Buried Secrets in Idaho

0:00 Speaker 1: In the rugged mountains of central Idaho, where the wilderness

0:03 Speaker 1: stretches for miles and the Salmon River cuts through the

0:06 Speaker 1: landscape like a scar. Life in the tiny town of

0:09 Speaker 1: Shallice was usually quiet, with fewer than a thousand residents.

0:13 Speaker 1: Serious violent crime was almost unheard of. People knew their neighbors,

0:18 Speaker 1: disputes rarely escalated beyond harsh words, and murder seemed like

0:22 Speaker 1: something that happened somewhere else. That illusion shattered in the

0:26 Speaker 1: spring of twenty twenty five. The investigation began when an

0:30 Speaker 1: elderly woman named Helen walked into the local sheriff's office

0:33 Speaker 1: to report a man missing. The man was forty seven

0:36 Speaker 1: year old Patrick Shelton, someone she considered family despite not

0:40 Speaker 1: being related by blood. Patrick lived a rough and independent life.

0:45 Speaker 1: He spent most of his days in the mountains cutting

0:47 Speaker 1: and selling firewood, often working alone with only his loyal

0:51 Speaker 1: dog Rider for company. Patrick wasn't the type to disappear

0:56 Speaker 1: without warning. Helen told deputies she was worried because Patrick

1:00 Speaker 1: hadn't returned or contacted anyone. She explained that he frequently

1:05 Speaker 1: moved between trailers and motor homes parked on different properties,

1:09 Speaker 1: often finding himself in disagreements with landowners. One conflict stood

1:13 Speaker 1: out above all others, a dispute with seventy year old

1:17 Speaker 1: Alan Bruce. Deputies immediately recognized the name. Allan was well

1:22 Speaker 1: known around Shallas. Though he worked various jobs as a

1:25 Speaker 1: mechanic and welder, many locals knew him for something else, conflict.

1:31 Speaker 1: He had a reputation for arguments, feuds, and accusations against neighbors.

1:36 Speaker 1: Earlier that same year, he had even been accused of

1:39 Speaker 1: throwing incendiary devices and starting a fire on someone's property.

1:44 Speaker 1: According to Helen, Patrick had recently gone to Allan's property

1:48 Speaker 1: to retrieve his motor homes after Allan moved them using

1:51 Speaker 1: heavy equipment. The move had allegedly damaged them, creating fresh

1:55 Speaker 1: tension between the two men. Investigators decided Alan was the

1:59 Speaker 1: life place to start. When deputies arrived at Allan's property,

2:04 Speaker 1: he appeared calm but uneasy. He acknowledged that Patrick had

2:08 Speaker 1: visited him a couple of nights earlier and admitted they

2:11 Speaker 1: had argued. According to Allan, Patrick was angry, but eventually

2:15 Speaker 1: left to cut firewood somewhere in the mountains. As the

2:18 Speaker 1: conversation continued, something felt off Allan's answers seemed rehearsed, his

2:24 Speaker 1: body language was tense, his eyes constantly drifted toward areas

2:29 Speaker 1: of the property that deputies paid little attention to at

2:32 Speaker 1: the time. What officers couldn't have known was that only

2:35 Speaker 1: a few feet away sat barrels containing evidence of a

2:38 Speaker 1: horrifying crime. Alan pointed investigators toward a remote firewood cutting

2:42 Speaker 1: area near the Salmon River, often called the River of

2:46 Speaker 1: No Return. It was a lead, and deputies followed it

2:49 Speaker 1: before leaving. However, they took a quick look at Patrick's

2:53 Speaker 1: motor home. The locks appeared tampered with ratchet straps, held

2:57 Speaker 1: doors shut. Footprints surrounded the area. Though the observations weren't

3:02 Speaker 1: enough to justify a search warrant, they added to a

3:05 Speaker 1: growing list of concerns. Hours later, deputies arrived at the

3:10 Speaker 1: remote location Allen had described. There, hidden among the trees

3:14 Speaker 1: sat Patrick's pickup truck. The first glance, the vehicle seemed abandoned.

3:19 Speaker 1: Then officer's noticed movement inside rider. Patrick's faithful dog had

3:24 Speaker 1: somehow survived alone inside the truck for nearly two days.

3:28 Speaker 1: Dehydrated and exhausted, The dog was rescued and given water immediately,

3:33 Speaker 1: but Ryder's survival raised a troubling question where was Patrick.

