The murder of Shirley Ramey
Hope, Bonner County, Idaho · 2017
Overview
Shirley Ramey, a 79-year-old woman who had served the tiny town of Hope, Idaho as its city clerk for more than two decades, was shot twice in the head at her home on Trestle Creek Road on April 5, 2017. There was no forced entry and no obvious motive; a family Savage Model 99 rifle was taken, but the killing looked random. The case stalled for two years. The break was almost entirely ballistic: Bonner County investigators had recovered 9mm shell casings at the scene, and in February 2018 an ATF agent submitted them to the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network. On May 18, 2019 NIBIN matched those casings to test-fires from a Glock 19 9mm pistol that Lincoln County, Montana deputies had seized from Judith Carpenter, a 57-year-old real-estate appraiser from Coeur d'Alene, when they arrested her in a road-rage incident on Bull Lake Road on the very day Ramey was killed. Carpenter had no known connection to Ramey. The Savage rifle deputies took from her that day proved to be the gun stolen from the Ramey home. Authorities said it was the first homicide ever solved in Idaho through NIBIN. Carpenter was arrested on August 1, 2019, and in May 2021 entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder; First District Judge Barbara Buchanan sentenced her to 15 years to life in prison.
How it was solved
The killing of Shirley Ramey was solved not by DNA or a witness but by the microscopic marks a gun barrel and firing pin leave on the brass it ejects. When investigators worked the scene at the Ramey home on Trestle Creek Road in Hope, Idaho, in April 2017, they recovered spent 9mm shell casings, reported as two casings inside the home and two near a camper trailer on the property, along with an intact 9mm bullet. With no suspect, no apparent motive, and no forced entry, the physical evidence sat. In February 2018 the Bonner County Sheriff's Office submitted the crime-scene casings to the federal National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, the ATF database that images the unique tool-marks a firearm stamps onto cartridge cases and flags when the same gun appears to have fired casings recovered in more than one place. ATF Special Agent James Butler initiated the entry. The match did not come quickly, because the corresponding evidence had not yet been entered: a Glock Model 19 9mm pistol had been seized in Lincoln County, Montana, roughly 100 miles away, on the same day Ramey died, but Montana authorities did not submit test-fires from that gun into NIBIN until 2019. On May 18, 2019, NIBIN linked the Trestle Creek casings to test-fired cartridges from that Glock. The pistol belonged to Judith Carpenter, a 57-year-old appraiser from Coeur d'Alene with no criminal history and no known connection to Shirley Ramey. The chain that followed was striking in its coincidence. On April 5, 2017, the same day Ramey was shot, Carpenter had been arrested by Lincoln County deputies after pointing a handgun at another motorist during a road-rage confrontation on Bull Lake Road near Libby, Montana. Deputies confiscated two firearms from her that day: the Glock 19 and a Savage Model 99 rifle. Carpenter claimed she had found the rifle on the roadside. Investigators later determined the Savage was the rifle stolen from the Ramey home during the murder. When close-up images of the seized weapons were re-examined, authorities reported that blood not visible to the naked eye was present on them. Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler said it was the first case in which NIBIN had been able to match shell casings to a homicide in the state of Idaho. Carpenter was arrested at her Coeur d'Alene home on August 1, 2019, charged with first-degree murder, and held on $1 million bond. The ballistic link to the gun in her possession was the spine of the case. Before trial Carpenter spent several months in an Idaho Security Medical Program, and after court-ordered mediation she entered an Alford plea, a plea in which a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges the evidence would likely convict, to second-degree murder on May 25, 2021. First District Judge Barbara Buchanan sentenced her on May 28, 2021 to 15 years to life in prison, with credit for the 666 days she had already spent in custody. No motive was ever established; investigators described the killing as random.
Sources
- Coeur d'Alene woman linked to 2017 killing of Shirley Ramey in Hope thanks to gun database
“On May 18, 2019, the NIBIN system found a match between the casings found at the Ramey murder scene and test-fired cartridges submitted by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office in Montana, connecting the casings to a Glock 19 9mm pistol that officers had seized from Carpenter during a road rage incident.”
- Carpenter sentenced in Ramey killing
“A 2019 test firing matched casings from the Glock with casings found at the Ramey murder scene through use of the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network. Carpenter entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder and was sentenced by First District Judge Barbara Buchanan to 15 years to life in prison.”
- A tale of two guns
“Investigators collected four 9mm shell casings plus an intact 9mm bullet at the Trestle Creek Road scene. Sheriff Daryl Wheeler stated this was the very first case NIBIN had in the state of Idaho where they have been able to match up shell casings with a homicide. The Savage Model 99 rifle seized from Carpenter was the weapon stolen from the Ramey home during the murder.”
- Shirley Ramey case ballistics overview (NIBIN match details)
“In February 2018, the Bonner County Sheriff's Office submitted the casings to the ATF, where Special Agent James Butler initiated the investigation. On May 18, 2019, NIBIN found a match between the crime scene casings and test-fired cartridges from Carpenter's Glock. Blood not visible to the naked eye was noticed only when close-up images of the weapons were reexamined.”
- Arrest made in 2017 murder of elderly Hope woman
“Shirley Ramey, 79, of Hope, Idaho was killed in 2017 on Trestle Creek Road. Judith Carpenter, 57, of Coeur d'Alene was charged with first-degree murder and held on $1 million bond; 9mm shell casings found at the scene were matched via NIBIN, the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network.”
- Suspect arrested in 2017 Shirley Ramey murder
“Judith M. Carpenter, 57, of Coeur d'Alene, was arrested August 1, 2019 and charged with the 2017 killing of 79-year-old Shirley Ramey of Hope. The case broke through the NIBIN system in May 2019, when casings from the crime scene matched test-fired cartridges from Carpenter's Glock 19 that had been seized during a separate incident in Lincoln County, Montana.”
- 2017 Hope murder case goes to trial
“Two 9mm shell casings found at the scene matched a suspect's Glock after test firing, which led to the arrest of Judith Carpenter for Shirley Ramey's murder.”
- Shirley Ramey
“Investigators recovered 9mm shell casings at the scene. ATF Agent James Butler submitted these into NIBIN, which analyzes microscopic markings left on cartridge casings when a gun is fired and eventually matched the casings to a Glock 9mm handgun confiscated during a road-rage incident in Montana. Shirley Ramey served as City Clerk for over 25 years. In June 2021, Carpenter pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received 15 years to life.”