NAMPA -- The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is refusing to step in and stop the execution of Paul Ezra Rhoades, scheduled for Friday morning. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel upheld a federal judge's Monday ruling to deny an emergency stay of execution.
As Rhoades' scheduled execution date nears, KTVB sat down with one of the lead detectives who worked on investigating, tracking down and arresting Rhoades in 1987.
'I've never seen anything more sadistic'
Up until about ten years ago, Nampa Police Detective Victor Rodriguez worked for the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office. He worked on homicide cases during the 1980s and 1990s. He was one of the lead detectives on the Paul Ezra Rhoades' case in 1987.
"I remember those cases like they were yesterday," Rodriguez said. "This case was cold blooded. I've never seen anything more sadistic than this killer, Paul Rhoades."
Rodriguez was in charge of investigating Rhoades' third victim, school teacher Susan Michelbacher. Michelbacher was abducted in a grocery store parking lot at 7 a.m. She was taken in her own van, raped, and shot to death.
The murders of Stacy Baldwin and Nolan Haddon, both convenience store clerks shot to death, were being handled by two other jurisdictions, until they all joined forces, realizing all three were connected.
"Then we all got together and decided that this has got to be the same person," Rodriguez said. "At that point that we knew we had three homicides in the community. We knew we had the same individual. We had the same suspect in each case, and what linked it up was the bullets."
Detective: Rhoades is a serial killer
Rodriguez was part of the team that arrested Rhoades a state away. Rhoades had taken his mother's car, wrecked it outside Wells, Nevada, and walked away from the crash to the casino. Inside the car were items from each of Rhoades' three victims, as well as his gun.
"Nevada Highway Patrol basically found him. Found the vehicle, found the weapon. The same bullets were in the weapon as in each of the three cases: The Haddon case, the Michelbacher case and Baldwin. We knew we had the same guy then. So everything just kind of fit in," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez and others flew to Nevada and found Rhoades playing blackjack in a casino. To this day, Rodriguez says he doesn't know why Rhoades committed the murders.
"Paul Ezra Rhoades has never talked about the murders to law enforcement," Rodriguez said. "A short statement of 'I did it.' But that's about it. No more than that."
A community that lived in fear
In failed attempts for clemency, Rhoades has told the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole he's genuinely sorry for the pain he caused victims and their families. Rodriguez says he's not sure how changed Rhoades is, even after more than two decades in prison.
"All I know is what he did in 1987, and he's in a confined institution, and he can't do what he did [then]. However, I also have a fear that if you put Paul Rhoades in the community with a gun, how would you feel? I wouldn't want that. Let alone if he's changed or not," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez says in terms of community impact, the Rhoades' case is the biggest he's handled in his career.
"Boy the community turned to being fearful, worried, taking care of each other. In fact, there were more guns bought in that area at that time by the residents for self defense, and rightfully so. They had to," Rodriguez said.
'Luckily we stopped him'
Considering the brutality of the murders, Rodriguez believes if Idaho has capital punishment on the books, the crimes Rhoades committed are what the punishment should be used for.
"If there is ever a case or an individual that deserved the death penalty, I think Paul Rhoades is that person," Rodriguez said. "Luckily we stopped him, and luckily we stopped him from harming anybody else."
Rodriguez has spoken with family members of victims recently, and he says the time leading up to the scheduled execution date has been especially difficult.
"It's emotionally terrible for the families. And it's terrible for [them] to see and remember what happened," Rodriguez said. "Now they see closure in one sense of the word, of Paul Ezra Rhoades' death. But is it really closure? I don't think so. I don't think it will ever close."
Detective: Suspicion Rhoades perhaps involved in other homicides
For the three murders Rhoades is convicted of, he's sentenced to death for Michelbacher and Baldwin's murders, to life for Haddon's murder. Rodriguez says Rhoades has also been suspected of involvement in other homicides, though he believes they are all considered cold cases now.
"After he was convicted in 1988, there was other agencies investigating him, suspicion that he was involved in other homicides in Colorado, and Utah, and Wyoming, but we never really could go any farther on those," Rodriguez said.
