HAILEY, Idaho (AP) - Court records say a central Idaho man accused of killing a neighbor and hiding the body told officers he acted in self-defense.
Forty-nine-year-old Keith Eric Blankenship of Hailey was charged with second-degree murder and concealing evidence Thursday in the slaying of 47-year-old Steve Michael Romanchuk.
A Blaine County sheriff’s report says Romanchuk’s wife reported her husband missing in January. She said he had lent money to a neighbor and later confronted him over the loan.
The report says after initially denying knowing Romanchuk or receiving money from him, Blankenship told a deputy on Wednesday he killed a man in self-defense and buried him in his backyard.
The Times-News reports (bit.ly/1lwWKUy) detectives taking video outside of Blankenship’s home Thursday came upon a pile of dead leaves with partially exposed human remains.
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Information from: The Times-News, https://www.magicvalley.com
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