Large inheritance motivated killing of Ronan man, prosecutors allege

A Polson man has admitted to shooting and killing a Ronan resident following a dispute over a large inheritance the victim had received, according to charges filed by the Lake County attorney’s office on Wednesday.

Edwin “Ed” Loder, 67, was found dead in the Jocko Canyon area last week, according to law enforcement, following a week-long search after he went missing from his home under suspicious circumstances.

The location of Loder’s body was reportedly provided to investigators by James Phillip Lawrence, 70, who has been arrested and charged by County Attorney James Lapotka with one count of deliberate homicide and one count of tampering with evidence.

Investigators responding to the missing-person report on Sept. 4 found a pair of bloody eyeglasses, several 9mm shell casings and droplets of blood in a ditch along Timberlane Road, next to a property owned by Loder, the charges state.

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That 80-acre property, referred to in charging documents as the Mendenhall estate, had been bequeathed to Loder in a will that also listed Lawrence as a beneficiary. The value of the estate was “estimated in the millions of dollars.”

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