Former neighbor talks about Great Falls "cold case" murder suspect (65 years later)


In 2019, DNA technology eventually led to Gould. June 24, 2021 GREAT FALLS — The Cascade County Sheriff's Office recently announced that they had closed a 65-year-old "cold case" double-murder. They say Kenneth Gould is the likely suspect in the 1956 murder of 18-year-old Duane Bogle and the rape and murder of 16-year-old Patty Kalitzke. In 1967, G...

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Two Montana Sweethearts Were Fatally Shot in 1956. The Case Was Just Solved.

Kadner said he believed it was the oldest homicide case in the United States to be solved with genetic genealogy JUNE 11, 2021 When Detective Sgt. Jon Kadner of the Cascade County Sheriff's Office in Montana was told in 2012 that he was being put in charge of the investigation into a long-unsolved double homicide, the case was already more than 50 ...

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46 year-old cold case murder of five-year-old child solved

We never gave up on Siobhan or finding justice for her October 26, 2020 46 years ago, on February 5, 1974 at about 6:30 PM, a 5-year-old girl was reported missing in the 500 block of N. 2nd St. W. Then, on February 7, 1974 at about 3:30 p.m., the child's body was discovered in a drain culvert near the Turah exit from Interstate 90. The case of Siob...

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Man pleads guilty to 1998 cold-case murder of Laurel teenager

Man pleads guilty to 1998 cold-case murder of Laurel teenager (DNA) August 1, 2019 BILLINGS – A suspect has been identified and pleaded guilty to the cold-case murder of Miranda Fenner, the Laurel teenager brutally killed while working at a video store in 1998. Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon that...

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Police Solve 45-Year-Old Double Homicide Cold Case Using DNA Evidence

Now over four decades later, police have finally made a breakthrough, March 30, 2019 In 1973, a young couple was found dead in their home in Montana. Police investigated painstakingly for years, conducting hundreds of interviews, They even brought in a psychic to help but to no avail. Now over four decades later, police have finally made a breakthr...

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Ex-police tech admits stealing drugs from evidence locker, affecting dozens of cases

It was the second instance of drug thefts at the Billings locker in roughly three years. February 1, 2019 Rawlyn Michelle Strizich pleaded guilty to tampering with public records or information in Yellowstone County District Court on Friday. Under a plea deal, prosecutors will recommend a six-year deferred imposition of sentence and will automatica...

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Madison County Sheriff suspended following recent felony and misdemeanor charges


Photos of the meth and pipe found on the informant were taken, but they were not in an evidence locker where they should have been and were not found in Thompson's office, either. September 11, 2018 Madison County commissioners voted to suspend Sheriff Roger Thompson for three months with pay on Tuesday following criminal charges of tampering with ...

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Madison Co. sheriff charged with official misconduct, perjury


Enter Headline here September 10, 2018 BOZEMAN, Mont. — Madison County Sheriff Roger Thompson has been charged with official misconduct, tampering with evidence and perjury, according to court documents filed last week in Madison County District Court. The charges stem from an incident in June of last year involving a missing evidence bag of metham...

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City Council Questions Billings Police Evidence Locker Expansion


Lieutenant Hart points out that the current evidence locker was never intended to be used for that purpose, so several upgrades are needed. July 16, 2018 BILLINGS, Mont. - The 2.8 million dollar proposed expansion and renovation of the Billings Police Department's evidence locker was on the agenda Monday as part of the City Council work session. Co...

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Officers hunt for suspects who entered Billings police property, pointed gun at officer


Officers were searching for two suspects who broke into the department's evidence building. June 29, 2018 Police Chief Rich St. John issued this press release later Thursday morning: Last night at 0220 hours, officers responded to an alarm at our evidence facility located on Midland Road. The first responding officer was checking the perimeter fenc...

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Former tribal cop gets prison time for stealing drugs and cash from evidence, compromising 27 cases


Prosecutors said he used a crowbar to break into the investigations office on several occasions to steal opiates, meth and cash, compromising more than two dozen criminal cases. June 29, 2018 A former Fort Peck tribal police officer has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for burglarizing the tribe's drug investigations office in 2...

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Former Billings Police evidence technician accused of stealing drugs from evidence locker makes court

"I just completed my inpatient treatment and my outpatient treatment and I'm currently in continuing care for drug and alcohol addiction, June 13, 2018 Charging documents filed against a former Billings Police Department evidence technician describe her using record-keeping software to allegedly steal enough drugs from the evidence locker over roug...

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3 Billings police officers disciplined for having sex on city property

In the course of investigating the evidence locker thefts, St. John said, "there were some rumors flying around" about officers having had sexual relations with Strizich, and when asked, she identified the three officers. April 18, 2018 Three Billings police officers who admitted having sex on city property with a civilian employee of the departmen...

