Day 1 of sentencing for Jeremy Best, who murdered pregnant wife and 10-month-old son
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DRIGGS — The first day of Jeremy Best’s sentencing began Wednesday, after he pleaded guilty to the murders of his pregnant wife, her unborn child and their 10-month-old son.
Best, 50, pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement to first-degree murder in the death of 10-month-old Zeke Best and second-degree murder in the deaths of Kali Randall and their unborn daughter, Freya.
Best could get up to life in prison.
Read the details about the case here.
District Judge Dane Watkins Jr. is presiding over the sentencing hearing.
Best appeared in court in a beige jail uniform, represented by his defense attorney, Jim Archibald.
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‘Depraved nature of these crimes’
Teton County Prosecuting Attorney Bailey Smith started her opening arguments by stating that the material presented up until today does not tell the whole story of the case.
“Additional background and information is needed, your honor, to understand the depraved nature of these crimes and how dangerous the defendant remains going forward,” said Smith.
Smith claimed that Best and Randall were struggling financially, and her pregnancy caused a large amount of stress on Best.
“The relationship in actuality was rocky and quite volatile,” said Smith. “You’ll see that Jeremy was frequently demanding, demeaning and sometimes downright verbally abusive of Kali. … You’ll see that divorce came up multiple times leading up to the murders.”
Smith said that Best struggled to cope with the stress and often turned to drugs such as marijuana, mushrooms and overuse of cough syrup.
“He is highly unpredictable,” said Smith. “He is capable of extreme homicidal violence.”
Many in the gallery struggled to hold composure and tears back as Smith described the murders.
“Kali didn’t see it coming either,” said Smith. “He shot Kali four times in the back, killing her and unborn Freya. He also slashed Zeke’s throat with a steak knife. Before it was over, he slashed the family dog’s throat in the same way.”
‘Calm yourself’
The first witness called by prosecutors was detective Neil Stevens with the Idaho State Police.
“We were trying to find out why this crime had occurred. In doing so, we needed to get into the lives of the Best family,” said Stevens. “We did find some marital stress. We found some financial stress.”
Prosecutors showed a timeline to the gallery of the crucial moments in Kali and Jeremy’s relationship, including the birth of Zeke, high-stress financial struggles and multiple discussions about divorce.
Stevens stated the couple discussed divorce at least five times during their marriage, showing screenshots of text messages from Dec. 2022, where Best says “I want to divorce,” and Randall responds, “I’m scared.”
Zeke was born early on Jan. 24, 2023, and Stevens says he was admitted to the NICU.
“During some interviews and talking to people, the bill was over $100,000 for the NICU, and created a financial strain for the family,” said Stevens. He later clarified that Medicaid eventually paid the bill.
In March 2023, Best and his mother, Patricia Best, reportedly texted about his anger toward Randall for a “spending problem.”
“This is the time for you to calm yourself down and think rationally, not with a hot head,” said Patricia. “You should also talk to a lawyer about what your options are. … Think of the consequences of that, and don’t do something you will regret.”
During that same period, Best had also texted others about divorcing Randall. Randall and Patricia also reportedly discussed the hardships since Zeke’s birth.
Randall also reportedly texted a friend that she had lied to Best about their finances.
“I lied because I thought it was easier than starting another fight,” said Randall. “I thought I could pay off the cards quickly.”
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Randall’s pregnancy with Freya was found to be high-risk, leading to even more financial stress.
Stevens then showed a two-second video of Zeke from Nov. 16, where Best is heard in the background saying, “We’re not supposed to have children.”
“I don’t know why the video was taken, I don’t know how the video was taken,” says Stevens. “But it’s relevant to me, because it was taken in November, within weeks of the homicide of Kali and Zeke Best.”
Prosecutors then showed another video from Nov. 20, this time from Best’s phone, showing him seemingly kicking Randall out of the home, while he claims that she was “lying and cheating.” Best calls her a “terrible housewife” before saying it was the “last time they were ever going to talk to each other.”
“This one really hit me the most, because this is 10 days prior to the homicides,” said Stevens. “This video had a big impact on me. It actually shows the nature and how Jeremy Best talked to her, what he was saying to her.”
Kali and Freya were murdered on Nov. 30. Zeke’s body was found on Dec. 2.
