June 24, 2026

50 Shades of Evil: Montana - Michael Spell

50 Shades of Evil: Montana - Michael Spell
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Season 9

In the early morning hours of January 7, 2012, beloved Sidney High School math teacher Sherry Arnold laced up her running shoes for a routine jog through her quiet Montana neighborhood. She never came home. What began as a desperate search for a missing wife, mother, and pillar of the community quickly spiraled into one of the most shocking crimes in northeast Montana’s history.

Two men from Colorado — Lester Waters and a young Michael Spell — had driven to the region chasing oilfield work during the height of the Bakken boom. High on crack cocaine and looking for trouble, they spotted Arnold running alone in the dark and made a split-second, horrific decision.

In this episode of 50 Shades of Evil, Jim Chapman breaks down the full story of Michael Spell’s Montana crimes: the random abduction, the violent struggle inside their Ford Explorer that ended Sherry Arnold’s life, the desperate attempt to hide her body across the state line in North Dakota, and the intense investigation that followed. We explore Spell’s troubling background, his significant intellectual disabilities, the lengthy competency battle that delayed justice, and his eventual guilty plea to deliberate homicide.

Jim examines the broader impact on the once-sleepy oil boom town of Sidney and the lingering questions about culpability, manipulation, and evil when drugs and damaged minds collide. Later, while serving his 100-year sentence inside Montana State Prison, Spell faced new criminal charges — including allegations tied to violence against another inmate and a 2024 incident involving a female corrections officer.

Chapters
07:12 Fatherhood and Addiction
09:10 Early Criminal Trouble
16:22 Sherry Arnold's Final Jog
22:17 Competency Battles
29:21 Prison Violence Continues
35:44 Spell's Grim Present

Michael Spell, Sherry Arnold murder, Sidney Montana, Bakken oil boom crime, Montana true crime, teacher abduction, crack cocaine murder, deliberate homicide

For Louisiana Local Advertising inquiries or to book appearances please email BloodyAngola@gmail.com

WEBVTT

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Welcome back to Bloody and Go. I'm your host, Jim Chapman,

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and we are just trucking along with this fifty Shades

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of Evil series. Last week I closed out these series

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on Ted Bundy, So if you haven't listened to that,

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go back and check that out. But today I am

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bringing you to the state of Montana, and I'm going

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to tell you about a quiet January morning in twenty

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twelve that turned deadly when a forty three year old

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math teacher by the name of Sherry Arnold vanished during

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her regular job through the streets of Sydney, Montana. Now,

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what began as a missing person search ended in absolute horror.

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Already's traced her disappearance to two out of state drifters

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high on cocaine, Michael Spell and an accomplice. Now, there's

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much more to this story that you're going to hear today,

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So let's get into it, and I want you to

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picture this. It's the early nineteen nineties, the small, tight

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knit community of Parachute and Battlement, Messa, Colorado. Now this

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is nestled along the western slope in what's known as

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Garfield County, Colorado, and these towns sit in the shadows

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of the Rockies, just really beautiful place. Now natural gas

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and oil development it was starting to reshape daily life

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in that area. It was a working class world. You

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have blue collar families, modest homes, pickup trucks lining the streets,

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and a pace that felt like it was a million

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miles away from big city hustle. And that's where Michael

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Keith Spell was born and raised. Now public records and

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later court documents give us a straightforward look at his

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childhood in that energy patch corner of Colorado. Life Embattlement

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Messa revolved really around the rhythms of the oil and

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gas industry. Parents heading out to rigs or processing plants,

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kids riding bikes through neighborhoods that were growing fast as

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this boom just rolled into that small town. Michael grew

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up in a modest household. It was the kind of

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place where people worked very hard, watched their budgets, looked

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out for one another, a place where pretty much everyone

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knew everyone. And he lived for a time with his father,

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Harry Spell. Now, court records from years later show Harry's

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staying involved in his son's life, even co signing paperwork

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when things would get complicated down the road. It was

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the kind of blue collar upbringing that's common along that

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western slope of Colorado. Nothing glamorous, but rooted in day

