Rachael Anderson’s family found the borrowed SUV on April 21, 2010. Her purse was still inside. She’d driven the vehicle from Clarkston, Washington, to a repair shop in Moscow, Idaho, on April 16 to pick up her own car. It hadn’t been ready. On Monday, she didn’t turn up for work. [1]
Rachael had four children. Her daughters put up posters and handed out fliers as the search stretched from weeks to years. A jury eventually convicted her estranged husband, Charles Capone, of murder. Rachael’s family still had no place where they could recover her remains. [1] [3]
Jeremy Segrott from Cardiff, Wales, UK · Image source · CC BY 2.0 · Commons-provided image; no content edits.
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The repair shop and the tarp
Rachael and Capone had separated in December 2009. Her car had been vandalized repeatedly and she’d received harassing calls. After she went missing, Capone admitted to police that he’d made the calls. At trial, David Stone testified that he’d been at the shop on April 16 and saw Capone strangling Rachael. He said Capone told him to fetch a tarp. He also said he helped wrap and dispose of her body, and described taking it to a bridge near Clarkston. [1] [3]
Stone testified under an agreement that led to the dismissal of the murder charge against him. A Moscow shop owner remembered selling Capone a replacement tarp the following day. Two men who’d been in custody with Capone also testified about statements he’d made. The shop owner’s testimony gave prosecutors a transaction to put beside Stone’s account. The transaction couldn’t establish where Rachael was taken. [1]
Paul Sableman · Image source · CC BY 2.0 · Commons-provided image; no content edits.
What the courts could decide
The jury convicted Capone in September 2014, and he received a fixed life sentence for murder in February 2015. After trial, another former cellmate, Tyler Byers, said Stone had told him Rachael wasn’t in the river. Capone sought a new trial. The Idaho Supreme Court upheld the denial in 2018. It found that Stone’s role in the concealment required corroboration on the related charges and that the state had presented it. The court treated his account of witnessing the killing differently under Idaho’s accomplice rule. [1] [4]
In 2023, the Idaho Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of another challenge. The conviction stands in the reviewed court record. The Washington State Patrol’s bulletin still lists Rachael as missing. Its Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit takes information at 1-800-543-5678. [5] [6]
The purse in the borrowed car gave Rachael’s family an answer about where the vehicle had ended up. The question they’d been asking since she missed work has never had an answer they could take home. [1] [6]
Case brief
Moscow, Idaho · 2010
- Recorded outcome
- Charles Capone convicted September 2014; fixed life sentence reported February 2015; direct appeal affirmed 2018 and post-conviction dismissal affirmed 2023.
Key moments
People in this case
- Charles Capone
Convicted of murdering Rachael Anderson
Photo at source · KOZE · labeled photograph
Look closer · 9 visuals
Inside the evidence.
Open a visual to explore what it contributed to the case—and the limits of what it shows. Photographs, historical reproductions and original illustrations are individually labeled. Open the notes for each image’s source, credit, and limitations; setting photographs do not depict crime scenes.
The Yukon was found
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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The family found the white Yukon in Lewiston on April 21.
This is a vehicle symbol, not the actual SUV; the discovery did not establish Anderson’s location.
A separate tarp purchase
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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A shop owner’s testimony about a new tarp supplied corroboration independent of Stone.
A purchase alone does not prove a homicide or identify the original tarp.
The bargain behind the account
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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Stone received a substantial benefit for testifying and was extensively challenged about inconsistent statements.
The plea incentive does not automatically establish either truth or falsity.
Two accounts of the river
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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Stone described river disposal; Byers later reported a contrary statement from July 2013.
The new-trial ruling did not physically establish where Anderson was left.
Statements from custody
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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Cellmates described incriminating statements that the court treated as corroboration of concealment offenses.
The accounts differed in wording and were challenged; the tape icon does not imply an audio recording exists.
Different offenses, different roles
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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The court distinguished Stone’s legal status for the killing from his participation in concealing the death.
This describes the 2018 opinion, not a moral exoneration or a general legal rule for other cases.
A downtown Moscow storefront
Geographic context photograph — not a crime-scene image.
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A downtown Moscow storefront. Geographic context only; this business is not Capone’s repair shop and is not implicated in the case.
Commons-provided image; no content edits. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
Jeremy Segrott from Cardiff, Wales, UK · Image source · CC BY 2.0
The Clearwater and Snake rivers at Lewiston
Geographic context photograph — not a crime-scene image.
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The Clearwater and Snake rivers at Lewiston. Regional context for the disposal account; this is not a photograph of a recovery or proof of where Rachael was left.
Commons-provided image; no content edits. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
Forest Service Northern Region from Missoula, MT, USA · Image source · Public domain
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The NuArt Theater in downtown Moscow
Geographic context photograph — not a crime-scene image.
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The NuArt Theater in downtown Moscow. City context only; no connection between this theater and the crime is alleged.
Commons-provided image; no content edits. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
Paul Sableman · Image source · CC BY 2.0
★ Key evidence used in a conviction · ✓ Exclusion or reversal · ◇ Disputed evidence · ⊘ Excluded at retrial · ◆ Identity / investigative finding, not a conviction. A symbol does not mean one item proved the whole case.
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Put the story on the map.
Follow the dated entries, then select an event to find its regional setting. Shared-location pins open a group of events. Evidence symbols identify important findings and their limitations.
Open the map in its own window ↗Sources & further reading
- State v. Capone — Idaho Supreme CourtDisappearance chronology, Stone testimony, corroboration, errors, new-trial dispute and affirmance.
- David Stone sentencing — AP report in Idaho courts’ news clipping archivePlea benefit and seven-year sentence with three-year minimum; copyrighted news report within government clipping archive.
- Capone guilty of murder — Lewiston Tribune, Kerri Sandaine, court news archiveSeptember verdict, family search and testimony identifying Red Wolf Crossing. Fewer than 200 words of article substance derived.
- Convicted murderer Charles Capone sentenced to life — KHQContemporary date and fixed life sentence plus additional term.
- Capone v. State — Idaho Court of Appeals, unpublished No. 49437 (court text mirrored by Counsel Stack)Affirmance of summary dismissal of third amended post-conviction petition; used as case history, not precedential legal authority. Original court URL https://isc.idaho.gov/opinions/49437.pdf was unavailable at final link review; this link supplies the opinion text.
- Washington State Patrol: Rachael Anderson missing-person bulletinLists the last-seen date and the Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit’s tip number.
Editorial review: 2026-11-12 · 418 words