FILE 417 / 24 August 2023 / 170 MIN / full

No Body, No Crime... Except For That Head

Hazelton, IdahoListen

The town

N ↑Public placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

We're going to Hazelton, Idaho, in southern Idaho, in the Twin Falls region, 25 minutes outside of Twin Falls, and this is in Jerome County. about 0:05:04

History, in brief

1959

Excavations at Wilson Butte Cave near Twin Falls in 1959 revealed evidence of human activity, including arrowheads among the oldest dated artefacts in North America.

about 0:06:14

1864

The first permanent settlement in the area was a stage stop at Rock Creek in 1864, near the present-day towns.

about 0:06:38

1890

In 1890 there were agricultural operations in the Snake River canyon, but no irrigation or roads to get the produce out.

about 0:06:53

Town note

A large irrigation canal system was later built for the area.

about 0:07:20
All 6 history facts

1959

Excavations at Wilson Butte Cave near Twin Falls in 1959 revealed evidence of human activity, including arrowheads among the oldest dated artefacts in North America.

about 0:06:14

1864

The first permanent settlement in the area was a stage stop at Rock Creek in 1864, near the present-day towns.

about 0:06:38

1890

In 1890 there were agricultural operations in the Snake River canyon, but no irrigation or roads to get the produce out.

about 0:06:53

Town note

A large irrigation canal system was later built for the area.

about 0:07:20

1974

In 1974 Twin Falls became the centre of the national eye when Evel Knievel tried to jump the Snake River Canyon on his motorcycle.

about 0:07:28

Town note

The launch ramp foundation is still visible on private land on the canyon's south rim, less than two miles west of Shoshone Falls.

about 0:08:34

The figures, as told

Religious

62.6%

Biggest faith: Catholic, 30.6%

about 0:14:06

Who lives here

White 37% · Asian 0.2% · Black 0.0% · Hispanic 53.9%

Ethnicity can overlap race.

Crime / national average

Property crime
▼ about one quarter

about 0:26:41

Violent crime
▼ about one-third

about 0:26:46

Money

Median home value$330,800
Two-bedroom rent$1,060
Median household income$31,750 a year

For sale

$254,000

Two-bedroom, one-bath, 984 square foot house listing

about 0:18:33

For sale

$280,000

Three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,389 square foot house listing

about 0:19:01
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2023

Property crime

"about one quarter"

Comparison: "under the national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:26:41

Violent crime

"about one-third"

Comparison: "less than the national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:26:46

Married residents

"57%"

Comparison: "more than normal". Direction: above.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:10

White residents

"37%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:13

Asian residents

"0.2%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:17

Black residents

"0.0%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:17

Native American residents

"1.7%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:17

Hispanic residents

"53.9%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:17

Hawaiian Pacific Islander residents

"7%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:17

Voted Democratic, Jerome County last election

"24.1%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:14:53

Voted Republican, Jerome County last election

"73.1%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:14:53

Voted independent, Jerome County last election

"2.7%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:14:53

Religious residents

"62.6%"

Comparison: "very religious". No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:14:06

Mormon

"22.6%"

Comparison: "very high". Direction: above.

As told in 2023 about 0:14:17

Catholic

"30.6%"

Comparison: "higher than Mormon". Direction: above.

As told in 2023 about 0:14:23

Median household income

"$31,750 a year"

Comparison: "about $25,000 less than the national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:15:11

Median home cost

"$330,800"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:15:31

Average two-bedroom rent

"$1,060"

Comparison: "a couple of hundred below the national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:16:19

4,740 square foot studio listing

"$140,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:17:37

Two-bedroom, one-bath, 984 square foot house listing

"$254,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:18:33

Three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,389 square foot house listing

"$280,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:19:01

The reviews

3.4 / 5 · average of 5

5 stars

“A great little community and definitely a farming community, with many opportunities if you are interested in agriculture; the schools are very little and offer wonderful one-to-one time with teachers and a wide variety of sports for children who are interested.”
about 0:08:56

5 stars

“The people are so kind and willing to help you around the town; it is a tight community that likes to help one another when things get rough.”
about 0:09:59

4 stars

“A larger town for Idaho with a pretty landscape, great for people who love the outdoors, with a canyon on the edge of town, many hikes, waterfalls, places to boat and the Perrine bridge, said to be the only man-made structure in the US you can base jump from.”
about 0:10:18

2 stars

“The people in this area are as bleak as the landscape; southern Idaho is a barren range with only sagebrush as far as the eye can see, the people are undereducated and lack morality, winters are too cold and summers too hot, and there are much nicer places to live.”
about 0:11:34

1 star

“A terrible place to live; the Twin Falls Police Department is no help in an emergency, jobs pay very low, neighbourhoods are very dirty, people are rude, the crime rate is getting terrible, and the reviewer plans to move back to their hometown.”
about 0:12:15

In Idaho

Closest episodes

  1. Murder Colors Don't RunJerome, Idaho · 5 March 202634 km / 21 miShow on map
  2. A Very Beloved & Dead CoupleBellevue, Idaho · 3 May 201898 km / 61 miShow on map
  3. Murder SelfiesLucin, Utah · 22 February 2025140 km / 87 miShow on map
  4. Natural Born Killer IdiotsChubbuck, Idaho · 21 May 2020142 km / 88 miShow on map
  5. A Skull In The Wood StoveBlackfoot, Idaho · 2 December 2021160 km / 99 miShow on map

The story

In 1961, when he was about twenty, he married a woman named Vicky; they were together nineteen years and divorced in 1980.