On Nov. 30, Best was seen walking into the Swan Valley General Store, naked. She the video here.
“He arrived at the Swan Valley convenience store, took all of his clothes off and walked completely naked into the store,” said Stevens. “(The store) called the police, the police came and talked to Jeremy. … Jeremy voluntarily went into the ambulance and they went to ERMIC at that time.”
Best was not charged, and he was released from the hospital later that day. Randall picked him up and drove them home, where Best fell asleep.
Later that night, police received a 911 call from Best’s landline phone, in which “a disturbance” was heard, but there was no communication with the dispatcher.
“The dispatch center didn’t know what was going on, so they sent an officer to do a welfare check,” says Stevens. “He got there at approximately 11:55 p.m.”
The deputy arrived and met with a neighbor, who stated that he heard gunshots and yelling, and that Randall and Best lived in the home with 10-month-old Zeke. Soon after, the deputy found Randall’s body, but did not find Zeke.
Multiple agencies helped with the investigation, and police issued an Amber Alert around 3 a.m. for Zeke. Stevens says the murder weapon, a revolver, was quickly found on a table inside the home.
On Dec. 2, a hunter in Bonneville County found Best “completely naked” in a sleeping bag on the side of the road, and saw Best’s Tahoe nearby in a ravine.
“(Best) said, ‘I may have killed my wife and child,’ and he also said, ‘The FBI are coming to get me,'” said Stevens. Soon after, police found Zeke’s body and the deceased family dog in the back seat of the Tahoe.
Prosecutors then asked if Stevens found evidence that Best knew what he had done.
“As the homicide (of Randall) occurred, (Best) went back, and he threw the phone that 911 was on, the phone was thrown into the fireplace,” said Stevens. “He also turned the power off to the entire establishment, and then he fled. And he fled with the baby, and he drove all the way to Swan Valley.”
Stevens said Best was “taking steps” to avoid arrest after the murders.
“He knew he killed Kali, and he was taking steps to try and leave the scene, because he knew law enforcement was coming at him,” said Stevens.
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Stevens then described the case as being the most impactful on him.
“I’ve done a lot of cases, and this one has probably impacted me the most. I also have a grandchild that was close to (Zeke’s) age. … My whole focus in life at that point was to find Zeke,” says Stevens. “I used to be able to just stop thinking about it when I got home. But now I go home and I think about it. I wake up at 3 in the morning, and I have an idea, and it’s hard to go back to sleep.”
Best’s care at EIRMC
The next witness was Rebecca Bird, a physician’s assistant at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.
“He was brought to the emergency room for a concern after an incident that happened at a gas station outside of Teton County. He was brought in for an evaluation,” said Bird, “Medical, psychiatric, he was brought in to generally be evaluated for the circumstances in which he was found.”
Bird stated that Best was “very polite” during the examination, and clearly answered all of her questions.
“He understood that he had taken his clothes off and gone into a bathroom. He didn’t remember the exact incident, but he did remember when they came in with paramedics, and they brought him in town to the hospital,” said Bird.
Bird says she was never told that Best was dangerous or was under any criminal investigation.
“He told me he had a diagnosis of bipolar (disorder) in the past, and that he used to take medicine for bipolar, but he didn’t like the way the medication made him feel,” said Bird. “He said on occasion, he would take Benadryl for sleep.”
Bird says Best mentioned that he had a history of alcohol abuse, and had been to rehab about 20 years before, but had been sober ever since.
“He said he’d been very stressed recently and hadn’t been sleeping,” said Bird. “He said he was stressed about a baby coming … and that he had a 10-month-old at home.”
During the examination, Bird says she did not see any evidence that Best was a danger.
“I recommended that he get an evaluation through a crisis evaluation, and check some bloodwork, which is our standard,” says Bird. “He politely declined.”
Bird says Best did not meet the qualifications to be put on a mental hold through Idaho statute. Best provided Randall’s phone number, and Bird spoke to her multiple times as she drove from Victor to Idaho Falls to pick him up.
“I wanted more history. I wanted to know more about him, and what was going on at home,” said Bird. “Kali told me that she agreed he hadn’t been sleeping and he had been stressed out, and she didn’t seem to think it was out of the ordinary, as far as she had seen him not sleeping.”
