In the autumn of 1974, the life of Edward Thomas Arnold, a 34-year-old male house painter, was violently cut short in the rural landscape of Donnelly, Idaho. A man known for his itinerant nature, Arnold had a history of traveling the country, a trait developed from a young age through his family's work as migrant laborers. His comfort with a transient lifestyle and his own reliance on the kindness of strangers through hitchhiking likely influenced his decision on a fateful November day.
On November 4, 1974, Arnold and his fellow painter, John Wayne Bradford, age 40, were driving near Donnelly when they stopped to give a ride to two hitchhikers, Thomas Eugene Creech and his girlfriend, Carol Spaulding. This act of generosity would prove to be their last. The following day, the bodies of both Arnold and Bradford were discovered in a barrow pit off Highway 55. Both men had been shot in the head. Arnold's restored 1956 Buick Roadmaster, now blood-spattered, was also found at the scene.
The investigation into the double homicide led authorities to Creech and Spaulding. Thomas Creech was subsequently arrested, tried, and convicted of first-degree murder for the deaths of Arnold and Bradford. He was initially sentenced to death. However, a Supreme Court ruling on automatic death sentences led to his resentencing to life in prison. Later, for the murder of a fellow inmate in 1981, Creech would once again be sentenced to death. Creech has since admitted to involvement in numerous other killings across several states.
