Sheriff Pursues Person Of Interest After Body Found In Motel Crawl Space
The Cassia County Sheriff’s Office now has a homicide investigation on its hands.
A body was found in a crawl space under the Alpine Garden Inn in downtown Burley on Friday, and an autopsy completed Monday revealed that the man was former inn employee Russ Taft, 54.
The autopsy showed that Taft died of blunt force trauma to the head and a stab wound to the heart. Sheriff Randy Kidd said he was unrecognizable when he was found, and local people said they are not taking any chances.
Ronda Clark works at the cosmetology school just across the street from the Alpine Garden Inn. She said the school just installed video cameras for the parking lot that will cover all around the building. The cameras do make her feel safer, but she said it’s more of a precautionary measure than anything.
“It (doesn’t) really scare me because I think it was related to something that they were obviously involved in. We don’t really have a lot to do with the people over there,” Clark said.
Kidd said this does look like an isolated incident, and they have several police agencies actively pursuing a person of interest: James Duane Ambrose, also a former inn employee.
“I’ve seen several homicides in my career here in Burley. This one is a little unique that they were working together and the first thing we knew they were both missing,” Kidd said.
Ambrose was last seen on May 7 in Las Vegas, where he has warrants out for kidnapping, robbery, burglary, battery and grand larceny. He has one warrant out in Cassia County for grand theft.
“I’m confident there will be another warrant being issued. What the charge will be I don’t know yet, but I’m confident there will be another warrant coming out,” Kidd said.
Clark said despite the cameras, murder — whether it’s at the Alpine Garden Inn or anywhere else — is still disturbing.
“It scares you. It’s never nice whether it’s a big city or a little town,” Clark said.
People with any information about Ambrose’s whereabouts can call the Cassia County Sheriff’s Office at 208-878-9313.