3:38 Speaker 1: Deputies searched the truck for clues. Inside they discovered dark stains,

3:43 Speaker 1: blood soaked towels, and evidence suggesting violence had occurred. Most importantly,

3:49 Speaker 1: they found a piece of mail bearing Alan Bruce's name.

3:52 Speaker 1: The missing person's case suddenly transformed into something much darker.

3:56 Speaker 1: Investigators began speaking with people who knew Patrick again and

4:01 Speaker 1: again one name surfaced, Alan Bruce. The feud between the

4:05 Speaker 1: two men had become common knowledge. Allan had moved Patrick's property,

4:10 Speaker 1: The two had exchanged threats. Witnesses described escalating tensions. By

4:15 Speaker 1: the end of the day, Alan Bruce had become the

4:18 Speaker 1: primary suspect. What investigators didn't know was that while they

4:22 Speaker 1: were building their case, Allan was actively destroying evidence. Throughout

4:27 Speaker 1: the night, he traveled to remote locations, burning items connected

4:31 Speaker 1: to the crime, and dumping remains into the Salmon River.

4:35 Speaker 1: Then he made a critical mistake. Shortly after midnight, a

4:39 Speaker 1: deputy monitoring Patrick's abandoned truck encountered Allan. Unexpectedly, the elderly

4:44 Speaker 1: man emerged from the darkness carrying a flashlight. When questioned

4:48 Speaker 1: about why he was there, Alan claimed he was simply

4:52 Speaker 1: protecting Patrick's belongings from thieves. The explanation made little sense.

4:57 Speaker 1: Patrick was missing. Allan had been feuded with him, now

5:01 Speaker 1: he was lurking around the crime scene in the middle

5:03 Speaker 1: of the night. The encounter deepened investigator's suspicions and accelerated

5:08 Speaker 1: their efforts to obtain search warrants. The next morning, detectives

5:13 Speaker 1: launched a coordinated operation. One deputy distracted Allan and kept

5:17 Speaker 1: him away from the property while investigators executed search warrants. Initially,

5:23 Speaker 1: the search yielded little. Buildings appeared clean, vehicles contained nothing obvious.

5:29 Speaker 1: For a moment, it seemed possible that Allan had successfully

5:32 Speaker 1: erased every trace of what happened. Then officers noticed a smell.

5:37 Speaker 1: The odor resembled burnt meat. It lingered in certain areas

5:41 Speaker 1: of the property. Unable to identify the source, detectives called

5:46 Speaker 1: in a cadaver dog. The dog quickly alerted to several barrels. Inside,

5:51 Speaker 1: investigators found the first pieces of evidence linking Allan directly

5:55 Speaker 1: to the crime. Broken automotive glass, latex gloves, blood, t

6:00 Speaker 1: Patrick's baseball cap, bone fragments, suspected human remains. The findings

6:07 Speaker 1: transformed the property into a full homicide scene. Yet questions remained,

6:12 Speaker 1: where was Patrick's body, How had Allan managed to move

6:16 Speaker 1: and dispose of everything alone, and had anyone helped him.

6:20 Speaker 1: Those questions intensified when Alan's brother, Larry Bruce, unexpectedly arrived.

6:26 Speaker 1: Larry immediately began speaking about Patrick. He described him as dangerous.

6:31 Speaker 1: He claimed Patrick had threatened Alan. He produced text messages

6:36 Speaker 1: showing and escalating dispute between the two men. The messages

6:40 Speaker 1: revealed months of hostility, accusations of theft, and growing resentment.

6:45 Speaker 1: While Larry insisted he knew nothing about a murder, detectives

6:49 Speaker 1: couldn't ignore the possibility that he had deeper involvement. Ultimately, however,

6:54 Speaker 1: investigators found no evidence connecting Larry to the killing itself.

6:59 Speaker 1: Attention returned burned to Allan. Detectives now had enough evidence

7:03 Speaker 1: to arrest him, but they still needed answers. Most importantly,

7:07 Speaker 1: they needed Patrick. They confronted Alan directly. At first, he

7:12 Speaker 1: denied everything. Investigators described the evidence, the cadaver dog alerts,

7:18 Speaker 1: the bone fragments, the blood. Still he resisted. Then, detectives

7:23 Speaker 1: employed a strategy known as crime scene exposure, bringing Alan

7:27 Speaker 1: face to face with the very property where the crime occurred.

