Suspected Child Killing Stuns Remote District

Nobody just happens upon Elk Ridge.

Whitetail Road, a mostly gravel Boulder to Whitehall connection rich with potholes and washboard bumps as it weaves through Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, is already off the beaten path. Yet from there, a visitor must venture east on Antelope Lane, then south on Wapiti to reach this community of ranchettes scattered about a largely bare Bull Mountain hillside.

With the closest shop some 20 minutes away, Elk Ridge is one of Jefferson County’s more remote communities, and one of its more peaceful – and that’s the point.

Over the course of a late-morning...