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to day reality, that is, making ends meet in a

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small town. Now. As a kid, Michael went to the

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same schools and played in the same neighborhoods as other

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kids around him. It was clear that he struggled academically,

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and he would not learn to read until the age

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of five, but he did do all the other stuff

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that kids do in that area at that age. He

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played outside, He rode the school bus, He watched the

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rigs light up in the horizon at night. The energy

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boom would bring jobs in new faces to Parachute and

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Battlement Messa, Colorado, but it also brought the usual small

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town pressures you may expect, keeping up with bills, navigating

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family routines, trying to figure out where you fit as

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the world around you keeps changing. So by the mid

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two thousands, Battlement Messa and neighboring Parachute they were humming

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with activity. The natural gas boom had turned that western

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slope into one of the hottest energy places in the country.

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Pickup trucks rolled down the streets at all hours. Company

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vans parked nose to tail with other vehicles along the curbs,

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and the horizon would glow with the orange flare stacks

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of drilling rigs popping up and working throughout the night.

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New housing would spring up everywhere, seemingly almost overnight, rows

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of modular homes apartment complexes that were thrown together to

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handle the flood of workers that poured in from all

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over the country. Restaurants would stay open late to feed

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hungry crews coming off of twelve hour shifts. Local high

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schools would just explode with kids whose families had chased

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the promise of good pay in the patch, as they

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called it, and Michael was right in the middle of

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it all. As a teenager, he navigated the same hallways

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and back roads as everyon someone else in Garfield County.

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He rode the school bus past massive drilling pads that

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seemed to pop up every few months, and after school

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he'd hang out around the neighborhoods, shooting basketball, you name it,

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cruising two lane roads that wound between Parachute and Battlement

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Messa and that boom would bring a lot of money

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into pockets that had never seen that much of it before.

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When that happens, it also brings kind of a restless energy.

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Guys fresh off the rigs with money cash in the wallet,

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they filled parking lots of convenience stores and local bars.

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Music would thump through the lowered truck windows driving down

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the main drags, and the smell of diesel and barbecue

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smoke would hang in the air on warm summer evenings.

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And it was the kind of place where a young

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man like Michael could find work almost as soon as

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he was old enough to swing a hammer or drive

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a fork left now, Michael, like so many of his peers,

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they jumped obviously into that energy economy very early in life.

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He would take on entry level jobs around the rigs

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and processing facilities, and this is the kind of labor

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that kept the operation running, moving equipment, cleaning sites, helping

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with basic maintenance. Nothing you would need like a master's

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degree to do, but you need a good work ethic,

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and he seemed to have that. Days would start before

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sunrise and they would often stretch long into the evening.

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He learned to show up on time where still two

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boots caked in red dust, and keep pace with crews

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that did not slow down for anybody, you better keep up.

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And the pay was decent for the area, enough to

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put gas in the tank, maybe help out at home,

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but that work was hard in the hour's one predictable.

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One week you might be on a remote well pad

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miles from town. The next week you'd be back in

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town in the yard loading trucks, all under the watchful

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eyes of supervisors who would rotate in and out with

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the projects. And even as Michael worked the patch, he

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was building kind of a personal life of his own.

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He started a relationship with a young woman. Her name

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was Angel Cruz, and the two of them they settled

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into the familiar routines that most couples settle into, sharing

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a modest place in the battlement Messa area, figuring out

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how to stretch paychecks and dreaming of a future while

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dealing with day to day realities that is shift work.

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Their relationship would deepen, and before long they would welcome

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a son into the world, and by early twenty eleven,

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that little boy was just an infant, and Michael was

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stepping into the role of a father while still barely

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out of his teenage years, changing diapers after a long

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day on the rig, trying to make doctors appointments, carving

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out quiet moments in that household that sometimes felt like

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it was spinning as fast as that boom in that

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town itself. Fatherhood would add a new layer of responsibility,

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but it also gave him something solid to work toward,

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a reason to keep showing up for those early morning ship.

