ADA COUNTY, Idaho — An Eagle man investigators long suspected hired his brother to carry out a brutal attack on his ex-wife has been arrested.
Roger Adrian Quinn, 60, is charged with felony criminal solicitation to commit a crime in connection to the November 2019 attack.
Prosecutor Tamera Kelly argued Quinn should remain behind bars, telling the judge that just last week, deputies found zip ties, a knife, a gun, a wig, and disguises in his car, which he had apparently been living in.
"The state believes the defendant is a danger to the community and particularly a danger to his ex-wife," Kelly said.
Investigators say Quinn hired his brother, 64-year-old Craig Falk of Georgia, to kill the woman in 2019 after he and his wife divorced and Quinn lost custody of their shared daughter.
Quinn lied to Falk to convince him to kill his ex-wife, according to a criminal complaint, telling his brother that Quinn's daughter was in danger and that "his life would be so much better if [the victim] was dead."
Prosecutors say Quinn gave Falk money, bought him a plane ticket and encouraged him to buy a disposable phone to discuss the plan. Kelly said that Quinn gave his brother directions to his ex-wife's house and fed him information about where she would be and what she was doing.
"It was evident from those conversations that the defendant was following her for portions of the day," she said.
The assault happened the day after Thanksgiving 2019 as the woman pulled into the garage of her Hidden Springs home. As she stepped out of the car, Falk attacked, smashing her in the head multiple times with a metal bar as the victim's young daughter looked on.
A neighbor who heard the woman screaming ran to help her, and the injured victim was able to crawl back into her car to get away from Falk.
"Luckily, the victim did not die" in that attack, Kelly said, but suffered significant injuries including a concussion and lacerations to her head that required staples to close.
Falk was captured by Ada County Sheriff's Office deputies a short distance from the house.
Although detectives believed the attacker had been acting on the direction of someone else - and suspected the victim's ex-husband ordered the attack - Quinn was not charged.
Falk was ultimately convicted of felony aggravated battery, and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The sheriff's office says a safety plan was put into place for the victim, and detectives have continued to stay in contact with her.
The case took on a new urgency last week, however, after deputies were called out to a report of an abandoned car near Idaho 44 and Eagle Aug. 17.
Quinn was inside, and apparently had been living in the vehicle, the sheriff's office said. Deputies say the suspect gave them a fake name and refused to give his date of birth until they found a drivers license identifying him.
Deputies searched Quinn's car, and found a handgun, a knife, zip-ties, a garbage bag, a wig, a ghillie suit, a construction worker outfit or costume, and multiple license plates, Kelly told the judge.
"That recent contact that law enforcement had with the defendant gives the state real concern that his motivation to kill his ex-wife has not ended," she said.
Quinn was booked into the Ada County Jail on a misdemeanor charge of providing false information to police, but quickly bonded out. Detectives with the sheriff's office continued to gather evidence and investigate, and on Tuesday, the Ada County Prosecutor issued a warrant for his arrest on the criminal solicitation charge.
The suspect was taken into custody the next day folllowing a traffic stop.
At his initial arraignment, Quinn told the judge he did not understand what he was being charged with and insisted he had done nothing wrong.
"I have never broken any laws, I have had seven FBI background checks in between decades, I have never been in trouble," Quinn said.
Quinn's bail was set at $250,000, and he is due back in court Sept. 8. If convicted of the felony, he could face up to 30 years in prison.
The investigation is ongoing, the Ada County Sheriff's Office says, and more charges are possible.
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