Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour the two wanted men from Idaho have been captured and are suspected of killing two people during their prison escape
According to police reports Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour planned a prison break from a hospital in which Skylar was being treated when Nicholas would open fire in the emergency room which allowed Meade to escape. Three Idaho correctional officers would be shot and wounded
Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour would make their way to Northern Idaho where police believe they would murder two men in two different counties
Skylar Meade was serving a twenty year prison sentence at the time of the escape
Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour would be taken into custody where they face a host of charges
Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour News
An escaped inmate and his alleged accomplice, both members of a white supremacist gang, were arrested in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Thursday afternoon after a massive manhunt.
Inmate Skylar Meade escaped from a medical center in Boise early Wednesday morning after Nicholas Umphenour allegedly opened fire on corrections officers who were taking Meade back to prison.
The suspects were located in the Twin Falls area at around 2 p.m. local time Thursday, Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar said at a news conference. After a short vehicle pursuit, the suspects were taken into custody separately. No shots were fired.
Two homicides committed in the last 24 hours in Idaho are being investigated as possibly linked to the suspects, Idaho State Police Lt. Colonel Sheldon Kelley said. The suspects were found driving a Honda Civic that police said belonged to one of the victims.
The homicide victims, both men, were discovered in separate counties — one in Nez Perce and one in Clearwater, the city of Boise disclosed in a press release Thursday afternoon
Once Umphenour was identified as a potential suspect, investigators looked into his connections to Meade, Josh Tewalt, director of the state’s Department of Correction, said at Thursday’s conference
In addition to both being documented members of the white supremacist gang the Aryan Knights, the two men had both periodically lived in the same housing unit in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, where Umphenour was in custody from December 2020 to January 2024, officials said. They also shared common acquaintances both in and out of custody.
Tewalt said that the suspects’ gang involvement didn’t necessarily indicate that the escape was a “gang-sanctioned event,” adding that the department was monitoring the Aryan Knights in prison “to mitigate the damage that gangs can do.”
“Independent of their actions, we work hard every day to try and disrupt any organized criminal activity that happens in our facilities,” Tewalt said Thursday.
“Law enforcement believes the capture was successful due to the hundreds of tips from the public and the multiple responding law enforcement agencies,” the city of Boise said in its press release
Meade engaged in “self-injurious” behavior Tuesday night, after which officers determined he needed to be transferred off-site for care, Tewalt said on Wednesday.
Umphenour attacked and fired at two officers at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center at around 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. A third person, later determined to be a corrections officer, was shot by responding Boise police officers.
One of the injured corrections officers was released from the hospital Wednesday evening, while the two other injured officers remain hospitalized, Tewalt said Thursday.
“They are stable, improving, and I think with today’s news their spirits are lifted,” Tewalt said, calling the incident a “tough ordeal for corrections family.”
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Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour More News
The escaped convict and alleged accomplice sought in an Idaho manhunt are now accused of killing two people while they were on the run, authorities said Thursday.
Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour were arrested after being accused of an ambush and shooting at a hospital Wednesday that injured three officers, Boise police said at a press conference.
Boise Police Department Chief Ron Winegar said the two are considered suspects in two northern Idaho homicides of two men who were found dead “rural Idaho, not inside of city limits.”
Officers also found the handcuffs Meade escaped in at the scene.
Police found the vehicle Meade and Umphenour used to escape in northern Idaho, the chief said. He added that the duo fled the area in a different vehicle.
“The motive and why they did what they did, I don’t know,” Winegar said.
Meade fled the Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, about three miles west of the state capital’s downtown area, before two state corrections officers prepared to take him back to prison. Umphenour opened fire in front of the emergency room early Wednesday morning, the Boise Police Department reported.
Meade is a convicted felon who escaped serving a 20-year prison sentence for assault or battery with an enhancement for use of a deadly weapon from a 2017 shooting, IDOC records show. While fleeing from a traffic stop amidst a police chase, he fired several shots at a law enforcement officer.
Meade, who officials described as a white supremacist gang member, also had prior convictions from felony possession of a controlled substance and grand theft to introduction of contraband into a correctional facility. His incarceration began in October 2016 with his most recent sentence set to end in 2036.
Umphenour is considered an Meade’s accomplice and associate, detectives said
Police did not release Umphenour’s age or clarify whether he has a local criminal history.