BOISE, Idaho — Former President Jimmy Carter’s death has prompted a wave of heartfelt tributes from Idaho leaders and lawmakers today. The Georgia native was praised for many things, among them: battling inflation, reestablishing faith in the government, and working tirelessly for Habitat for Humanity after his time in the Oval Office.

According to the Carter Center, he was surrounded by family when he passed away peacefully inside his home in Plains, Georgia today.

Here is what some prominent heads of state had to say about the former president and peanut farmer.

Brad Little: Governor, Idaho

Jim Risch – Senator, Idaho

Mike Simpson – Congressman, Idaho

Idaho Democratic Party

IDAHO FALLS – Richard Leavitt’s face appeared relaxed, though his feet and fingers were fidgeting, as he entered the execution chamber on a gurney at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna.

It was around 10 a.m. on June 12, 2012. The 53-year-old Blackfoot man had been convicted 27 years earlier of murdering 31-year-old Danette Elg. In reports from the Associated Press, prosecutors said Leavitt stabbed Elg repeatedly at her home and then cut out her sex organs.

After years of appeals, Leavitt’s death warrant had been signed. He was now moments away from being the state’s second prisoner to be executed in seven months and the third since 1994.

RELATED | Idaho’s first lethal injection execution happened 30 years ago. A look back at it and other death penalty cases.

Leavitt’s final appeal to stay the execution had been denied the night before, according to an old news report. His final meal consisted of baked chicken, french fries, and milk.

Now, six correctional officers, wearing surgical masks and black baseball caps, lifted Leavitt off the gurney and strapped him to the execution table.

“A few stood at attention while the others secured Leavitt to the table he would die on,” the Idaho Press Tribune reported. “He spoke to the officers as they worked, the words inaudible behind the soundproof glass, and they nodded in reply.”

Idaho Press Tribune reporter John Funk was one of four media representatives in attendance that day. It was the first time the media had been allowed to witness an execution in its entirety.

His account of what happened indicates a faint scent of antiseptic filled the room as the medical team prepared the lethal dosage of three drugs that would kill him. They attached a blood pressure monitor and EKG sensors to his chest and stomach. The room was silent as they inserted IV tubes into Leavitt’s arm and carried out what they’d rehearsed twice over the weekend with “military precision.”

Leavitt shook his head when asked if he wanted to make a final statement and did not ask to see a spiritual advisor.

After the warden read the death warrant aloud, the execution proceeded.

“Leavitt visibly swallowed and adjusted his head on the table. Over the next several seconds, his breathing became increasingly shallow, then stopped altogether,” the Press Tribune reported.

At 10:25 a.m., Ada County Coroner Erwin Sonnenburg officially declared Leavitt was dead.

“Justice was done today,” Bingham County Prosecutor Tom Moss, who passed away in 2018 at age 80, told reporters at the time.

“I am grateful that we have four media witnesses here to tell you what they saw. Our goal was to make this as professional as possible with dignity and respect, and I believe we met that mark,” Idaho Dept. of Corrections Director Brent Reinke added later.

This year marks the 12th anniversary of Leavitt’s death and the last time a prisoner was executed in the Gem State. It’s also the third consecutive execution involving prisoners from the eastern side of the state.

RELATED | Idaho executed Richard Leavitt in 2012 after Blackfoot killing. His two sons have a history of rape convictions.

Ten months after the failed execution of Thomas Creech — Idaho’s longest-serving death row prisoner who would’ve been the state’s 30th execution to date — we thought it was worth looking back at Idaho’s most recent capital punishment case.

RELATED | Idaho prisoner Thomas Creech’s execution delayed. Federal judge says he’ll issue stay

Leavitt’s background

Stu Robinson, a retired private detective from Twin Falls was the lead investigator on this case. He was a detective with the Blackfoot Police Department at the time and tells EastIdahoNews.com Leavitt was well known to police even before the crime happened.

“He hung around here. He was a cop groupie,” Robinson explains. “His uncle was a reserve fireman. He had a tow truck and would tow cars from crash scenes. Everybody knew Rick.”

Robinson says Leavitt had a police scanner and frequently listened to scanner traffic.

As far as Robinson remembers, Leavitt had a normal upbringing. His dad, Boyd Leavitt, worked for a towing company and was pretty quiet, Robinson says. His mom, Marjorie, was the leader in the family. Both have since passed away, according to genealogical records.

Despite having a yonger brother who was normal and productive, Robinson says Leavitt was a “psychotic” individual who had a morbid curiosity with sex and death. He’s at a loss to explain where that came from.

Two witnesses, one of whom was his ex-wife, corroborated this fact during the trial.

