Wrongly accused man missing

HAYDEN — A former Bonner County man wrongly accused in a Trestle Creek homicide investigation is missing, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.

Nathan Lane Utt was last seen on Monday, April 15, in the 9000 block of Maple Street in Hayden. Sheriff’s officials said in a social media post that Utt said he was going to the Hayden Walmart but never returned.

Utt, a 43-year-old Hayden resident, is dependent on daily medications and is also deaf. He was last seen wearing jeans and a red shirt, according to the sheriff’s office. Utt is 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs 180 pounds. He is Caucasian and has blond hair and hazel eyes.

Utt is characterized as disabled under the Idaho State Police Missing Persons Clearinghouse, which applies to missing persons of any age who have diagnosed physical or mental conditions.

Those with information about Utt’s whereabouts are asked to call the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office at 208-446-1300.

Utt was identified by the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office as a suspect in the killing of Shirley Ann Ramey in April 2017. Utt was briefly charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Ramey, 78.

However, the charge against Utt was later dismissed after it was discovered he had a verified alibi. Utt, it turned out, was in Eugene, Ore., at the time Ramey was slain. Utt had been occupying a camper trailer in the foothills of the Cabinet Mountains near Ramey’s home. Vigilantes peppered the camper with gunfire after it emerged that he was a suspect in Ramey’s killing, which family members said left Utt effectively homeless.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.