GOODING (KIVI) — The Gooding community is mourning the loss of Ryver Milloy, who has been identified as the 14-year-old girl who died as the result of a negligent gunshot on Sunday, July 28.

A memorial service for Ryver has been scheduled for 10 a.m. on August 10 at Gooding High School. Ryver’s family is asking for prayers and privacy at this time.

Contributions in Ryver’s honor are being accepted for a memorial fund supporting the school music program she was so passionate about. Cards and donations can be sent to the 5th Avenue Church in Gooding or Demaray’s Funeral Services Gooding Chapel.

An account has also been set up in Ryver’s name at Umpqua Bank, and all donations to this account will go to the same school music program.

Counseling services are available to students at Gooding High School.

In a news release, Gooding County Prosecutor Trevor Misseldine said a young woman was with two other teen boys cleaning up after completing chores in Gooding County in a barn when one of the boys picked up a shotgun that discharged.

Life-saving measures were attempted and the victim was transported to a hospital nearby where she was pronounced dead shortly after.

An investigation into the incident that claimed Ryver’s life is ongoing.

BLACKFOOT, Idaho — A Bingham County Sheriff’s Office deputy involved in a fatal crash in February has given her resignation.

Bingham County Sheriff Jeff Gardner said his office received and accepted Stephanie Grisham’s resignation of employment due to pending criminal and civil proceedings, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

Grisham, 38, is charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, according to a court filing.

On July 25, the sheriff’s office was notified that Grisham was being summoned to appear in court for the charge.

“That was our indication that the investigation was officially completed, a charging decision had been made, and that it would then be appropriate to finalize the remainder of our internal investigation. That investigation was completed yesterday (Monday),” Gardner said in the release.

Grisham was involved in a two-vehicle crash on Feb. 1 in the area of 1100 E. 600 North while she was driving a Bingham County Sheriff’s Office black Ford Explorer patrol SUV.

As EastIdahoNews.com reported Monday, court documents revealed that investigators found a text message thread on Grisham’s cellphone indicating text message activity.

Camera footage showed the patrol car veer to the left and into the oncoming lane of traffic. The patrol vehicle hit a Dodge Ram head on.

Robert Beal, 80, of Shelley, died in the crash. His wife was the passenger in the Dodge Ram. She had severe injuries and was transported to the hospital. Grisham also went to the hospital.

Idaho State Police said the deputy had approximately nine years of patrol experience.

“We consider that day to be a tragedy all around,” Gardner said in the news release.

Due to the deputy being involved in the incident, the sheriff’s office “immediately recused any official involvement” with the investigation and asked the Idaho State Police to take over.

“This is a customary practice to ensure that an investigation is unbiased, independent, and free of any conflicts of interest. As is also customary, our office commenced an internal investigation, which by design requires us to wait until the criminal investigation is complete, so as to avoid interfering in that process,” Gardner said in the release.

The Madison County Prosecutor’s Office was appointed by the courts in Bingham County to act as a special prosecutor due to a conflict of interest, court records show.

Grisham’s arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 12 at 3 p.m. at the Bingham County Courthouse.

“We thank the amazing public that we serve for their patience while we have navigated this matter. We have attempted to maintain the appropriate level of transparency, while respecting due process. We offer our sincere condolences to the Beal Family and all those affected,” Gardner said.

On June 18, the same day the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals thought it was too far-fetched that a grizzly bear could be killed over a black bear bait station, news broke that a hunter had just killed a threatened grizzly bear at a bait station on national forest land near the Lower St. Joe River in Idaho.

Bait stations, which typically contain a combination of donuts, dog food, syrup, molasses, popcorn, and meat scraps, are used by ‘hunters’ to lure black bears in for an easy kill. Often the hunter will monitor their bait station with game cameras.

Idaho and Wyoming are the only states that allow bear baiting within the range of grizzly bears—and Idaho even continues to allow bear baiting in Wilderness! The Forest Service once regulated bear baiting practices on national forests, but in the 1990s, the agency ceded control to the states. At least 23 grizzly bears, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, have been killed over bait since then, including some trying to return to their historic home range in and around the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of central Idaho. Even more grizzly bears have been killed by state and federal agencies after becoming habituated to human foods.

So, back in 2019, Wilderness Watch and our allies filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Forest Service to stop the killing of grizzly bears at bait stations. While the recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling effectively ended that lawsuit, we immediately started exploring new legal options once the tragic news broke that a hunter had killed a threatened grizzly bear the very same day at a bait station on national forest land.

Even more devastating, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, “Two days prior to the incident, the hunter recorded video of the bear at the bait site and sent it to Fish and Game for review. The hunter expressed concern that the bear was a grizzly and not a black bear. Unfortunately, Fish and Game staff misidentified the young bear as a black bear because it lacked some common features of a grizzly, and shared that misidentification with the hunter.” Public records further reveal Idaho Fish and Game staff telling the hunter that “we do not need griz in the Joe.”

The next day, the hunter went out and shot the grizzly bear at the bait station.

As Dana Johnson, Wilderness Watch’s attorney and policy director, told the media, “The killing of a threatened grizzly bear at a bait station near St. Maries is tragic on so many levels. The grizzlies who set out in search of new territory are beacons of hope—they are the bears who will reestablish home ranges in places like the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and help reconnect and recover otherwise isolated and struggling grizzly bear communities. But we keep baiting and killing them. Incidents like this are tragic because they are so utterly preventable. It has to stop, and we’re not going away until it does.”

On July 15, Wilderness Watch, Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, and Friends of the Clearwater—represented by the Western Environmental Law Center—sent a notice of intent to sue the State of Idaho for violations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) over state hunting authorizations that put grizzly bears at risk.

We submitted the notice of intent to sue—a requirement of the ESA—to make sure no more threatened grizzly bears are killed at bait stations in Idaho and so grizzlies can find a safer path to reinhabiting their homelands in the Wildernesses of central Idaho. The State of Idaho has until September 13 to remedy the situation before we are able to officially file our lawsuit.

While there can be no justice for the grizzly bear killed by a ‘hunter’ over a bait pile on June 10, or any of the other grizzly bears killed over bait in recent years, Wilderness Watch will not stop exploring and exhausting all means to bring this unethical and senseless slaughter to an end.