An Idaho resident who killed a homeless man after treating him to breakfast at IHOP has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Dallas Brower, 28, approached two drifters trying to sleep at a bus stop under the guise of offering a meal in July 2023.
Justin Friesner, 24, and his friend Cameron Russell, who had been homeless for just a few months at the time, accepted what seemed like a friendly gesture, Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Katelyn Farley said during Brower’s sentencing hearing.
After the three men went to an IHOP near Boise Airport, Brower stabbed Friesner to death in his car and Russell barely escaped with his life.
After Russell fled the scene, officers responded to the gruesome murder scene, where they found Brower covered in blood and the dead body of Friesner, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Dallas Brower, 28, confessed to the senseless murder of Justin Friesner and was sentenced to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 25 years
Brower eventually confessed and pleaded guilty in May to the first-degree murder of Friesner and to aggravated assault of Russell with a deadly weapon.
During the sentencing hearing, Farley said Brower offered Friesner and Russell a marijuana joint laced with fentanyl.
The men passed out in the backseat of Brower’s car after smoking it, before waking up in a different location.
“Cameron indicated that after taking only a few hits, his memory went black before he woke up to the fact that his best friend was being stabbed by the defendant while he was still in the backseat of the defendant’s vehicle,” Farley said.
Russell has said he remembers waking up to see Brower wearing a “devilish smile” as he stabbed Friesner repeatedly, Farley said.
“Justin was the sweetest person I knew,” Russell said. ‘It traumatized me. I couldn’t sleep at night. I watched my own best friend die for no reason. The fact that he has no remorse or anything, it’s sad.”
The Ada County coroner’s office determined that Justin Friesner (pictured) suffered 16 stab wounds to the neck and chest, which caused his death
Brower initially claimed that Friesner and Russell tried to carjack him, but this story lacked credibility when evidence pointed to his motive to kill.
When Russell saw what happened, he dived into the driver’s seat and tried to drive away. The car became stuck in the gravel pit where Brower had taken them while they were unconscious, making escape impossible.
Judge Derrick O’Neill said Friesner told him to get out of there, probably with his dying breath.
Russell listened, got out of the car and ran until he found workers at the airport who he begged for help.
Boise Police Lt. Jake Nichols was the first to arrive on the scene and saw Brower pacing while he was on the phone.
Nichols described Brower as “very calm” and “covered in blood,” according to Farley.
Brower initially claimed that Friesner and Russell tried to carjack him, but this story lacked credibility when evidence pointed to his motive to kill.
The knife Brower used was buried, and police also discovered a note on his phone expressing a wish to kill written hours before the murder.
The Ada County Coroner’s Office determined that Friesner suffered 16 stab wounds to the neck and chest, which caused his death.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I was there to protect him in those last moments, one last time,” Deslie Friesner, the victim’s sister, said in court.
‘I can’t imagine how he felt in his last moments. The only piece we have is that he fought to the end because that’s just who he was.”
According to police records, Brower had a history of violent crimes and drug use.
Prosecutors revealed that Brower had spent an 18-month stint in a rehabilitation center in Boise just seven days before the murder.
Like Brower, Friesner (photo) also struggled with a meth addiction, his mother Summer said in court
Brower’s attorney Jonathan Loschi did not dispute that his client committed the murder.
Loschi said Brower suffered from hallucinations for years and began noticing violent tendencies in himself about four years ago after using methamphetamine.
He also claimed that Brower only decided he needed to kill Friesner and Russell while they were at IHOP.
“They’re eating when he starts having hallucinations, thinking these are bad guys who have done bad things, and I have to do something about this,” Loschi said. ‘It was almost an out-of-body experience. He wasn’t in his right mind.’
Like Brower, Friesner also struggled with a meth addiction, his mother Summer Friesner said in court.
“He had to sober up to come home, and so he called and said he wanted to come home, and I told him he had to get clean,” she said.
His mother said she believed he was making progress toward that goal. She pointed to the fact that shortly before his death he had messaged a former teacher to let her know he wanted to quit drugs and repair his relationship with his son.
Justin is pictured hugging his mother Summer, who said her son “always put his needs on the back burner before everyone else”
The knife murder occurred shortly after Brower and the other two men had breakfast at IHOP
“He said, ‘I’m almost 25. It’s time to grow up,’” his mother recalled.
Summer said her son was selfless and would “do anything for anyone.”
‘No matter how bad life was for him, he was always ready to pick someone up. He always put his needs on the back burner for everyone else,” she added.
Brower addressed the court during the hearing and apologized for what he had done.
“I want to apologize to everyone who was affected by my actions, and I know that I am here today willing and ready to accept the consequences, whatever the consequences may be,” he said.
After sentencing him to life in prison, O’Neill told Brower: “I would hate to think that your soul is so empty that this was completely, unreservedly premeditated, deliberate and ruthless.”