“Leavitt’s ex-wife told the court that she witnessed Leavitt playing with the female sexual organs of a deer during a hunting trip. A former mistress of Leavitt also testified that she saw Leavitt playing with a knife while having sex with her and indicated that Leavitt did so to increase his sexual satisfaction,” one report says.

Robinson says Leavitt raped multiple women before murdering Elg. The cases never went to trial because Leavitt threatened the victims. Police also believed he was responsible for killing a baby at one point.

A murder with no motive

Available information about Elg’s murder indicates she was an acquaintance of Leavitt’s, and there was no motive behind her death.

On July 16, 1984, Elg reportedly called police after an intruder tried to break into her home. The intruder, which she believed was Leavitt, cut the window screen on her door.

Two days later, while Elg was asleep in her bedroom, 25-year-old Leavitt entered her house and stabbed her 15 times. The stab wounds were particularly heinous, according to the medical report.

“One of the stab wounds penetrated Elg’s right lung, another went through the right side of her heart, and a third cut through her left lung,” the report says. “The other wounds also penetrated her stomach, chest cavity, and neck. One of the knife wounds was so deep that it went through Elg’s eye and reached her brain.”

After Elg was dead or nearly dead, Leavitt then sexually mutilated her.

Three days later, Robinson and his wife were on their way to see “Conan the Barbarian,” when he got a call about the homicide.

He recalls it being a “horrific” scene when he got there.

“She (Elg) had been sleeping in a water bed (when the attack happened),” Robinson says. “The water bed had been cut, so her body was laying in water, which made it even worse.”

It was Leavitt who initially reported the murder under a different name, according to historical records. To try and cover his tracks, he reported to law enforcement that she was missing.

“He claimed that co-workers and Elg’s employer had contacted him after she did not show up for work, but no records showed that these callers had contacted Leavitt. After the murder, Blackfoot police received two phone calls from someone sharing information believed to be known only to the murderer. Leavitt was the one who made these phone calls, but he identified himself as ‘Mike Jenkins.’ The police were unable to trace any individual with this name,” a record of the case says.

Robinson doesn’t remember how long the investigation lasted, but according to KTVB, it lasted for months.

Robinson recalls being under lots of pressure to solve the crime.

“People were pretty upset,” he says. “Blackfoot was a lot smaller back then. This was a really bad murder and people were concerned. They wanted someone arrested.”

Eventually, Leavitt was linked as a suspect and taken into custody.

The trial got underway in July 1985.

At one point, Robinson says they had DNA evidence linking Leavitt to the crime scene. His blood was on a pair of shorts in her room.

“He claimed he had been at her house for another reason and that his nose was bleeding,” says Robinson.

Robinson remembers telling Leavitt to push for a close investigation of the evidence to help clear his name, but he wouldn’t agree to it.

“Rick was in an interview with his attorneys and his mom. It got so heated, you could hear Rick screaming at his mom. He wanted to take the deal. He said, ‘Mom, if I don’t take this deal, they’re going to kill me.’ She didn’t want him to take it, so he didn’t.”

He later changed his story and said he cut his finger on a fan, according to court records.

On Sept. 25, 1985, a jury found Leavitt guilty of first-degree murder. Three months later, on Dec. 19, District Judge H. Reynold George sentenced him to death.

His execution was originally scheduled for March 28, 1986, but was postponed. Leavitt spent the next 23 years appealing his sentence. His death penalty was overturned more than once.

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down his final appeal on June 11, 2012 — the night before his execution.

The aftermath

Decades later, the murder of Danette Elg remains one of the worst crimes to happen in Blackfoot. In 2012, Prosecutor Tom Moss told KTVB it was “the ugliest crime” he had ever seen and that “what Leavitt did to Danette Elg is an image” he will never forget.

Elg’s neighbor, Joyce Brown, said it struck fear in the community and she called it a “tragic situation.”

In a press conference following Leavitt’s execution, Funk noted Elg’s sister, Valynn Mathie, witnessed the death and nodded silently after it had been carried out.

“I don’t know what she was thinking, but I kind of interpreted that as kind of a solemn approval for what was going on,” Funk said.

Mathie and her family issued a statement that day, expressing gratitude that justice had been served so that closure could finally take place.

“We express thanks to everyone who has labored faithfully to uphold the laws of Idaho so that justice and retribution may be served. Closure is now possible for those of us who have lived with the horror of Danette’s murder constantly overshadowing the joyful memories of her life. As family and friends of Danette, we never have to think of Richard Leavitt again. Our memories can now focus on the brief time she was here sharing our lives and the joy of loving her.”

The following is a news release and photos from the Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game.

IDAHO FALLS – From two catfish records broken less than three weeks apart (by the same angler) to one of the “smallest” state record fish ever caught in Idaho, it’s time to wrap up the top “big fish” stories from 2024.

