The two had a crossover in the unit at the facility from December 2020 until January 2024.

Idaho prison escapee Skylar Meade and his accomplice Nicholas Umphenour were both part of the same white prison gang – the Aryan Knights – according to Josh Tewalt, the director of the Idaho Department of Corrections.

The Aryan Knights emerged in the mid-1990s to “organize criminal activity for a select group of white inmates within IDOC custody,” according to the Idaho District Attorney’s Office.

The group has white supremacist and white separatist ideologies. It is believed to have over 100 members inside and outside of IDOC. The group has used violence and threats of violence to target non-white inmates and other targeted inmates.

The Anti-Defamation League says the group will identify themselves with tattoos for the number “12” as well as “A” and “K”.

Meade’s tattoos – 1 and 11 – are thought to represent A and K, the first and 11th letters of the alphabet, which supposedly stands for Aryan Knights.

Three Idaho Department of Corrections officers were shot as inmate Skylar Meade escaped from a hospital in Boise. Officials re-arrested Meade and his accomplice Nicholas Umphenour on Thursday.

Police say that the incident started at 2.15am on Wednesday when officials transported inmate Meade to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center for medical treatment.

As the officers were preparing to transport the inmate back to a correctional facility, an unknown suspect attacked and fired at the officers, hitting two of them, according to officials.

Additional officers responded to the hospital amid news of a shooting and the facility went into lockdown as police searched for suspects. One officer fired his gun at an armed individual near the entrance of the facility. Officials later determined that the person was a correctional officer.

Director of Idaho Department of Corrections Josh Tewalt told reporters on Thursday that one of the officers had been released from hospital, while two others remained there but were “stable and improving”.

“I think with today’s news, their spirits are lifted,” he said.

Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar previously described the escape by Skylar Meade, with help from Nicholas Umphenour, was a “brazen” attack on personnel from the Idaho Department of Corrections.

Officials say that the men left Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center before police backup arrived at the scene on Wednesday night. They were able to leave the premises in a grey four-door sedan, later identified as a Honda Accord.

At a previous press conference Chief Winegar said: “This brazen, violent, and apparently coordinated attack on Idaho Department of Corrections personnel, to facilitate an escape of a dangerous inmate, was carried out right in front of the Emergency Department, where people come for medical help, often in the direst circumstances.

“When BPD officers responded, they believed the shooter was inside the Emergency Department. They immediately entered to address any potential continued threat to Emergency Room staff.

“I am grateful this harrowing incident did not result in loss of life, and we are monitoring the wounded IDOC officers with great hope for a full and speedy recovery of all involved.”

Both Meade and Umphenour were detained on Thursday afternoon around 2pm local time.