Idaho woman faced only charge for missing Fruitland boy. Why was it just dropped?

FRUITLAND (Idaho Statesman) — The lone charge against an Idaho woman accused of being involved in the case of Michael Vaughan, a Fruitland boy who went missing nearly two years ago, was dismissed Monday morning.

She now faces new charges — but not for anything related to Michael’s disappearance.

Sarah Wondra, 35, of Fruitland, was arrested in November and charged with failure to report a death. Her arrest came as police excavated the backyard of the home she shared with her husband, roughly half a mile from the Vaughan family home.

The excavation did not turn up the boy’s remains, but authorities said they believed he was buried there at one point and then moved.

The charge against Wondra had been the only one filed connected to the boy’s case.

At the request of the state, Wondra’s case was dropped “without prejudice by and for the reason that based on evidence in the States possession State v. Akins, 164 Idaho 74 (2018) may be a defense,” according to court records filed Friday.

The State v. Akins case cited in court involved a body wrapped in a tarp and a shower curtain being found in Lake Coeur d’Alene. A woman was charged with failure to notify authorities of a death, but the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the state’s prosecution of that charge would violate her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

Payette County Prosecutor Mike Duke and Wondra’s defense attorney, Brett Schiller, did not immediately return the Idaho Stateman’s request for comment Monday on the dismissal.

Wondra was charged on March 23 with three felonies in a separate case: aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance and destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence.

Court documents show that on April 13, 2022, Wondra allegedly pointed a gun at the head of a guest who was staying with her and then brought the gun in a purse to her parents’ house. Wondra admitted to bringing the gun there, “because she knew she was not supposed to be in possession of a firearm,” according to an affidavit. When police responded to a 911 call about the incident, they found that she unlawfully possessed “acetaminophen/hydrocodone,” commonly sold under the brand name Vicodin.

“Sarah later admitted to having a previous prescription that was no longer valid and she kept the pills,” Benjamin Key, Fruitland police officer, wrote in the affidavit.

WHY WAS SARAH WONDRA ARRESTED IN THE MICHAEL VAUGHAN CASE?

According to a probable cause affidavit that was later sealed, police served a search warrant on the Wondra home on Nov. 11 last year based on information they received from Wondra’s husband, Stacey. It remains unclear when or why police spoke with Stacey Wondra or what he told him that prompted the excavation.

Police have offered few details about what they found. In December, they said cadaver dogs used in the excavation had alerted to the presence of human remains. Fruitland Police Chief JD Huff told reporters that police “strongly believe based on evidence that Michael was abducted and is deceased, and that his remains were buried and later moved from the property.”

In a January Facebook post, the Fruitland Police Department’s most recent update, officials said only that they found “several pieces (of) evidence” that were sent to a private lab for DNA analysis.

Sarah Wondra was at the residence when police arrived. According to the affidavit, she told an officer that God told her Stacey had killed Michael and buried the boy in a neighbor’s yard. She later backtracked, saying Stacey did not hurt the boy but had buried him in the Wondras’ backyard, the court document said.

Wondra also told police that someone identified in the affidavit only as Adrian “had been the one that had done it, and he was scared to tell anybody.” Police later announced that they were looking for Adrien Lucienne, of Toledo, Ohio, and Brandon Shurtliff, of Kuna, saying they believed the men had “first-hand knowledge of Michael’s abduction.”

Neither man has been charged in the case; nor has Stacey Wondra.

Soon after her arrest, Wondra was declared mentally unfit to proceed in court and sent to a mental health facility to have her competency restored.