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Former Fort Peck tribal officer guilty of stealing drugs from evidence

Officer broke into the Fort Peck Tribal Law and Justice Building and used a crowbar to get into the drug investigations office where he took opiates, methamphetamine and cash Enter Article DATE HERE GREAT FALLS — A former Fort Peck tribal police officer has pleaded guilty to stealing drugs and money from the tribe's drug investigations office,...

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After Drug Thefts – Crime Lab Improves Policies to Protect Cases

Thrush allegedly saved leftover portions of the drug evidence and later ingested them. Larson said Thrush was properly vetted for his position as chemist for the crime lab. FEBRUARY 23, 2018 On February 23, KGVO reported that Derek Thrush, a former chemist at the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula, had allegedly stolen samples of methamphetamine f...

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Charges dropped in 40 cases, another dozen under review after Billings evidence tech's drug thefts

The Billings Police Department said during a press conference that it had fired the technician , on Feb. 6 after she confessed to stealing oxycodone and other opioids from evidence, affecting 138 cases. March 1, 2018 Yellowstone County will drop criminal charges in roughly 40 cases and dismiss another dozen cases under review because a Billings Pol...

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Billings Police evidence tech fired after stealing oxycodone, which affected at least 138 cases

It is the second time in roughly three years drug cases have been affected by BPD evidence technicians stealing drugs. Enter Article DATE HERE A Billings Police Department employee was fired earlier this month after stealing prescription painkillers from the evidence locker, police said Tuesday. The revelation throws into question hundreds of ...

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As crime lab cases climb, Montana aims to make sex assault evidence kits more efficient

"With DNA technology moving in the direction it's moving, we're able to get DNA from things we couldn't in the past," October 10, 2017 The state crime lab is in the preliminary stages of reconfiguring the sexual-assault evidence kits used by doctors and nurses to collect samples from women who have been raped. Since 2011, the number of cases the la...

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Former state crime lab employee gets suspended sentence for stealing drug evidence

"His initials, his name, is on almost every piece of evidence that came into our laboratory," she said Enter Article DATE HERE An evidence technician at the Montana State Crime Lab who stole opioids that were being stored as evidence in criminal cases, forcing prosecutors to drop charges against 69 defendants across the state, was given a susp...

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65K items cram evidence building — and Billings police are asking for more storage room

Part of what's driving the higher estimate is meeting the storage standards of the International Association for Property and Evidence, said Allen Rapacz, president of Schutz Foss, the architectural firm designing the new facility. May 9, 2017 The pungent odor of marijuana permeates Beth Gartner's workplace — a place where Gartner knows the wh...

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The Montana Department of Justice is working to find storage and test nearly 1,400 rape kits.


The MSU Voice Center wanted to get the word out that although there is a backlog of rape kits, action is being taken to resolve the issue April 5, 2017 BOZEMAN - Wednesday at Montana State University, the Voice Center presented the efforts being made across the state to end the rape kit backlog.The MSU Voice Center wanted to get the word out that a...

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Montana gets $2M federal grant for untested rape kits


Enter Headline here September 29, 2016 HELENA – Montana will test 1,400 rape kits dating back to 1995 that weren't submitted to the state's crime lab by local law enforcement authorities, Attorney General Tim Fox said Thursday. The state also will add personnel to track the kits, counsel victims and investigate when DNA from the kits result in rape...

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Billings Police employee charged with stealing drugs from evidence locker

Billings Gazette, billingsgazette.comBYLINE: ASHLEY NERBOVIG, , MTCoby James Lewis, 25, pleaded not guilty Friday to felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs and misdemeanor theft. Ga...

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Gazette opinion: The good, bad and ugly of the state crime lab cases

THE BILLINGS GAZETTE, billingsgazette.comBYLINE: THE BILLINGS GAZETTE EDITORIAL BOARDBillings, MTThe autopy room at the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula, Montana photographed in October 2015.KURT WILSON, MissoulianA contin...

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JARED ALBERT WEEKS-COMBS PLEADS GUILTY IN U.S. FEDERAL COURT

States News ServiceBYLINE: States News ServiceRoosevelt County, MTThe following information was released by the FBI:The United States Attorneys Office announced that during a federal court session in Great Falls on May 25, 20...

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Wolf Point man pleads guilty to stealing drugs from Sheriff's Office

Great Falls Tribune (Montana)BYLINE: Tribune StaffRoosevelt County, MTA 20-year-old Wolf Point man pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday on drug charges after he was found to be stealing drug evidence from the Roosevelt Cou...

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State considers whether Musselshell County sheriff misused property

The Billings Gazette - Billings, MT - billingsgazette.comLink to ArticleBYLINE: KAHRIN DEINES Of The Gazette StaffMusselshell County, MTMusselshell County Sheriff Woody Weitzeil, shown in July 2009, is accused of misusing pro...

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Guest opinion: Saving DNA evidence helps convict real criminals

The Billings Gazette, billingsgazette.comBYLINE: JESSIE MCQUILLAN and DAN WEINBERG The Billings GazetteLink to ArticleBillings, MTThe Montana House of Representatives has before it a bill that, if enacted, will measurably imp...

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