LIVE: 2 charged in plot to kill Rexburg man but may have targeted wrong home, documents say
June 18, 2025
46,076
1,543
85
3.53%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
East Idaho News Episodes Around June 18, 2025
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
24:51Now PlayingLIVE: 2 charged in plot to kill Rexburg man but may have targeted wrong home, documents say
YouTube Description
as posted by the channel#eastidahonews #crime #rexburg
REXBURG — A grand jury has indicted two men in connection with the homicide of a Rexburg man who was shot and killed during a home invasion in 2021.
Anthony Dean (T.J.) Wilson, 33, and Ryler Jensen, 28, are charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Investigators say they worked with Pierre Lake, 21, in conspiring to kill Ralph Brian at his home on the 300 block of North 12th West. Brian’s wife, Karen Brian, was stabbed multiple times but survived.
Lake, the key suspect in the case, was arrested the day after the attack in September 2021. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced in January 2024 to serve 30 years to life in prison.
“We always believed there were more participants in the crime and so this case has been active since the death of Ralph Brian,” Madison County Sheriff Ron Ball said during a news conference Wednesday. “I can’t give enough credit to the detectives who have worked nonstop on the case.”
Wilson, Jensen and Lake appeared to plan the murder of someone else, but Lake entered the wrong mobile home and ended up killing Brian, according to an indictment obtained by EastIdahoNews.com.
The indictment says Wilson instructed Lake to kill the other person, whose name is redacted, between Sept. 1 to Sept. 20, 2021. Wilson put a “hit” out on the person during that time period, and Jensen and Lake both conducted surveillance of a home in Madison County, court documents say.
Lake drove to “or near” the home on Sept. 21 and “entered into a mobile home, believing it to belong to (redacted),” according to the indictment.
Ball was one of the original detectives who interviewed Lake after the attack, but the sheriff says Lake would not discuss other possible suspects.
“Pierre refused to give any information about anybody who may have helped him, so that made it difficult,” Ball said. “We had to rely on tips and really outstanding detective work.”
Wilson, Jensen and Lake were friends who hung out with each other and “were involved in some illegal activity,” Ball explained. Wilson is already in jail in connection with another conspiracy to commit murder case. He allegedly plotted to kill Teton County Sheriff Clinton Lemieux and Teton County Magistrate Judge Jason Walker. Ball said that case is not connected to Brian’s murder case. Jensen is also in jail on grand theft and other charges.
The Brians did not know Wilson, Jensen, or Lake, and Ball said the couple were “totally innocent victims.”
When asked if there are other suspects who have not been arrested, Ball said, “That door is open.”
“If anybody has any further information about the death of Ralph Brian and the assault of Karen Brian, we’d appreciate it if they would come forward and help us out,” Ball said. “It’s important that justice is served here. We want all people involved in this homicide and attack on Karen to be brought to justice.”
If convicted, Wilson and Jensen could face up to life in prison. They are scheduled to be arraigned on June 26.
► Subscribe to East Idaho News
► Support East Idaho News
► Download our free app
► Like us on Facebook
► Follow us on X
► Follow us on Instagram
► Get East Idaho News merch
► Subscribe to our free newsletter
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.