Officials identify 2 men killed in Idaho gas station explosion

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Authorities have identified two people killed when a gas station exploded and started a fire in a remote Idaho town last week.

The Clearwater County Sheriff's Office said Brandon Cook, 53, of Orofino and Wesley Lineberry, 62, of Pierce were both killed in the explosion at the Atkinson Distributing station in Cardiff on Sept. 11.

Two others were badly burned in the explosion and subsequent fire, and they remained hospitalized on Wednesday. Separate GoFundMe pages identified the injured as fuel tanker driver Donny Billeter and gas station attendant Roxann Hubbs.

A fuel tanker semi truck was in the process of filling the above-ground tanks at the station when the explosion happened just after 3 p.m., said Idaho State Fire Marshal Knute Sandahl. The blast destroyed the tanker and sent debris including truck parts, piping, pieces of the tank and chunks from the gas station building flying across an area about the size of a city block, Sandahl said.

Both the tanker truck driver and the gas station attendant were near the truck when the explosion occurred. The bodies of Lineberry and Cook were found just outside the gas station, but investigators have not yet confirmed if they were inside or outside the building when the disaster began, Sandahl said.

It's not yet clear what caused the explosion, Sandahl said, and the National Transportation Safety Board and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are assisting in the investigation.

“We're digging deep and it's just going to take some time,” said Sandahl. “I'm hoping we'll have something a little bit more definitive to release in October sometime.”

Some nearby buildings were also damaged by the explosion and fire, and the remaining fuel at the site has been an obstacle for investigators. A regional hazardous materials response team was called in to help mitigate the danger.

Gas station explosions are rare, Sandahl said.

“In my 19 years of being a state fire marshal here in Idaho, this is the first incident I'm aware of,” he said.

Offloading — the process of moving fuel from a tanker truck to a station's storage tanks — increases the risk somewhat but is still typically a very safe process because the drivers follow specific procedures, he said.

“Quite honestly, I think the most dangerous thing is fueling up your vehicle while smoking or filling plastic gas cans in the back of your pickup truck,” which increases the risk of sparks from static electricity, Sandahl said. “As we know from high school chemistry, it's actually the fumes that are volatile, and if there is a spark introduced, it can cause a problem."

This photo provided by U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was taken in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2024, explosion and fire at a gas station in the small mountain community of Cardiff, Idaho. (U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives via AP)

This photo provided by U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was taken in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2024, explosion and fire at a gas station in the small mountain community of Cardiff, Idaho. (U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives via AP)

This photo provided by the Idaho State Fire Marshal’s Office taken on Sept. 13, 2024, shows the aftermath of the Sept. 11, explosion and fire at a gas station in the small mountain community of Cardiff, Idaho. (Idaho State Fire Marshal’s Office via AP)

This photo provided by the Idaho State Fire Marshal’s Office taken on Sept. 13, 2024, shows the aftermath of the Sept. 11, explosion and fire at a gas station in the small mountain community of Cardiff, Idaho. (Idaho State Fire Marshal’s Office via AP)

This photo provided by the Idaho Transportation Department shows the fire that occurred after a gas station exploded as a fuel tanker was filling the above-ground tanks on Sept. 11, 2024, in Cardiff, Idaho. (Idaho Transportation Department via AP)

PHOENIX (AP) — Closing arguments began Monday afternoon at the Arizona trial for Lori Vallow Daybell, the Idaho woman with doomsday religious beliefs who’s charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband in suburban Phoenix.

Vallow Daybell, who isn’t a lawyer but has chosen to defend herself, didn't call any witnesses or put on any evidence in her defense. Jurors heard testimony from prosecution witnesses for seven days.

She is accused of conspiring with her brother, Alex Cox, to kill Charles Vallow at her home in Chandler in 2019 so she could collect money from his life insurance policy and marry her then-boyfriend Chad Daybell, an Idaho author who wrote several religious novels about prophecies and the end of the world.

Prosecutor Treena Kay told the jury in her closing argument that was the motive behind the crime: “Chad and money."

Cox, who claimed he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Vallow, died five months later from what medical examiners said was a blood clot in his lungs. Cox’s account was later called into question.

Kay said Cox waited 47 minutes before calling 911 after the shooting “to stage the scene." The jury on Monday also listened to a recorded conversation between Vallow Daybell and the life insurance company.

In the recording, Vallow Daybell says that Vallow had been shot and that “it was an accident.”

Vallow Daybell has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, she would face a life sentence without the possibility of release until serving at least 25 years.

In her opening statement, Vallow Daybell had said during the encounter inside the house, Vallow chased her with a bat, and Alex shot Vallow in self-defense after she left the house.

She has already been convicted in Idaho of killing her two youngest children and conspiring to murder a romantic rival, for which she was sentenced to life in prison.

Last week at the Arizona trial, Adam Cox, another brother of Vallow Daybell, testified on behalf of the prosecution, telling jurors that he had no doubt that Vallow Daybell and his brother Alex were behind Vallow's death.

Adam Cox said Vallow’s killing occurred just before he and Vallow were planning an intervention to bring Vallow Daybell back into the mainstream of their shared faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He testified that before Vallow’s death, his sister had told people her husband was no longer living and that a zombie was living inside his body.

Four months before he died, Charles Vallow filed for divorce from Vallow Daybell, saying she had become infatuated with near-death experiences and had claimed to have lived numerous lives on other planets. He alleged she threatened to ruin him financially and kill him. He sought a voluntary mental health evaluation of his wife.

The trial over Vallow’s death will mark the first of two criminal trials in Arizona for Vallow Daybell. She’s scheduled to go on trial again in early June on a charge of conspiring to murder Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell’s niece, Melani Pawlowski.

Maricopa County Superior Court building shown, Monday, April 21, 2025, in Phoenix, where the Arizona murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell who's charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband, is being held. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The assembled media are set up for live shots in front of Maricopa County Courthouse where the murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, who is charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband, is being held Monday, April 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Colby Ryan arrives at Maricopa County Superior Court for the murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, his mother, who's charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Monday, April 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)