7:30 Speaker 1: The pressure began to work, small details slipped out. He

7:34 Speaker 1: admitted towing Patrick's truck into the mountains. He admitted leaving

7:38 Speaker 1: Rider alive inside. Finally the wall collapsed, Alan confessed. He

7:44 Speaker 1: admitted shooting Patrick. He admitted dismembering the body with a chainsaw.

7:49 Speaker 1: He admitted burning the remains, and he admitted dumping what

7:53 Speaker 1: was left into the Salmon River. There is no body,

7:56 Speaker 1: he told investigators. He was reduced down to nothing. The

8:01 Speaker 1: confession horrified even seasoned detectives. Alan explained how he used

8:06 Speaker 1: Patrick's own chainsaw to cut apart the body before burning

8:09 Speaker 1: the remains and attempting to erase every trace of the crime.

8:12 Speaker 1: Investigators asked where the chainsaw was, He claimed he had

8:16 Speaker 1: burned that too. When pressed about clean up efforts, he

8:20 Speaker 1: described using shovels, hoses, bleach, and extensive efforts to remove evidence.

8:26 Speaker 1: Despite confessing, Alan insisted he acted in self defense. According

8:31 Speaker 1: to him, Patrick had threatened him with a gun and

8:34 Speaker 1: forced him into a life or death confrontation. Investigators found

8:38 Speaker 1: the claim difficult to reconcile. With the extraordinary lengths he

8:42 Speaker 1: went to conceal the killing. Dive teams searched the Salmon River.

8:46 Speaker 1: Nothing significant was recovered. The river lived up to its name.

8:51 Speaker 1: Months later, a floating burn barrel was recovered downstream, but

8:56 Speaker 1: it contained nothing useful. Meanwhile, forensic investigata examined Allan's phone.

9:02 Speaker 1: There they found some of the strongest evidence in the

9:05 Speaker 1: entire case. Text messages revealed growing hostility between the men.

9:10 Speaker 1: One exchange included Patrick warning Allan he would see him soon.

9:14 Speaker 1: Allan responded with a chilling message, telling Patrick never to

9:18 Speaker 1: come to his property after dark. Even more damaging were photographs.

9:22 Speaker 1: Among them was an image showing Patrick dead inside his

9:25 Speaker 1: truck shortly after the shooting, with a pistol lying nearby.

9:29 Speaker 1: The photo destroyed much of Allan's self defense narrative. Investigators

9:34 Speaker 1: eventually recovered both missing firearms from an associate of Allan's,

9:38 Speaker 1: who said Allan had asked him to sell them. Despite

9:41 Speaker 1: extensive investigation, no evidence emerged suggesting anyone else participated in

9:46 Speaker 1: the killing or cover up. Alan Bruce had acted alone.

9:50 Speaker 1: Facing overwhelming evidence, Allan eventually entered an Alford plea. While

9:56 Speaker 1: maintaining that he was not legally admitting guilt, he acknowledged

10:00 Speaker 1: that prosecutors possessed enough evidence to secure a conviction. In

10:04 Speaker 1: October twenty twenty five, the original first degree murder charge

10:07 Speaker 1: was reduced to second degree murder and destruction of evidence.

10:11 Speaker 1: A month later, a judge sentenced Alan Bruce to twenty

10:15 Speaker 1: years in prison. He would be required to serve at

10:18 Speaker 1: least ten years before becoming eligible for parole. For the

10:21 Speaker 1: family of Patrick Shelton, the sentence brought some measure of justice,

10:25 Speaker 1: but not closure. Most of Patrick's remains were never recovered.

10:30 Speaker 1: His loyal dog Rider survived, his family received answers, but

10:34 Speaker 1: the Salmon River carried away much of the physical evidence forever.

10:39 Speaker 1: In a town where violent crime was once almost unimaginable,

10:42 Speaker 1: the murder of Patrick Shelton became one of the most

10:45 Speaker 1: shocking cases in local history, a crime marked not only

10:49 Speaker 1: by its brutality, but by the extraordinary lengths one man

10:52 Speaker 1: went to hide it, and in the end, the mistake

10:55 Speaker 1: that unraveled everything was simple. Alan Bruce returned to the scene.

11:00 Speaker 1: He thought he was protecting his secret. Instead, he led

11:04 Speaker 1: investigators directly to it.