Police charged Andrew Scoffield after saying his account of a family fight did not fully match evidence found inside the home.
POCATELLO, Idaho — Investigators say Andrew Shane Scoffield admitted using pepper spray and an electric flyswatter during a fight that ended with his uncle dead, but police also said parts of his account did not line up with physical evidence at the scene.
That gap between a suspect’s statement and what officers believed they found has become one of the most important unresolved parts of the Aug. 30 death of Jeffery Scott Scoffield, 68. Andrew Scoffield, 44, was arrested that night and charged in a case described by Idaho court reporting as second-degree homicide or second-degree murder. Early reports focused heavily on the unusual object Andrew said he used during the confrontation. The public record, however, also contains questions about pepper spray, breathing distress, an alleged aluminum bat, the condition of the room and a medical cause of death that was not yet confirmed in the detailed reports reviewed for this article.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers were sent to a home in the 800 block of Park Avenue at about 3:15 p.m. after Jeffery’s son, Joshua Scoffield, reported that his father might be dead following a confrontation with Andrew. Joshua told police that Andrew had tried to call him and then sent a text indicating that he believed he may have killed Jeffery with an electric flyswatter. Joshua could not reach his father by phone, went to the residence and found him unresponsive. He attempted CPR until first responders arrived.
Inside the home, officers found Jeffery in a living room chair and noted a large amount of pepper spray residue nearby, according to the affidavit as reported by the Idaho State Journal. That detail matters because police initially said they believed the spray could have contributed to Jeffery’s death by affecting his ability to breathe. Andrew’s own statement, meanwhile, described a blow to the head with a large electric flyswatter shortly before Jeffery fell back in the chair and appeared to be struggling for air. The available early reporting did not establish which action, or combination of actions, a medical examiner ultimately determined caused the death.
Andrew gave detectives a narrative that began before the physical fight. He said he had been living with Jeffery for several months and that their relationship had deteriorated after Andrew borrowed about $600 two weeks earlier. He claimed Jeffery insulted him, called him “his maid” and cut electrical power to the basement area where Andrew stayed. On the day Jeffery died, Andrew said he was moving his belongings out when his uncle returned and confronted him. Those assertions came from Andrew’s interview and should not be treated as independently proven facts.
The confrontation, as Andrew described it, included actions that could become important to any defense theory. He told police Jeffery shoved him into a door frame and later picked up an aluminum bat. Andrew said he used pepper spray, and the men ended up fighting on the floor. He said he sprayed Jeffery again and then used the electric flyswatter, striking or throwing it at his uncle’s head. Nothing in the reports reviewed establishes that a court has accepted Andrew’s description of Jeffery’s actions, and police specifically said physical evidence created discrepancies with Andrew’s version.
The reports did not publicly detail each discrepancy, which limits how far the evidence can be interpreted. It is not clear from the material reviewed whether investigators questioned the claimed sequence of the fight, the position or use of the bat, the location of the pepper spray, the force involved, the condition of either man or another part of Andrew’s statement. Without those specifics, saying that his story was disproved would go beyond the available record. What can be said is that officers considered the differences significant enough to arrest him on a homicide charge after interviewing him.
Events outside the house gave investigators additional context. A neighbor told police that Andrew had been riding a four-wheeler in the neighborhood during the preceding days, yelling profanities and acting erratically. East Idaho News reported that the same neighbor said Andrew let air out of a tire on Jeffery’s vehicle, which police said they confirmed. Other coverage said Jeffery had deflated tires on Andrew’s ATV following complaints about his riding. The competing vehicle-related accounts are part of a larger picture of worsening tension, but police have not publicly said that the tire dispute alone explains the fatal encounter.
Andrew also told investigators that he had used methamphetamine in the weeks before the death, according to court-document reporting. That statement adds another fact to the chronology but does not establish intoxication during the confrontation. No reliable report reviewed for this article said that a toxicology result showed Andrew was under the influence at the time, and no public finding tied his reported drug use directly to the alleged homicide. The distinction is important because unusual or erratic behavior can be described by witnesses without establishing its cause.
After the fight, Andrew told police he went to a friend’s house and washed pepper spray from himself. He then contacted Joshua. Officers located Andrew later in the evening, and Pocatello police said he was booked into the Bannock County Jail at about 10 p.m. Police publicly described the death first as suspicious and then as a homicide after determining that Jeffery had been injured during a family dispute that turned physical. They said no additional arrests were expected.
An autopsy was scheduled in Ada County after the death, according to the Idaho State Journal. At that time, police were emphasizing a possible breathing effect from pepper spray even as the affidavit described the impact involving the flyswatter. A final autopsy conclusion would be important in determining causation, but the reliable sources located for this article did not publish a confirmed result. As a result, any statement that Jeffery died specifically from pepper spray, specifically from the head strike or from another isolated mechanism would be premature based on the material reviewed.
The legal case moved quickly at first. Andrew appeared by video from jail on Aug. 31 before 6th District Magistrate Judge David A. Hooste. Prosecutors requested a $1 million bond, and reports said the judge set bond at that amount. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Sept. 14, when prosecutors were expected to present evidence supporting continued felony proceedings. The sources reviewed did not reliably establish the result of that hearing or identify a later proceeding, leaving a gap between the initial arrest coverage and the case’s current status.
Idaho law makes second-degree murder punishable by at least 10 years in prison and allows a sentence extending to life. Early local coverage also reported that a conviction could bring a fine of up to $50,000. Those are possible penalties, not a forecast of the outcome. Andrew Scoffield is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. He was represented by a public defender in the initial case, and the Idaho State Public Defender’s Office was reported as declining to comment on pending matters.
The unanswered questions are substantial because each one bears on a different part of the case. The medical evidence could address how Jeffery died. The scene evidence could test Andrew’s description of the struggle. Any defense filing could clarify whether he claims lawful self-defense or challenges causation. Court records could establish what happened after the scheduled preliminary hearing. None of those gaps should be filled with assumptions simply because the affidavit contains a dramatic object and a detailed police interview.
As of Oct. 19, 2026, the most reliable publicly available reporting reviewed for this article still supports a narrower conclusion: Jeffery Scoffield died after a physical dispute with his nephew, Andrew admitted using pepper spray and an electric flyswatter during the confrontation, police said evidence raised questions about his account, and prosecutors charged him with second-degree homicide. The final medical findings and later court developments were not independently confirmed in the sources located.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.