There's no fool, like an old liberal

Idaho News

Husband pushed wife off cliff for money & mistress;
Suspect killed self as investigators moved in
May 9, 2008

Sue Newby rides her horse Tio.
Newby was on a riding trip with this horse
in the Eagle foothills when her nigger husband
pushed her down a cliff to her death last month

ADA COUNTY - A woman reported to have fallen off her horse and down a cliff to her death last month -- didn't fall at all. Investigators say she was pushed by her own husband.

[color="Red"]Sue Newby, 53, and her husband Mark were riding horses in the foothills north of Eagle on the afternoon of April 4th.

Her husband, Mark Newby, said the horse got tripped up, and Sue fell off and went over the cliff.

Now the Ada County Sheriff's Office said the initial report was untrue, that Mark Newby pushed his wife and tried to pass it off as an accident.

Sue Newby, 53 died in the foothills north of Eagle on April 3rd when she was pushed over a cliff by her husband.

She fell more than 100 feet down a steep embankment. It took crews several hours to retrieve the body from the remote area.

Investigators began looking into the death as they do in most cases - even those that appear accidental. Initially Mark Newby's story seemed to check out, and that all the pieces fit together. But details of the case began to emerge that painted a very different picture than what Newby said happened.

When deputies went to his home at 7980 Chisum Way north of Kuna Wednesday night to serve a search warrant, he did not come to the door. Deputies backed off and called in the Ada Metro SWAT Team - and at some point that evening, Newby killed himself.

Police responded to this home in Ada County near Kuna last night. After they arrived, the home's resident Mark Newby killed himself. He would have been charged with murder in the death of his wife Sue.

He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to Ada County Coroner Erwin Sonnenberg.

"We could have charged Mark Newby with the death of his wife Sue for pushing his wife off that cliff," Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney said Thursday morning.

He said that evidence in the case was largely circumstantial - and compared it to the case of Scott Peterson, who killed his wife Laci in California in 2002.

"Most of that evidence, although circumstantial surrounded laying the groundwork before her death that would have netted him a significant amount of money after her death," Raney said.

Raney wouldn't detail how much money Newby would have gained from his wife's death - but did say that some of the money was to come from life insurance.

Mark Newby is shown
in this 2003 mugshot
provided by the Ada County
Sheriff's Office.
He was arrested at
the time on charges of
domestic violence against
a previous wife.

The day after Sue Newby's death, Mark Newby spent several hours with another woman having an "intimate relationship," according to Raney. When he went to leave he made an unspecified flippant comment about the death of Sue Newby to the woman.

When the other woman asked if he was upset about the death, he said "he really wasn't." Investigators say that the other woman did not know Newby was married prior to his wife's murder.

The unidentified woman was "very helpful and cooperative" with the investigation, Raney said.

If Newby had not killed himself, deputies likely would have made an arrest in the case today or in coming days.

Investigators said Mark Newby may or may not have known he was being investigated. He was interviewed by investigators several days after his wife's death.

The investigation will continue and should wrap up soon.

"I don't think you can call this a victory," Ada County detective Shellie Strolberg said. "I guess you could say it's good to know he's not going to get away with murder."

Newby was previously arrested in 2003 on a charge of domestic battery on his third wife -- a charge that was later plead down to disturbing the peace. Sue Newby is Mark's fourth wife - and they had been married for about three and a half years. The couple did not have children.

Sue Newby worked for Hewlett-Packard in Boise, Mark Newby was employed by A-1 Heating & Air.

Mark Newby's boss said he was very private - and little was known about his private life.

"This is very surprising and shocking," Pat Minegar with A-1 said.

Newby worked for the company for six years, and continued to come to work on a regular basis, according to Minegar.