In 1990 Milo's first wife Vicky survived a catastrophic house fire in which other people died. In 1997 the divorce was back on.

Maida was born on 2 July 1952 in American Falls, Idaho, to George and Martha, and grew up on a farm in the Lake Channel area. She graduated from American Falls High School in 1970, married Lavelle Rop in 1971 and had two sons, Allen and David, then married Larry Jones and had two more children, Megan and Charles. By the late 1990s she was waiting tables at the Hip Hop Cafe, had served as an EMT with the Power County Ambulance Service, and was one of the first advocates for victims of domestic violence and rape in Power County. Milo met her at the cafe, hired her as a dispatcher, and in May 1998 they began a whirlwind romance. On 23 October 1998 he proposed. She said yes and told her whole family she had never been happier.

On Sunday 25 October 1998, Maida stayed home to cook a roast for a party for Paul, who was about to leave on a two-year Mormon mission to England. Milo and Paul went to church. She called out; her mother did not answer. A few minutes later there was a second shot.

Her mother told her she had shot Maida under the eye and had to shoot her in the back of the head, and that it was no harder than killing cats.

Milo and Paul came home to a burnt roast and the smell of cleaning fluid. They found a bullet hole in the wall and called the sheriff. Detectives arrived at about 12.01 a.m. on Monday and found a blood smear and droplets down the back steps, a large wet reddish stain on the dining room carpet that smelt of pine cleaner, a damaged .22 slug in the wall with a hair in it, and blood spatter on the wood stove. Five or six newspapers, a throw rug and Maida's entire bed and frame were missing.

A storage unit she rented in Burley held the missing bed, cleaning supplies smeared with blood, blood-stained rags and a bloody shoe print outside the door.

She asked her father to leave the room and began: "one thing that you gotta know before we start, the head's not with the body." She then told the whole story. The canal was dammed and drained overnight, and divers found the head at about seven o'clock on the Tuesday morning, almost exactly where the trajectory calculation said it would be. The torso, some clothes and personal items were found about a mile and a half downstream at two o'clock that afternoon. The autopsy confirmed two gunshot wounds to the head.

The judge was not persuaded.

Her woodwork teacher said he would take her back in a class in a heartbeat and the principal, Dan Rogers, said she had never been taken off the school roll. Paul said he did not blame his sister: "you don't know our mother... I would have done it too." Milo remarried within eight months, stayed in the house where the murder happened, and in October 2015 Paul visited Maida's grave at the American Falls cemetery and wrote a tribute to her. Milo sued her for restitution; her lawyer argued that only $271.94 was owed for patching drywall and fixing the phone.

The case

Murder of Maida Marie Jones

Victims

Maida Marie Jones (46). born Maida Marie Ring, formerly Rop then Jones; Milo fiancee, a dispatcher at Circle A Construction, EMT with the Power County Ambulance Service and an advocate for domestic violence and rape victims

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 24 August 2023.

Accused

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Colleen. mother, who called police and named her daughter
Vicky. Milo's first wife, survivor of a 1990 house fire
Daniel Chatterton. Jerome County sheriff's detective who led the investigation
Sheriff Billy Crystal. Jerome County sheriff
Dr Richard Wurst. defence forensic psychiatrist
Marilyn Paul. public defender
Judy. Maida's sister
David. Maida's son
Allen. Maida's son
Jennifer. Maida's daughter-in-law
Wendy. Maida's niece
Sherry Little. equestrian coach and dairy owner
Dan Rogers. Minico High School principal
Lavelle Rop. Maida's first husband
Larry Jones. Maida's second husband

The timeline

  1. July 2, 1952 Maida Marie Ring is born in American Falls, Idahoabout 2:28:50
  2. 1954 is bornabout 0:32:40
  3. 1961 Milo , about 20, marries Vickyabout 0:29:53
  4. 1970 Maida graduates from American Falls High Schoolabout 1:05:57
  5. 1971 Maida marries Lavelle Rop and has two sons, Allen and Davidabout 1:06:05
  6. 1980 Milo and Vicky divorceabout 0:30:05
  7. late 1980 takes a dispatcher job at Circle A and she and Milo get together (Circle A Construction)about 0:33:40
  8. May 1, 1981 Milo and marry in Elko, Nevadaabout 0:33:47
  9. around age eight or nine Paul becomes interested in Mormonism; Milo stops going to church after reactionabout 0:36:26
  10. age 12 or 13 Paul returns to church and he and Milo sneak off to services togetherabout 0:38:31
  11. 1990 A catastrophic house fire kills people; Vicky is the only survivorabout 0:39:49
  12. November 1993 comes home drunk, threatens the children and beats Milo, and he files for divorce ( house)about 0:41:26
  13. 1997 The divorce is back on; moves out into a borrowed trailer and takes road construction work ('s trailer)about 1:01:56
  14. 1997 Milo meets Maida at the Hip Hop Cafe and later hires her as a dispatcher (Hip Hop Cafe)about 1:04:14
  15. May 1998 Milo and Maida begin a whirlwind romance and she moves into a basement room at his house ( house)about 1:10:18
  16. October 23, 1998 Milo proposes to Maida; she accepts ( house)about 1:14:14
  17. October 25, 1998 and arrive at the house; argues with Maida and shoots her twice ( house)about 1:35:59
  18. October 25, 1998 Maida's body is taken to a canal, stripped, beheaded and put in the water (canal near Hazelton)about 1:40:12

Places and phrases

N ↑Public placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode