GUILTY ID - Steve Romanchuk, 47, Hailey, 15 Jan 2014

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http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2007150872&var_Year=2006&var_Month=07&var_Day=28#.UwdeJ4XwPgs

Stephan Michael Romanchuk was last seen or heard from in the area on Jan. 15.
“We have no information on his whereabouts,” said sheriff’s Lt. Bryan Carpita. “We haven’t ruled out anything; whether he was just trying to disappear or whether there was foul play. He’s just missing.”
Carpita said investigators have been contacting anyone who knows Romanchuk but no one seems to know where he is or why he is missing.
“There’s just nothing pointing into any direction as to why he’s missing,” Carpita said.
Romanchuk was self-employed providing snow-removal service and cleaning services for local grocery stores.
Carpita said Romanchuk has lived in the area for about a year and that he moved here from Coeur d’Alene.
Romanchuk has no court record in Idaho. Carpita noted that there were financial problems because of a slowdown in business.

The Idaho Missing Persons Clearinghouse, maintained by Idaho State Police, describes him as 5 feet, 10 inches in height, weighing 165 pounds and with brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information regarding Romanchuk is asked to contact the sheriff’s office at (208) 788-5555.
 
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2007150956#.UwddvYXwPgs

A dark maroon 1997 Chevrolet pickup that was last known to be driven by a Hailey man who has been missing since Jan. 15 was found over the weekend in the employee parking lot at Sun Valley Resort.

Blaine County Sheriff Gene Ramsey said Wednesday that no clues have yet been discovered to help police determine the whereabouts of 47-year-old Stephan Romanchuk. The sheriff said the vehicle has now been impounded while investigators await forensic analyses by specialists from the Idaho State Police crime laboratory.

The sheriff said forensic specialists will be looking for fingerprints, biological evidence or anything else that might provide information on what has happened to Romanchuk.

“Since his disappearance, this is the first evidence we’ve found,” Ramsey said. Regarding the appearance of the vehicle, Ramsey said: “There’s nothing obvious and nothing out of ordinary, but you have to investigate it as if it is a crime.”
 
http://www.kxly.com/news/northwest/human-remains-found-in-missing-man-case/26016480

Police say they found human remains in a pile of leaves in the backyard of a central Idaho resident who is now charged with second-degree murder.

Forty-nine-year-old Keith Eric Blankenship of Hailey was charged Thursday in 5th District Court. Bail is set at $500,000.

Authorities say Blankenship went to the Blaine County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday and told detectives he hadn't been truthful when previously questioned about the disappearance of 47-year-old Steve Michael Romanchuk of Hailey.
 
http://www.mtexpress.com/vu_breaking_story.php?bid=99931#.U3ZOrigqWAA

A second felony charge of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence has been filed against a 49-year-old Hailey man who has been charged with second degree murder in the death of a Hailey man who had been missing since Jan. 15.

Keith Eric Blankenship remained incarcerated this morning in the Blaine County jail on $500,000 bond. He was formally charged with both felonies late Thursday afternoon at an initial court appearance in Blaine County Magistrate Court. Judge R. Ted Israel assigned the Roark Law Firm of Hailey as public defender and scheduled a preliminary hearing for 9 a.m. on May 29...

Blaine County Coroner Russell Mikel said this morning that the body has been transported to the Ada County Coroner's Office in Boise where an autopsy was underway. Mikel said the body had yet to be positively identified as that of Romanchuk. Also, Mikel said a cause of death had not yet been determined.
 
http://www.mtexpress.com/vu_breaking_story.php?bid=99935#.U3pIpCgqWAA

Blaine County Sheriff Gene Ramsey said this morning that a Hailey man who was missing for four months before his body was found last week died of multiple gunshot wounds, mainly to the torso.

"As many as five," said Ramsey, explaining that two forensic pathologists are examining evidence from an autopsy on 47-year-old Stephan Michael Romanchuk. Ramsey said that no bullet fragments were found in the body and that indications are that Romanchuk was killed with a high-caliber handgun...

Blankenship remains incarcerated this morning in the Blaine County jail on $500,000 bond.
 
Blankenship murder trial set to begin next week

http://www.mtexpress.com/news/cops_courts/blankenship-murder-trial-set-to-begin-next-week/article_1f89033c-fd0b-11e5-85f7-d3ee9a26ff42.html

The trial of accused murderer Keith Blankenship is set to begin Tuesday as prosecution and defense attorneys tie up loose ends in preparation for jury selection.

Blankenship is charged with second-degree murder and destruction and concealment of evidence, both felonies, for shooting and killing Hailey resident Stephan Michael Romanchuk, 47, in January 2014.

Jury selection is set to start at 9 a.m. Tuesday and the trial could begin that afternoon if attorneys agree on suitable jurors.

If convicted, Blankenship could spend the rest of his life in prison. Blankenship, who appeared in court Tuesday, has been incarcerated in the Blaine County jail since May 2014 on a $500,000 bond.
 
From last month:

Accused murderer accepts plea deal

http://www.mtexpress.com/news/cops_courts/accused-murderer-accepts-plea-deal/article_21120b9c-7f90-11e6-8f65-af9b5f57e484.html

Accused murderer Keith Blankenship, who claims he shot and killed his neighbor Steve Romanchuk in self-defense in January 2014, has accepted a plea deal by the state and will no longer face charges of second-degree murder and felony destruction of evidence.

During a change-of-plea hearing Tuesday in 5th District Court in Hailey, Blankenship pleaded guilty to one felony count of failure to notify a coroner or law enforcement of a death with intent to prevent discovery of the manner of death. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

With Blankenship’s guilty plea entered on the amended charge, the state has agreed to dismiss the original charges.

Blankenship is due in court again Dec. 6 for a sentencing hearing.
 
Hailey man sentenced in neighbor's slaying

http://magicvalley.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/hailey-man-sentenced-in-neighbor-s-slaying/article_340a8c11-90b7-5952-b3e9-6bcf158318c5.html

Nearly three years after Steven Romanchuk’s wife reported him missing, the man who says he killed Romanchuk in self-defense and then kept the slaying a secret for four months was sentenced Tuesday to seven to 10 years in prison.

But Keith Eric Blankenship, 52, was not sentenced for killing Romanchuk — prosecutors in September dropped a second-degree murder charge against him for a lack of evidence. Instead, he was sentenced for failing to report Romanchuk’s death, a crime that carried a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

District Judge Jonathan Brody imposed that maximum with eligibility for parole after seven years, and credit for time served in county jail. Blankenship, who has already been in county jails 938 days, or more than 2 ½ years, will be eligible for parole in May 2021.

“This case is not about what happened leading to the death of Steve Romanchuk,” Blaine County Deputy Prosecutor Matt Fredback said during Tuesday’s sentencing. “That, we will never know.”

“The defendant had 120 days to eliminate, conceal and destroy evidence,” Fredback argued Tuesday. “We don’t know what happened to Mr. Romanchuk’s phone, the gun, his truck, and most of all, his body … The public is deserving of justice, not because the defendant killed Mr. Romanchuk, but because he prevented us from knowing the circumstances of how Mr. Romanchuk was killed.”

“The defendant cleaned up the mess, read books, watched movies and drank beer while the community worried about Steve Romanchuk,” Fredback said.
 

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