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POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) — An eastern Idaho judge has ordered a Pocatello man accused of killing a 25-year-old woman a decade ago to be held in the Bannock County Jail without bail.
The Idaho State Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1qPw0E6) that 39-year-old Brad Scott Compher appeared via video from the jail and looked confused during the hearing Thursday in 6th District Court, expressing concern about missing work.
Compher, also known as Ralph Roy Compher, is charged with first-degree murder. He was arrested Wednesday after police said DNA evidence and a fingerprint linked him to the killing of Nori Jones. Her body was discovered Sept. 28, 2004, in her home by co-workers when she didn't report for work.
Bannock County Prosecutor Steve Herzog says he might seek the death penalty.
Jones had moved to Pocatello in 1999 and worked for the Job Service, which is now called the Idaho Department of Labor. At the time of her death she was engaged to be married.
Jones had been renting the home and lived alone. Police said she had been brutally stabbed and suffered defensive wounds as well as the fatal injuries.
Judge Robert Naftz told Compher there would be no bail, and he would meet with Bannock County Public Defender Randy Schulthies on Friday.
"Please do not speak to anyone about the case," Schulthies told Compher via the video connection.
Schulthies didn't return a call from The Associated Press on Friday.
Police said Compher became a person of interest in 2010 after the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification produced a positive hit. That system is shared by police departments nationwide and the FBI and CIA. Police said the hit came from a fingerprint found at the crime scene.
Herzog, the prosecutor, declined on Friday to speak in detail about the case that's still being investigated. He also told the AP he couldn't comment specifically about why there was a span of four years between the fingerprint hit and Compher's arrest.
"A fingerprint is one thing, and connecting evidence gathered at the scene in '04 to the person the fingerprint is connected with is not always an easy thing to do," he said. "The case is based on DNA evidence to a large part. The technology has come a long ways."
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Information from: Idaho State Journal, http://www.journalnet.com
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