MOSCOW, Idaho — An Idaho man who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in the 2010 disappearance a Washington woman and plans to testify against her estranged husband was released Friday on bond.
David C. Stone, 50, of Moscow, walked out of the Latah County Jail after posting $25,000 bond, The Lewiston Tribune reported.
He pleaded guilty earlier this month to failure to notify law enforcement about a death after Rachael Anderson, of Clarkston, Wash., went missing. Her body hasn’t been found.
Stone and Anderson’s estranged husband, Charles A. Capone, 53, were both charged with first-degree murder, failure to notify a coroner or law enforcement officer about a death and conspiracy to commit both of those crimes.
Stone’s guilty plea in the lesser charge is part of a deal that calls for him to testify at Capone’s trial. If a judge accepts the deal, Stone will be sentenced to seven years in jail and the murder charge against him will be dropped.
The plea agreement led to a change in the charges against Capone. On Friday, a prosecutor presented amended charges in 2nd District Court that Judge Michael J. Griffin approved.
The charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder was dropped. Capone has pleaded not guilty to the remaining counts. His trial is set for March 31.
Anderson, a mother of four, and Capone were in the process of getting divorced when she went missing on April 16, 2010. Moscow attorney D. Ray Barker, who is representing Capone, didn’t return a call from The Associated Press on Saturday.
Latah County Prosecutor William Thompson Jr. said detectives interviewed Stone twice last month and believe he isn’t responsible for Anderson’s death but helped cover it up.
Thompson said last month’s search of the Snake River west of Clarkston was related, in part, to what Stone told investigators.
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