Convicted killer gets up to life in prison

COEUR d’ALENE — The Bonners Ferry man convicted of killing 45-year-old Melyssa Schloe could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

First District Judge Scott Wayman sentenced Victor A. Claus on Friday to 25 years to life in prison for the crime.

A jury convicted Claus of first-degree murder in May, after only about three hours of deliberation.

That means Claus will be eligible for parole in 2047, when he is 82 years old.

Claus shot Schloe in the head last April while she was driving northbound on U.S. 95, killing her and causing a multi-car crash that injured two people, including Claus.

The pair were reportedly dating at the time of the murder.

Claus maintained that Schloe grabbed his handgun off the dashboard and shot herself.

But during the eight-day trial, multiple expert witnesses described evidence that showed the gunshot wound was not self-inflicted.

Though Schloe lived in Garden Grove, Calif., she regularly traveled to Idaho to stay with family in Sandpoint and was reportedly planning to move there in 2021.

After Claus was convicted, Schloe’s family praised the work of law enforcement and other first responders, as well as the coroner and medical examiner who helped investigate the murder.

“Although nothing will bring Melyssa back to us, we know we will see her again in heaven and can now rest a little easier knowing that justice has been served,” Schloe’s family said in a May statement to The Press.