Sheriff wins re-election against former police chief known for leading the Bryan Kohberger case

Latah County Sheriff Richie Skiles comfortably won his third term in Tuesday's general election, fending off two former members of local law enforcement who tried to unseat him.

The Republican incumbent faced two conservative-leaning independent candidates: James Fry, the former Moscow police chief, and Christopher Middleton, a former Idaho State Police trooper and Latah County sheriff's deputy.

With 100% of precincts in the county reporting, Skiles received about 58% of the vote. Fry received about 35% while Middleton received about 7%. The results showed that voters cast nearly 20,000 ballots during the election campaign.

Skiles, 59, of Potlatch, served in the U.S. Marines before serving as a Latah County sheriff's deputy and police chief in the town of Troy. After the bulk of the results were in, he told the Idaho Statesman that he spent election night with his wife and adult son and was grateful for voters' continued trust.

“It means a lot to me,” Skiles said in an interview early Wednesday morning. “I worked hard as sheriff for eight years, and I also worked as a deputy, and that’s one of the things that helped me as sheriff. I just try to do the right things for the right reasons, and that shows when people keep us in office.”

Fry, 55, who lives in Troy, retired in May after 29 years with the Moscow police, including eight years as chief. He quickly announced his intention to run for sheriff, and soon after, Middleton, 55, of unincorporated Moscow, threw his name into the hat.

Early Wednesday morning, Fry told the Statesman that Skiles ran a good race. He said he planned to contact the sheriff to convey his congratulations.

“I wish him all the best and much success for the next four years,” Fry said in a text message to the Statesman.

Fry said he wasn't sure what he would do next. “Time will tell,” he said.

Fry gained statewide and national recognition when he led the investigation into the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. After nearly seven weeks, Fry announced the arrest of Washington State University graduate student Bryan Kohberger on suspicion of murder.

As the murder investigation progressed, Fry and other local officials also came under fire. He refrained from holding a press conference for three days after the violent deaths of the students and also withheld various information about the case from the public.

The national stage afforded Fry during the high-profile investigation made for an interesting variable in the race for local sheriff. But it didn't appear to be a winner with voters in Latah County.

“Honestly, I didn’t know how people would vote. “Moscow is a bit of a wild card and I wasn’t sure what people thought about how he did or didn’t do in the crisis,” Skiles said. “This crisis would be difficult for anyone, and frankly we learned a lot, he learned a lot, we learned a lot from the things that happened there.”

Also Tuesday, Latah County District Attorney Bill Thompson, who is leading the prosecution against Kohberger, ran unopposed. The Democrat was first elected to office in 1992 and secured his ninth term, which runs until 2028.