Delia D'Ambra
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Every year, millions of people head into the wilderness searching for peace, beauty, and adventure.
But hidden in those same scenic landscapes are stories of violence, survival, and lives cut short.
I'm Delia D'Ambra, and on my podcast, Park Predators, I uncover the true crimes that happened in the most amazing places on Earth.
Listen to Park Predators wherever you get your podcasts.
Every case on park predators has a twist, but Chameleon takes deception to a whole new level.
Hosted by journalist Josh Dean, Chameleon digs into the real stories of people who reinvent themselves through lies, cons, and double lives.
If you're ready to explore the world of scam artists and little white lies that spiral into unforgettable scandals, listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.
And the case I'm going to share with you today is one of those true stories that has, in a strange way, turned the villain into somewhat of a legend, but for all the wrong reasons.
I think it's important to be clear from the outset of this episode that the man at the center of this double murder was, without a doubt, a dangerous individual.
But for some reason, I saw several retellings of this case that indirectly and sometimes directly portrayed the killer as almost a folklore-like hero, which just doesn't feel quite right to me.
The murders that he carried out happened in Owyhee County, Idaho, which is located in the southwest corner of the state.
The city of Boise isn't too far away, and neither is the Twin Falls area.
A key landmark in this region is the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area.
Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management website, this landscape has the greatest concentration of nesting birds of prey in all of North America.
The Snake River runs through a deep canyon there and steep cliffs with lots of ridges and overhangs that overlook the water create the perfect home for birds like eagles, falcons, hawks, and owls to make nests and raise their young.
It's a protected area, one of many in the state of Idaho that hunters and poachers are supposed to respect.
And the people responsible for enforcing the laws around wildlife are the state's game wardens, also known as conservation officers.