Bigfork teen out of jail in Ferndale case

Alex Strickland / Bigfork Eagle

Zachary Forkin, who was arrested in connection with the murder of a 24-year-old Ferndale man, was released from jail without charges on Jan. 29, the chief deputy Lake County attorney said.

Attorney Mitch Young told Kalispell television station KCFW last week that Forkin, 19, was released from the Lake County jail. He declined to give any other details.

Forkin was arrested along with 19-year-old Ronald Lon Petersen last week after authorities were given an anonymous tip that they were connected to the New Year's Eve shooting of Clyde Wilson in his Ferndale home.

Petersen was charged with deliberate homicide and is awaiting extradition back to Montana from Fort Bragg Army Base in North Carolina where he is stationed.

Court documents alledge that Petersen entered Wilson's home on Meadow Creek Road on Jan. 31 and shot Wilson three times. Wilson's girlfriend and infant child were in the home at the time.

Authorities were directed to Petersen by his brother, Ryon Gates, whom Petersen confided in about the deed, according to the affidavit.

The same affidavit states that Forkin had loaned the gun to Petersen without the knowledge of his mother, the gun's owner. The document states that while on leave from the Army, Petersen had stayed at Forkin's home.

Last week divers scoured the Swan River below the one-lane bridge in downtown Bigfork looking for the gun believed to have been used. They searched on Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 28 and 29 in frigid temperaures, but the weapon was not recovered.