Idaho man indicted for abducting wife before deadly crash

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho man accused of abducting and stabbing his ex-wife and then causing a fatal crash in eastern Oregon has been indicted by an Oregon grand jury.

Anthony Montwheeler, 49, was indicted Thursday by a Malheur County jury on felony charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping and assault. Montwheeler is currently hospitalized in Boise, The Idaho Statesman reported (http://bit.ly/2j7TJ4o ). Information on Montwheeler’s injuries and condition has not been publicly released.

He is accused of kidnapping and killing Annita Harmon, who divorced him in 2015, killing David Bates, the driver of an SUV Montwheeler’s truck struck on an Oregon highway on Monday and seriously injuring a passenger in that SUV.

The passenger in the SUV is listed as in good condition at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.

Police in Ontario, Oregon, were chasing Montwheeler’s pickup after being alerted that a woman was being held against her will and had been stabbed. It is not yet clear if Harmon died from stab wounds or the crash impact.

Bates and the surviving victim were driving north toward Ontario when Montwheeler’s southbound truck crossed the center line and hit them.

Montwheeler and Harmon had co-owned a scrap-metal business based in Weiser, Idaho. They were convicted of first-degree theft in 2012 after underpaying an elderly couple by more than $10,000.

Montwheeler was sentenced to two years in prison and his wife was sentenced to 16 months in prison.

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Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com