Police assembled several forms of evidence within an hour of the shooting that killed Texas resident Rafael Valles.
RIGBY, Idaho — By the time police arrested Tristin John Chase less than an hour after a fatal shooting at a Rigby home, investigators already had eyewitness accounts, a phone conversation with the suspect and the beginnings of an electronic record that would become central to a second-degree murder charge.
The case against Chase, 22, involves more than the fact that Rafael Cordova Valles Jr., 43, died after two shots were fired Aug. 23. Court records described in multiple local reports show investigators examining what happened before, during and after the confrontation: messages allegedly threatening Valles, statements from two women at the house, Ring doorbell evidence, physical evidence near the entrance and Chase’s own account to a deputy while he was away from the scene. None of that evidence has yet been established through a final judgment, and Chase remains presumed innocent.
The investigation began as officers were responding to a confusing dispatch. Local reporting on the probable cause affidavit said police were sent to the Ashlynn Way residence shortly after noon after an initial report involving a man shot in the head, with early information suggesting the possibility of suicide. What officers found led them in a different direction. One woman was crying while holding a young child. Another was trying to perform CPR on Valles. The women told police another person had fired the shots and left with the firearm.
Officers took over CPR and other lifesaving measures, but Valles died at the scene. Police then asked the witnesses where the gun was and who had fired it. Both women identified Chase, according to the charging records. Their statements transformed the response into a search for an armed homicide suspect. Rigby police alerted nearby agencies, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho State Police and Rexburg police became involved in the wider response. Central Fire Department also assisted at the scene.
Even before police located Chase, investigators gained direct contact with him. Chase called one of the women who remained at the residence. She passed the phone to a Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy, creating an unusual early record of the suspect’s own explanation while the crime scene response was still underway. Chase said Valles had approached him while he was holding his daughter and continued toward him despite repeated orders to stay away. He said he went inside and Valles kicked the door open and tried to hit him.
Chase also told the deputy he had not intended to shoot Valles. According to the affidavit, he said he did not know how his gun fired. He asked whether his daughter was safe and questioned whether Valles had actually been shot. Chase said he was driving because he was panicking and trying to calm down. Reports on the court records say he also discussed taking his own life rather than going to prison. The deputy continued communicating with him, and Chase ultimately returned toward the area where officers could stop him.
Those statements became only one layer of the evidence. Witnesses described the decisive moments differently. One woman told investigators Chase was carrying his 2-year-old daughter when he drew a handgun from his waistband. She said the child was positioned in the path where a shot could endanger her. Valles then tried to take the weapon from Chase, according to her statement. Two shots were heard. The affidavit, as publicly reported, does not contain a final forensic conclusion explaining precisely how the gun discharged during the encounter.
Police also had electronic evidence from the residence. A Ring device recorded audio around the aftermath, investigators said. The recording reportedly included someone telling others to call 911 and a woman saying Valles was dead. Investigators were also told the system captured part of the activity around the doorway. Reports about the affidavit say officers located a spent shell casing roughly 10 to 15 feet from the home’s front door in a rock bed. No completed public ballistics report or comprehensive crime-scene reconstruction was identified in the sources reviewed for this story.
The inquiry then expanded backward in time. According to court records, officers reviewed text messages exchanged that morning between Chase and a woman connected to the residence. The messages allegedly included demands for Valles’ telephone number and threats against him. Chase reportedly threatened to go to the Airbnb where Valles was staying and fire at it if the number was not supplied. Another message conveyed an intention to hurt Valles. Those communications may be important because investigators say they preceded the encounter rather than being written in its aftermath.
Other messages and witness statements described escalating problems at the home before Valles arrived. A woman told investigators that Chase had entered the residence against her wishes the previous night and refused to leave. She accused him of making her go to dinner with him and alleged other unwanted conduct. The next morning, she reportedly told Chase she wanted a restraining order and wanted him out of her life. The allegations involving the woman remain claims documented in the investigation and should not be treated as proven criminal conduct.
Chase left the home that morning to get milk for his daughter, investigators were told. The women initially locked him out but eventually allowed him back inside so he could see the child. Valles learned of the situation and had been unable to reach one of the women for about two hours, according to the affidavit. He then went to the home to check on her. Police said the men argued in the front yard before their confrontation shifted toward the doorway and the gun was produced.
The case therefore contains potential evidence aimed at several different questions. The alleged text threats may inform investigators about Chase’s state of mind before Valles arrived. The witnesses provide accounts of the physical encounter. The Ring material records portions of the scene and aftermath. The shell casing and other physical evidence can help establish where shots were fired. Chase’s phone call gives investigators his near-contemporaneous explanation, including his assertion that he did not mean for the gun to discharge. Ultimately, prosecutors would have to present admissible evidence sufficient to prove the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt.
Police arrested Chase just before 1 p.m. during a traffic stop near the 300 block of West First South in Rigby. The quick arrest limited the time he remained away from the scene after witnesses said he left with the gun. He was booked into the Jefferson County Jail and brought before a judge the next day. Judge Faren Eddins set bond at $750,000. Court reporting also said a no-contact order was entered. Public defender Jordan Crane was identified as representing Chase.
At that early stage, the court was not deciding whether Chase acted intentionally, whether he reasonably feared Valles or whether the gun discharged during a struggle. An initial appearance establishes procedural matters rather than resolving disputed evidence. The second-degree murder charge represents the prosecution’s accusation based on the investigation presented to the court, while Chase’s statements about Valles advancing on him form part of a factual dispute that can be explored through later proceedings.
The investigation also illustrates why the chronology before a shooting can matter alongside the seconds in which gunfire occurs. Chase’s account focuses on Valles’ immediate actions near the doorway. Investigators, however, also collected evidence concerning the night before, the woman’s attempts to make Chase leave, the morning’s threatening messages and Valles’ reason for coming to the residence. A court will determine what evidence is admissible and how much weight it should receive if the case proceeds toward trial.
Public reporting immediately after Chase’s arrest said a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Sept. 3. Searches of publicly indexed news reports through Sept. 30 did not produce a reliable account confirming what occurred at that hearing or establishing a later disposition. The most recent verified reporting reviewed for this article therefore leaves the case at the stage of an unresolved second-degree murder accusation supported by evidence outlined in a probable cause affidavit and early court proceedings.
Unless later court records establish otherwise, the central legal questions remain unanswered: how the confrontation unfolded at the doorway, why the gun fired and what Chase intended at the moment Valles was fatally wounded. Rigby police said after the shooting that the investigation remained active and that more information could be released. The department also expressed condolences to Valles’ family and thanked the agencies that assisted.
Author note: Last updated Sept. 30, 2026.