After further investigation, I discovered that Patti Bolen served as Valley County Sheriff from 2004-2023, making her likely the first female sheriff in Idaho. I had read numerous articles and reports and some of them referred to Lindsey as such. I’ve updated the title and references, and am including this note for transparency.
On Wednesday evening, the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) announced in a Facebook post that Sheriff Holly Lindsey had tendered her resignation following a vehicle accident the previous day:
On 10/21/25, Sheriff Holly Lindsay, was involved in a traffic accident in her personal vehicle while off duty. The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office was contacted to conduct any investigation which may have been necessary related to the accident. The facts of the outside investigation have not yet been released.
______________________________________________________________________
On 10/22/25, Shoshone County received a letter from Sheriff Lindsay formally resigning from her position. In pertinent part, her resignation read as follows:
To the Community, BOCC, and Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office:
I have been serving as a Shoshone County Law Enforcement Officer for the past 21 years, and it has been one of the greatest honors of my life. I have watched as this county and Sheriff’s Office has constantly strived to improve upon itself. We stand by our family, friends, and neighbors through the good times and the hard times. I have loved this community with everything that I have, but it is with a heavy heart that I must resign from the position of the Shoshone County Sheriff. I appreciate the community and fellow first responders that have supported me throughout my career. It is with great hope that I have left our beautiful county better than when I started. I ask for the continued support of our Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office and the team that will continue to provide law enforcement excellence for many years to come.
Sincerely, Sheriff Holly Lindsay.
_______________________________________________________________________
With the resignation of Sheriff Lindsay, Undersheriff Lance Stutzke will assume the responsibilities of the Sheriff in the interim, until a new Sheriff is appointed by the Board of County Commissioners.
Sheriff Lindsay will be greatly missed by our SCSO team. We ask that everyone please respect the many years of service that Sheriff Lindsay has dedicated to our community. Our office will continue to serve this community to the best of our abilities, and we ask for your continued support while we move forward through this transition.
Holly Lindsey was appointed Shoshone County Sheriff in December 2022, culminating an 18-year career in law enforcement. Her predecessor, Mike Gunderson, chose to retire, and the Board of County Commissioners selected then-Undersheriff Lindsey to take his place.
Lindsey’s appointment was notable, being one of the few female sheriffs in Idaho. Local media noted that she is in a lesbian marriage with Rachael Clark-Krusemark, an art teacher at Kellogg High School, where Lindsey once served as school resource officer.
A few months later, both women were involved in controversy when Kellogg High School leadership sanctioned senior Travis Lohr for saying, “guys are guys, girls are girls, and there’s no in-between.” I wrote about the affair at the time:
The particulars of this story run the entire culture war gamut. Lohr was sanctioned not only for exercising his free speech, but it was for saying something that is objectively true. It is not yet known who complained about Lohr’s statement, whether it was a fellow student, a teacher, or an administrator, but we do know that the art teacher at Kellogg is an outspoken leftist. Rachel Clark-Krusemark was making news more than ten years ago for bringing the pornographic production “The Vagina Monologues” to Kellogg, and she is “married” to Shoshone County Sheriff Holly Lindsey.
That last bit is interesting, because when the school announced they were postponing graduation, they cited a report from the sheriff’s office warning of “threats” from unspecified right wing provocateurs. The sheriff’s office later posted on Facebook that they did not cancel graduation, rather they claimed that “protesters from out of county” that were “known for violence” were coming to disrupt the ceremony. They offered nothing to back up this claim.
Lohr sued the school for violating his civil rights, and bus driver Dakota Mailloux, who was summarily fired for participating in a rally in Lohr’s support, also sued. Kellogg School District settled both suits last summer.
Independent journalist Casey Whalen filed public records requests for emails from Sheriff Lindsey regarding the social media firestorm following Lohr’s suspension, sharing them via Substack.
Lindsey stood for election in her own right last year, winning the Democratic primary unopposed and then defeating Republican David Hildebrand by nearly 1,000 votes:
I found this result rather puzzling, as Shoshone County is a Republican stronghold in North Idaho—Sen. Phil Hart and Reps. Heather Scott and Dale Hawkins each won their races with more than 70% of the vote, and Donald Trump carried Shoshone County with over 73%.
Many comments on the SCSO Facebook announcement were supportive of Lindsey, suggesting she had a rapport with the community. When initially appointed in 2022, she told a local reporter that building relationships with the community was a top priority:
It’s really important for me to have our community see us as people and not just cops. If they know us as people, then we can make those connections stronger.
Last spring, The Coeur d’Alene Press reported that public records showed the SCSO neglected to provide proper medical attention to a jail inmate who had complained of pain and numbness in his legs. Deputies did not arrange for an ambulance until six hours after the on-call physician assistant urged them to do so. The inmate died in the ambulance from a pulmonary thromboembolism—blood clots traveling from his legs into his lungs.
According to the article, Sheriff Lindsey denied that deputies failed to provide proper care:
In March, Shoshone County Sheriff Holly Lindsey denied claims circulating on social media that deputies failed to provide Galloway with appropriate medical care during the two days he spent in custody for an alleged probation violation.
“During that time, Mr. Galloway was seen by the contracted jail medical staff and was in the process of medical transport at the time of his death,” Lindsey said in March.
Lindsey declined to comment on the matter this week, citing “pending litigation.”
I was unable to find details of litigation on behalf of the inmate at this time.
Earlier this year, the SCSO issued a press release stating that Sheriff Lindsey was on a 30-day medical leave, describing it as “sudden and unexpected.” No further details were released, and Lindsey apparently returned to duty at some point.
The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) is conducting an investigation of the crash that led to Lindsey’s abrupt resignation. According to a Facebook post from KHQ-TV’s John Webb, the KCSO said Lindsey struck a fixed object in her personal vehicle.
Casey Whalen visited the lot where he believed Lindsey’s vehicle was taken, sharing video of it on social media, along with an official SCSO vehicle showing front-end damage. There is no indication that the damage to the two vehicles stems from the same incident.
In 2023, Webb interviewed Sheriff Lindsey for a segment on mental health awareness in the law enforcement community:
There is nothing to be gained by speculating beyond official statements. Hopefully, the KCSO will report the results of its investigation in a transparent process. Undersheriff Lance Stutzke has assumed the duties of sheriff for now. Per state law, the Shoshone County Democratic Central Committee will nominate three names for consideration by the Shoshone County Commissioners, who will appoint one as permanent sheriff.
To me, this story is a reminder that every place has its own drama. The Travis Lohr saga revealed that even small-town Idaho schools are not immune to leftist LGBTQ+ influence, and the tenure of an openly lesbian sheriff demonstrates that small-town Idaho is not necessarily the socially conservative stronghold many assume. Local politics are always more complex than they appear, and there are undoubtedly many details I’m unaware of.
Above all, it’s a reminder that local politics matter. Get to know your candidates for sheriff, county commissioner, clerk, coroner, and other local offices. Decisions made at this level affect your life far more directly than those made by the governor, senators, or president. If you’re not engaged, those choices will be made by others—people who may not share your values, priorities, or vision for your community. I challenge you to not only vote in local elections, but get to know your local elected officials. The future of your community depends on it.
Feature image from the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office
Paid subscribers click over to Substack for a short bonus note. Not subscribed? Click here to support my work today!
About Brian Almon
Brian Almon is the Editor of the Gem State Chronicle. He also serves as Chairman of the District 14 Republican Party and is a trustee of the Eagle Public Library Board. He lives with his wife and five children in Eagle.
