Idaho Murder Suspect Has Been Accused of Cannibalism Due to a Thermal Artifact on Victims Body
Flaget’s body had been found upside-down inside of a vehicle in the 100 block of Lower Mosquito Creek Road unresponsive, with Russell being the one who was currently living on the property at the time of the man’s death. When the authorities had gone to Russell to confront him about the body that they had found in the car, Russell had run from the law enforcement and barricaded himself inside of the loft space of the garage building that he had resided in on the property.
The authorities had continued their attempt to get Russell to comply with them, and after a brief stand-off, Russell had finally become compliant with the law enforcement’s commands and left the building to allow for himself to be apprehended. Russell was unable to understand his Miranda rights despite the number of times that the law enforcement had read them out to him, with Russell only making one statement in response to the authorities regarding the fact that he does not like non-family on his private property.
According to Russell, Flaget had had several conflict-like run-ins with Russell, and Russell had told his family about them. The family had received many warning signs through these conflicts that Russell was a danger to himself or others, according to Stella.
Stella continued his statements by saying that there were a lot of facets that we will certainly never know and that it had not been the bloodiest crime scene that they had ever seen. However, the scene had been very psychologically damaging to the investigators, who found themselves wondering why they were picking up pieces of Flaget. Stella says that it’s a dark path that investigators do not see often when they are searching crime scenes.
On December 15, the case had been revisited, and Russell has been accused of cannibalism on top of the first-degree murder charge by Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall.
The accusations come from the closer investigation of Flaget’s death. Flaget’s remains had been found with a thermal artifact on his skin. The Bonners Ferry Herald identifies a thermal artifact as an indication of where heat has been applied to only a section of the body rather than the entire body. After an autopsy report that had been obtained, it was reported that there had been some remains found inside of Russell’s residence that had belonged to Flaget, with most of the remains not yet being located. As well as this, the Bonners Ferry Herald had received an affidavit that reported that Russell thought he could heal himself by cutting off portions of flesh in order to cure his brain. Russell had also reportedly used a cleanup kit to dispose of remains and other evidence after the murder had taken place. As well as this, Russell has been known in the past to damage communication lines on the property, due to him believing that they had been damaging his mental health.
When Russell’s home had been searched, they found tissues inside of his residence that were able to be traced back to Flaget through an autopsy. Some of Flaget’s remains have still yet to be found. Among the variety of evidence that they had found inside of Russell’s home, they had also found a bloodied microwave and a glass bowl, along with a bloodied knife and duffel bag.
When Flaget’s body had been found, they found his wrists duct-taped together. Due to the fact that there had not been any blood under the tape on his wrists, authorities believe that Flaget had been restrained prior to his murder.
According to Bonner County Detective Phillip Stella, it can be extremely difficult for those who are investigating cases to deal with death and carnage, since it is a huge shock to our conscience. As far as Stella is aware, this is the first time that there has been a cannibalism charge in Idaho.
Trial and Aftermath
Russell appeared in court on December 28, where a decision to put Russell into Idaho’s security medical program to restore his competency had been decided. The commitment to this decision has been extended for an additional 180 days, due to the fact that Russell does not currently seem to be competent.
Russell had been committed to the care of the program on October 7 after the initial competency hearing that had occurred in mid-September, and even after the hearing on December 28, First District Magistrate Judge Tara Harden had reported that Russell remained unfit to stand trial on the charges put on him at this time. Harden also reported that she had previously found Russell as dangerously mentally ill and that she will be reiterating her order from her previous order. As well as this, she is specifically finding that the defendant had lacked the capacity to make any informed decisions about treatment at this time. Harden says that she based her order off of the information that had been provided to her by a psychologist that had been working with Russell in the Idaho Department of Corrections Secure Medical Unit.
Despite the difficulty with Russell and his mental health, he remains as the primary suspect for the murder of David Flaget. Due to his inability to speak in the court, his next review hearing is set for March 14, 2022, 84 days from the hearing he had done on December 28. Between now and then, Russell will continue undergoing involuntary treatments at the medical program facility in Boise.
If Russell does end up being convicted for the murder, he could see up to 14 years incarceration for cannibalism and life in prison for first-degree murder, as well as tens of thousands of dollars in fines.