Investigators say the man handed over a .380 pistol before he was hit in the leg at a Challis home.

CHALLIS, Idaho — An Idaho woman is facing a felony charge after authorities said she shot a man in the leg during a late-night argument at a home in Challis, then went upstairs and fell asleep before deputies arrived.

Diane Wetherbee, 65, is charged with aggravated battery with the use of a deadly weapon in a case that moved quickly from a domestic violence call to a jail booking and a no-contact order. The allegation drew attention because investigators said the wounded man told deputies he had handed Wetherbee the pistol during the argument and told her to shoot him. Public reports reviewed Tuesday did not show the outcome of a preliminary hearing that had been set for March 30.

According to court documents described in local news reports, deputies with the Custer County Sheriff’s Office were called at 11:23 p.m. March 14 to a home on the 500 block of Westergard Road. Dispatch reported that a woman had shot a man in the right leg. When deputies arrived, the wounded man was outside on the back porch and was taken to an ambulance. There, he spoke with Custer County Sheriff Levi Maydole and said he and Wetherbee had been drinking and arguing inside the home. During that fight, the man said, he gave Wetherbee a .380 pistol and told her to shoot him. Investigators said she took the gun and fired. Afterward, the man told deputies, Wetherbee went to a bedroom and fell asleep.

Officers said another man in the home did not see the shooting but heard a single gunshot. Deputies then went upstairs and found Wetherbee asleep in a bedroom, according to the reports. They took her into custody and found the pistol on the bedroom floor near what deputies described as multiple puddles of blood. Investigators also reported blood on carpet outside the room and a pair of bloody boots near the back door. Those details may become important because they help prosecutors reconstruct what happened after the shot and whether the evidence matches the statements given that night. The man’s medical condition beyond the gunshot wound to his leg has not been laid out in the public reports, and authorities have not publicly explained why the boots were near the door or whether anyone tried to leave the house after the shooting.

The case stands out because nearly every known detail comes from the first response at the scene: the 11:23 p.m. call, the victim’s account from the ambulance, the second man’s report that he heard one shot, and what deputies said they saw in the bedroom. Investigators also said Wetherbee later confessed while she was being taken to the Custer County Jail and again during an interview there. One local report said deputies wrote that she confessed to shooting the man multiple times, even though the public description of the injury centers on a single gunshot to the leg. That leaves several questions unanswered in the public record, including whether more than one shot was fired, whether shell casings were recovered, and whether formal charging papers were later amended to reflect a fuller version of events.

What is clear is the legal posture. Wetherbee was booked on a $25,000 bond, and a judge issued a no-contact order requiring her to stay away from the alleged victim while the case proceeds. The felony count carries a possible sentence of up to 15 years in prison if she is convicted. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 30, a common step in Idaho felony cases in which prosecutors present enough evidence to show the case should move forward. Public accounts available Tuesday did not show what happened at that hearing, whether the matter was continued, or whether the case was bound over for further proceedings in district court. Court filings beyond the initial reports were not immediately reflected in the public coverage reviewed for this article.

The scene described by investigators was unusually still for a shooting case. The wounded man was outside, another witness had only heard the blast, and the accused woman was asleep upstairs when deputies entered. That contrast has shaped coverage of the case as much as the allegation itself. The man told authorities he had “told her to shoot him,” according to court documents cited in local reports, and investigators said Wetherbee later admitted firing the gun. At the same time, those statements do not settle intent, self-defense, impairment, or other issues that could matter later in court. In small communities like Challis, where violent crime stories are less common than in larger cities, a case can draw outsized attention simply because so much of the event is contained within one house, a handful of people and a few minutes before midnight.

The case remained at the charging stage in the latest public reports reviewed Tuesday, with the no-contact order and felony count still central to what comes next. The next clear milestone is any updated court action showing whether the March 30 hearing went forward and how prosecutors intend to proceed.

Author note: Last updated April 14, 2026.