A look back at some original reporting on the bizarre Kaneko case that rocked Rexburg in the mid-2000s

IDAHO FALLS — Many people in eastern Idaho have never heard of the Kaneko case. A smart man with a brilliant wife and daughter who seemed to be living a normal life…until they weren’t.

Laura and Lorraine Kaneko starved themselves to death and David Kaneko lived with their dead bodies in a Rexburg trailer for years. Investigators were finally able to get inside the trailer in 2004 and what they found was shocking — and puzzling.

Investigators determined that Laura died first – likely in May or June of 2001. Her cause of death was dehydration and possibly starvation, according to forensic pathologist Dr. William Rodriguez. Lorraine, who died a year or so before her body was found, starved to death.

David was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of abandoning a vulnerable adult, and desertion and nonsupport of a spouse. He was sentenced to four to six years in prison with a six-month mental health rider program. He was then released on five-year probation and spent the next 11 years living in the same trailer home where Lorraine and Laura had died. He died of cancer on June 3, 2016, at the age of 76.

The case will be featured Friday night on ‘Tell Me How I Died’ on A&E.

EastIdahoNews.com reporter Nate Eaton covered the story extensively from 2006-2008 when he was a brand new journalist at KIDK Channel 3. You can watch some of his reporting in the video player above.