A witness said Rafael Valles tried to take a handgun from Tristin Chase because the child stood in the potential line of fire.
RIGBY, Idaho — The youngest person at the center of a fatal confrontation in Rigby was not accused of anything and was not physically injured, but investigators say her presence shaped the seconds before Rafael Cordova Valles Jr. was shot: The 2-year-old girl was being held by her father as he carried a handgun.
A witness told police that Tristin John Chase, 22, had his daughter in one arm when he removed a gun from his waistband during an Aug. 23 dispute at a home on Ashlynn Way. The woman said the girl was in the potential path of gunfire and that Valles, 43, tried to take the weapon from Chase. Two shots were then fired, according to court records cited by local news organizations. Valles died at the scene. Chase was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, an allegation that remains unproved in court.
The child’s presence is one of the few points reflected both in witness accounts and in Chase’s own description of the confrontation. During a phone call with a Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy after the shooting, Chase said Valles had approached him while he was holding his daughter. Chase repeatedly emphasized that Valles kept coming toward him despite being told to stay away, according to the probable cause affidavit. Chase’s statements portrayed him as trying to create distance before moving inside the house.
The witness account described a different reason for Valles’ movement toward Chase. She told investigators that Chase produced the gun while still carrying the girl. With the child in danger, the witness said, Valles tried to disarm him. The records as publicly reported do not contain a final finding about who controlled the weapon at the instant it fired or whether either gunshot occurred during a struggle. What they do show is that the child was close enough to the weapon and the two men for her location to become an immediate concern to the adults who were present.
After the gunfire, a woman took the girl from Chase, according to investigators. Chase then left the residence with the weapon. Doorbell-camera audio cited in the court records captured the aftermath, including a call for someone to contact 911 and a woman’s statement that Valles was dead. No public report reviewed for this article said the child was struck by gunfire. During Chase’s later conversation with the deputy, one of his first concerns was the girl’s condition. The deputy told him she was OK, according to the affidavit.
By the time police reached the home, the girl was with a crying woman outside or near the residence while another woman was attempting CPR on Valles. Officers took over emergency medical efforts. Valles was not breathing and had no pulse, according to reports describing the scene. He was pronounced dead despite the lifesaving response. The officers then turned quickly from medical assistance to a search for Chase after witnesses said he had fired the shots and fled with the gun.
The shooting followed a night and morning of turmoil at the residence, investigators allege. One woman told police Chase had come to the house the night before, entered against her wishes and resisted efforts to get him to leave. She alleged that he made her go to dinner with him and also described previous unwanted conduct. The following morning, she reportedly sent messages telling Chase she planned to seek a restraining order and wanted him out of her life. Those allegations form part of the police narrative but have not been established through a completed criminal proceeding.
Chase left the residence in the morning to obtain milk for his daughter, according to the affidavit. The people inside initially locked him out when he returned but later allowed him inside to see the girl. Investigators say Valles became involved because he knew there were problems at the home and had not heard from one of the women for about two hours. He traveled to the residence to check on the situation. The relationship between the adults created the setting for the argument, but police have not publicly described the toddler as anything other than a child caught in the middle of the confrontation.
Before Valles arrived, investigators say Chase had sent text messages that are likely to receive scrutiny as the murder case moves forward. The messages reportedly sought Valles’ phone number and contained threats to hurt him. One allegedly threatened gunfire at the place where Valles was staying if the number was not supplied. Those messages came before Chase’s later statement that the shooting was not intentional. The contrast does not itself resolve the charge, but it gives investigators evidence from before the face-to-face encounter to compare with what Chase said afterward.
According to police, the disagreement between Chase and Valles began outside. At some point it reached the entrance to the home. Chase told the deputy that Valles came at him, ignored commands to stop, kicked open the door and attempted to punch him. A witness, meanwhile, described the moment when Chase pulled the gun and Valles tried to take it because of the risk to the child. Those accounts overlap in placing both men close together near the doorway but differ substantially in how they characterize the danger each man presented.
Chase did not stay at the scene. While officers were still trying to save Valles, Chase called one of the women at the house. She handed the phone to the deputy. Chase said he was driving around and trying to catch his breath. He told the deputy he had not meant to shoot and did not know how the gun had fired. Reports on the affidavit say he also expressed fear about prison and mentioned suicide. After the initial call ended, he called again and said he had repeatedly warned Valles to leave him alone.
Police found Chase just before 1 p.m. during a traffic stop near West First South in Rigby. He was taken into custody without the prolonged search that authorities had initially feared might be necessary. The next day, he appeared in Jefferson County court. Judge Faren Eddins set his bond at $750,000, and a no-contact order was issued. Public defender Jordan Crane was identified as his attorney. The charge carries serious potential consequences, but the initial appearance was procedural and did not determine guilt.
Valles was from Cedar Creek, Texas. Police said he was 43 when he died. Investigators’ account portrays him as coming to the Idaho home after becoming concerned about a woman he knew and then entering a rapidly escalating dispute. The affidavit’s description of his attempt to disarm Chase comes from a witness and is therefore an allegation subject to examination in court. Police have not released a complete public reconstruction showing every movement immediately before the two shots.
The case also leaves important questions about what the child saw and how long she remained exposed to the confrontation, details authorities have not publicly established and that are not necessary to identify her. News reports have not published her name, and this article does not identify the women involved beyond their roles in the investigation. The verified public significance of the girl’s presence is narrower but substantial: Investigators say Chase was holding her when the gun appeared, and a witness said concern for her safety prompted Valles to intervene.
Rigby police initially said the investigation remained active and that additional details might be released. Chase was originally scheduled for a Sept. 3 preliminary hearing. Publicly indexed reporting reviewed through Sept. 30 did not establish the later outcome of that hearing. Unless and until a court reaches a different conclusion, Chase remains presumed innocent, while Valles’ death and the child’s proximity to the gunfire remain among the central facts authorities are seeking to explain.
Author note: Last updated Sept. 30, 2026.