Bird says Randall wanted to take Best home from the hospital that day.
“I was still concerned about the situation, and the concern that I didn’t have the necessary point to place him on a mental hold. With their circumstances, I decided to involve my supervisor at the time,” said Bird. “I wanted a second opinion and a re-evaluation to support.”
According to Bird, her supervisor also concluded that Best did not meet the qualifications to be placed on a mental hold.
During cross-examination, Archibald said that in medical reports, Best called himself “Jesus” and “Thor the Norse God” while asking questions about the Latter-day Saint religion. Bird says she was unaware of any of this.
Bird says she suggested that Best see a psychiatric expert, but doesn’t believe he did. She then states that she believed Best just needed to sleep.
The neighbor
After the lunch break, prosecutors played Randall’s 911 call, in which both Randall and Best’s voices are heard yelling in the background, but the words cannot be distinguished.
The dispatcher repeatedly asks “Hello, can you hear me?” and nobody responds before the call ends.
Tim Auchambaugh, Best and Randall’s neighbor, was then called to the stand. Auchambaugh said he was sleeping and was awoken by “loud voices outside,” identified as Randall saying, “Jeremy stop. Jeremy don’t. You have a baby.”
“She was yelling and she sounded distressed and panicked,” said Auchambaugh. “I then heard gunshots, what sounded to me like a series of three shots followed by one or two after that.”
He then heard Best say, “Try calling the cops now.”
“It sounded to me like what a taunt would sound like,” said Auchambaugh.
The neighbor says he looked out his window and went downstairs, telling his partner what he had heard. He said he asked her to stay quiet, and not to turn any lights on.
Auchambaugh says he watched Best’s Tahoe leave the neighborhood and turn west. According to the neighbor, he had noticed a “loud verbal argument” two months before between Randall and Best that occurred outside.
“I remember Jeremy threatening to smash maybe a cell phone, or maybe computers,” said Auchambaugh. “I remember Kali saying at one point, ‘Jeremy don’t smash that. That’s not been paid for.'”
The neighbor says he remembers Best saying, “something to the effect of ‘This is all mine, the money is all mine.'”
Randall found
Prosecutors then called Robert Christensen, a Fremont County Sheriff’s Office deputy.
Christensen said he responded after the 911 call, and found Randall’s body underneath an awning connected to the shop.
“When I found Kali, I immediately called for help, for medical services, and once I realized that she was deceased, I immediately began to search for Jeremy and for Zeke,” says Christensen. “I searched the shop and the residence.”
Christensen says she was wearing leggings and no shirt.
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The court then played the audio of Christensen’s body camera footage, but did not show the video to the gallery.
Christensen is heard saying, “Oh s***,” before saying “Kali, Kali!” and calling EMS to report that Randall had gunshot wounds to her side.
He is heard trying to perform life-saving measures and calling Randall’s name, asking if she is awake, until he realizes she is deceased and reports that she is dead.
Zeke and dog found
The next witness was Michael Cox, a detective with the Idaho State Police. Cox says he responded to Victor on Dec. 1 for the homicide investigation. Cox testified that next to the shop, next to kali’s body was a blue shirt and a black hoodie that had “Powder Day Photography” on it, lying on the ground.
“We noticed in the bottom part of that T-shirt, a clump of hair consistent with Kali’s hair color,” said Cox.
Prosecutors indicated that this showed there was a struggle between Best and Randall before her murder.
The next day, Cox was called to the scene in Bonneville County, where Best, Zeke and the family dog were found.
Best showed no emotion in court as Cox described finding Zeke and the family dog, deceased in the Tahoe. Judge Watkins then decided to turn off the monitors to the gallery, and show photos of the dog and Zeke’s bodies to the parties only. Members of the gallery continued to cry and hold back emotion based on Cox’s descriptions of the photos.
“It was definitely impactful, the age of the victims. It was a tough scene to work, comparing it to other scenes that I’ve been involved with,” said Cox. “You think about it, I have kids too and it’s just a helpless child. It’s sad, it’s a very sad, very tragic case that unfortunately we had to deal with.”
Best’s sentencing is expected to continue with the defense witnesses and victim impact statements Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Teton County Courthouse.