Left: Patrick Shelton (Custer County Sheriff”s Office). Right: Alan Bruce (Custer County Sheriff’s Office).
An Idaho man will spend decades behind bars for murdering and dismembering a man he had been stalking before reportedly sending the victim’s daughter a letter saying he did them a favor by chopping up the still-missing body so they could save on funeral costs.
Alan Douglas Bruce, 70, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the death of 47-year-old Patrick Shelton, according to court records. Bruce pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder and evidence destruction. The Custer County Sheriff’s Office began investigating on May 10 after Shelton failed to return from a wood cutting trip.
Boise NBC affiliate KTVB obtained an arrest affidavit stating that police recovered Shelton’s truck in the area of Big Hill near Forest Service Road 256. Shelton’s dog was in the car, but there was no sign of him. Investigators found “blood spatter and possible brain tissue” inside the truck.
“The blood spatter appeared to be throughout the front of the interior,” detectives wrote. “The brain matter was on the rearview mirror.”
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Shelton’s hair was also recovered on the windowsill. In the road next to the truck was a piece of mail addressed to Bruce, the affidavit said.
Phone records showed Shelton was on Bruce’s property between approximately midnight and 9 a.m. on May 8. Bruce was then brought in for an interview and initially denied any knowledge of Shelton’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, investigators searched Bruce’s property.
According to the affidavit, detectives discovered possible bone fragments and broken glass behind a pickup truck. They also found “small flecks of human flesh” and red human hair — the same color as Shelton’s — next to Bruce’s camper. Police dogs indicated there were human remains in several areas of the property.
In a second interview, Bruce told investigators that he was going to prison for a “long time,” the affidavit said. Bruce said he and Shelton were involved in a traffic accident. The defendant left the area and returned with an AR rifle. Using the “cover of darkness,” he watched Shelton for “hours” from afar with night vision binoculars, detectives wrote.
At one point, Bruce said he approached Shelton armed with the rifle and asked, “Do you want some of this?” Bruce claimed Shelton was armed and responded by saying, “You better pull the trigger motherf—er” before pointing the gun at him.
“When that 45 came up it was me or him,” Bruce told detectives.
Bruce shot Shelton dead. He then proceeded to dismember Shelton’s body with a chain saw before burning the remains in a barrel. Bruce loaded the barrel into his truck, drove to a bridge and threw it into a river. He also disposed of the murder weapon and Shelton’s gun. Once he returned home, he cleaned up the scene with bleach and a Shop-Vac before towing Shelton’s truck to the Big Hill area.
When asked why he didn’t call cops, “Bruce said you ‘shoot, shovel and shut up,'” the affidavit said. Bruce also showed deputies a picture of Shelton’s body, which sat inside the victim’s truck. It was taken shortly before 6:30 a.m. on May 8.
The affidavit did not explain why Shelton was on Bruce’s property, nor did it detail his exact relationship with Bruce, though the defendant said the two were friends.
Local ABC, CBS and Fox affiliate KIFI attended Bruce’s sentencing hearing on Monday, where two of Shelton’s daughters made victim impact statements. One of the daughters reportedly said she received a disturbing letter from Bruce that said he did them a favor by dismembering and disposing of the body because they could save on funeral costs. Authorities have never recovered Shelton’s body.
Bruce was reportedly defiant during the hearing, first trying unsuccessfully to withdraw his plea and then claiming he shot his buddy Shelton in self-defense.
