Ashley Midby & Jared Murphy dead in murder suicide. Idaho mayoral candidate & woman believed to be romantically involved found dead at Bellevue coffee shop.
An Idaho cop running to be a mayor and a woman who manages a local coffee shop were found shot dead in a suspected murder-suicide last week.
Jared Murphy, 28, a police officer running to be mayor of Bellevue, and 34-year-old Ashley Midby died of gunshot wounds last Thursday at a cafe on the city’s Main Street, police told the Idaho State Journal.
Midby managed Coffee Corner, where they were both found deceased.
Investigators did not reveal who they believe the murderer is, but said it appears the two knew each other. Not immediately clear is the dynamics of how the two were ’involved’.
Of note, a 2019 comment on a Facebook photo of them describes them as a ‘gorgeous couple.’
Mystery motive
Murphy, a police officer in the nearby city of Hailey, unsuccessfully ran to be Bellevue’s mayor in 2018 according to the report.
Just days before the shooting, Murphy debated mayoral issues at a local forum for candidates. He argued that face masks should be a personal choice, the Idaho Mountain Express reported.
‘Our deepest condolences go out to the friends, coworkers, certainly the families, and all those so painfully impacted by this extreme tragedy,’ Hailey Mayor Martha Burke told local outlet KTVB-TV. ‘The loss of young life pains us all, and we, with the entire local community, deeply grieve these losses.’
The City of Hailey said in a press release that it is ‘overwhelmingly saddened to learn that a Hailey Police Officer was involved in an incident that is under investigation by Idaho State Police,’ according to Idaho News 6.
A GoFundMe page was set up to help raise money for Midby’s family. As of Wednesday night, nearly $7,000 of a $25K goal was donated.
No known motive for the apparent murder suicide was immediately known.
