A man pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and murder of an 11-year-old paper girl who was abducted in June as she collected from customers.
James Edward Wood, 45, also pleaded guilty Tuesday to the rapes of two teenage girls during the last year.Prosecutor Mark Hiedeman said he will seek the death penalty at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 7. He said would use acts committed on the body after the murder as evidence of depravity.
The body of Jeralee Underwood, a carrier for the Idaho State Journal, was found eight days after her disappearance, along the Snake River 50 miles north of Pocatello. She had been shot in the head.
Wood pleaded guilty partly to avoid having details about the case become public and to spare the girl's family the ordeal of a trial, said public defender Monte Whittier.
Candidates shift
in commission race
FARMINGTON - Three more candidates have filed and one has withdrawn, leaving the Davis County Republican Party with 17 names to sift through as it picks three nominees to fill the empty seat on the county commission.
The party's central committee meets Thursday night to interview the candidates and will compile a list of three nominees to submit to the remaining two commissioners, Gayle Stevenson and J. Dell Holbrook.
The party is filling the vacancy created by the August death of Commissioner Gerald Purdy.
The three candidates that submitted letters of intent Tuesday, the filing deadline, include former county school board member Sheryl Allen, along with Dean Steele and Don Peterson. Scott Nelson withdrew his name.