Justin Friesner, a 24-year-old from Parma, and his best friend Cameron Russell were huddled at a bus stop last year, trying to fall asleep, when a stranger stopped and offered to buy them breakfast.
“Cameron and Justin, who had been homeless for few months at that point, were cold and hungry and accepted what they thought was a kind gesture,” Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Katelyn Farley said in court on Thursday.
Hours later, Friesner was dead . Police found his body on July 27, 2023, near the Boise Airport in an industrial area along South Production Avenue, north of Gowen Road.
In an emotional sentencing hearing Thursday, Farley told the story of what went wrong after Dallas Brower, a then-27-year-old from Twin Falls, took the two men to the IHOP on South Federal Way.
After breakfast, the three men went out to Brower’s car. Brower offered Friesner and Russell a marijuana joint, which Farley said was laced with fentanyl that caused the men to fall asleep.
“Cameron indicated after only having taken a few hits, his memory goes black before waking up to his best friend being stabbed by the defendant while still in the back seat of the defendant’s vehicle,” Farley said.