In total, 2024 had 7 new state records, which included 4 certified-weight records, and 3 new catch-and-release records. Making the cut this year are the following angler trophy stories.

Channel 2

Lucas Barnett knew he had hauled up a monster channel catfish on Oct. 7, 2024, a 34 ¼-inch tank that had been calling Caldwell’s Rotary Pond home for quite some time. Lucas was so confident that the fat cat might wind up being the new state catch-and-release record that he submitted the state record application later that day.

Before State Sportfish Coordinator Martin Koenig could even process the Oct. 7 application, he received another telegram from the same angler—this time reporting an even larger 37 ½-inch channel catfish from the same pond caught on Nov. 1.

Amazingly enough, both records would have put Lucas at the top of the state catch-and-release record board, edging out the previous record-holder by an inch or two. But, it was the second catfish that ultimately solidified his name in the record books.

Tiger King

In yet another incredulous record fish story that passed torches in a matter of weeks, Montpelier resident Austin Christensen capped off his June 1st fishing trip with a 27 ¼-inch tiger trout. (For those unfamiliar, a tiger trout is a sterile hybrid between a brown trout and a brook trout.) Christensen was fishing his home waters of Montpelier Reservoir when he landed the 9.13-pound trout, clinching a new certified weight state record.

Funny enough, Christensen’s tiger trout snuffed out fellow Montpelier resident Tyson Lutz’s record tiger trout…which had been caught just 15 days earlier. Lutz had hauled in his 8.3-pounder on May 17 from, you guessed it, Montpelier Reservoir.

Tiger trout were introduced to Montpelier Reservoir in 2016 and can be found in a few select places across Idaho. You can find stocking information using the Idaho Fishing Planner and learn more about state record fish here.

It’s a beaut, Clark

Westslope cutthroat trout are found in rivers (and some lakes) primarily throughout central and northern Idaho. They rarely exceed 20 inches, making Daniel Whitesitt’s April 13 catch a memorable one.

Whitesitt, of Post Falls, landed a new catch-and-release state record for Westslope cutthroat trout while fishing the Clark Fork River in northern Idaho. After landing the fish, Daniel recorded the required measurements and photos to document the fish’s impressive length before releasing the trout to fight another day.

At 25 inches long, the Daniel’s fish eclipsed the previous record of 24 inches set by Madison Nackos in 2021 from nearby Priest Lake.

Cutthroat trout are Idaho’s state fish, and the Westslope cutties are one of three subspecies native to the state, along with the Bonneville and Yellowstone cutthroat trout. If you’re looking for a little cutthroat inspiration, check out these cool native trout in this new short film, A Cutthroat Story.

The smallest state record ‘big fish’

Here we go again with another Westslope cutthroat trout story, but this time it was tipping scales the other way.

Chubbuck angler Spencer Smith was wetting a line up at Alpine Creek Lake #14 in the Sawtooth Mountains, enjoying a warm, August day with little to no hopes of hooking anything record-worthy.

Now, before you accuse me of hot-spotting this one, Alpine Lake #14 isn’t your neighborhood fishing pond. You won’t find a parking lot, vault toilet, or even a campground for miles. This alpine mountain like is like many other lakes found in the Sawtooth Mountains—remote, charming, and holding mountain cutthroats.

However, it happened to be Spencer Smith’s luck that fine August day when he hooked what he immediately thought might be a contender for a state certified-weight record Westslope cutthroat trout.

While this trout’s size may not be impressive, the effort needed to certify it as a record sure it. Smith successful in reeling in the 11-inch cutthroat, but then proceeded to pack the fish out of the mountains and had it weight at a certified scale near his home in Pocatello.

When the record application got dropped on Fish and Game Sportfish Coordinator Koenig’s desk later that week, the 0.56-pound fish marked the first Westslope cutthroat trout that made it into the certified-weight record books since 2016 when Fish and Game started keeping separate records for each sub-species (Westslope, Bonneville, Yellowstone cutthroat trout).

“Back in 2016, we overhauled the State Record Fish Program and started awarding catch-and-release records, but we also made other changes,” said Koenig. “One of those included making separate categories for each of the cutthroat trout sub-species. Westslope cutthroat are catch and release in most places, so it took a while before we got a certified-weight record application for a Westslope cutthroat trout.”

Checking records in real-time

Idaho’s list of certified weight state records is printed yearly in the Idaho Fishing Seasons and Regulations booklet, but a current list is available online. Catch-and-release records are now only updated online to reflect the most current status.

Anglers can also scan the QR code found on the State Record Fish page in the regulations booklet with their mobile phones to see up-to-date info on record fish. See Page 68 of the new 2025-2027 regulations book or check out the State Record Fish webpage for details and how to apply!

With anglers breaking records left and right, Fish and Game staff are working to keep state record information accessible and current.