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Yet that same energy that fuelled the boom, it also

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carried some hidden traps. The influx of cash, long hours,

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and out of town crews created an environment where things

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could escalate quickly. Drugs, especially meth and crack, would start

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showing up more frequently in the parking lots and main

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camps around those rigs. Late night parties and rented trailers

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turned routy. Young guys with money burning holes in their

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pockets sometimes would make choices that maybe they wouldn't have

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made back home. A lot of these guys were traveling

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from all over the country for this boom, and Michael

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he wasn't amen to that scene at all. Like others

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of age, he would find himself brushing up against the

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edges of it, and he kind of always had growing up.

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As a matter of fact, I'm going to back up

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from twenty eleven to two thousand and seven, when Mike

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was still a juvenile, authorities actually arrested him in Garfield

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County on felony charges that would include drug distribution in

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contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Now, there was

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also a misdemeanor allegation of no consent sexual contact. That

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case would move through the juvenile system and the drug

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possession with intent charge would stay on the books of

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that court, and the matter involving the sexual contact was

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ultimately closed without prosecution. Now, a couple of years later,

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in two thousand and nine, he also faced another brush

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with the law police and said he approached a student

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at what was then Saint John Middle School. This is

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in Battlement Messa, and he asked the kid to text

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the other students to see if they wanted to buy marijuana.

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Not very smart, right. That led to charges of contributing

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to the delinquency of a minor, attempted distribution and solicitation.

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But again the system handled it in the context of

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his age and everything just kind of went away. And

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I bring that up because that kind of marks a

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pattern of poor choices early on in life for Michael

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seemed to follow the faster pace of life in the area.

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The money flowed, the parties lasted longer, and the line

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between work hard play hard was something that would get

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blurred with Michael. He kept working, kept trying to hold

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down jobs, and kept showing up for that young family

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he had in two thousand eleven, but undercurrents of that

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boom town would pull at him, just like they pulled

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up many young men chasing opportunity at that time. So

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by the time he reaches his early twenties, Michael was

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still living in that same battlement mess of community where

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he grew up, and he and Angel were raising their

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newborn son in the shadows of those very same rigs

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that lit up his childhood. All those years, he continued

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picking up whatever oil field work he could find, sometimes steady,

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sometimes spotty, depending on the drilling schedule and the price

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of gas. In that boom that had once felt full

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of promise, it was kind of showing signs of some

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rough edges. Things could be really good in that industry

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or they could be really bad. There was fluctuating job security,

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the constant new faces that would come up in town,

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and the easy of the mobility of drugs that promised

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a quick escape from long shifts. And it was in

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this environment that Michael would cross pass with a guide

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by the name of Lester Van Waters Junior. He was

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an older man from the same area, and he had

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his own history of bouncing between construction jobs in the

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oil patch. Now, Waters had also spent time in Florida

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working construction before he circled back to Colorado, and these

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two men, they shared kind of the same working class circles,

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the same search for steady pay in the energy fields,

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and increasingly the same late night party scenes where drugs

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were always a part of that mix. So as twenty

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eleven turned into early twenty twelve, the pool of some

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opportunity in North Dakota and eastern Montana started calling, if

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you will these guys. Stories would circulate through the industry

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in Colorado about big money to be made up north

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in those areas, higher wages, more rigs running around the clock,

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and opportunities that felt bigger than they were in Colorado

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at that time. So Michael and Waters, they start talking

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about making a drive, and they talked about landing some

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good jobs. They're going to send money back home maybe

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build something better for the families that they had back

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in Battlement Messa. But those conversations also happened against the

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backdrop of a drug culture that had quietly taken root

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in Michael's life. He was a full blown attic by

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this point. Crack cocaine had become a part of the

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weekend scene for some cruise and what started as an

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occasional use had its way of escalating when the money

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was there and the work was exhausting, And that was

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exactly where Michael was at. So Michael Spell was no

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longer that kid running his bike up and down those

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roads past the rigs, or a teenager clicking his first

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oil field hours. He was a young father. He was

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a working man mid twenties, carried the same hopes and

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the same pressures that defined life in that corner of Colorado.

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The booman giving him opportunities, no doubt, but it had

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also exposed him to choices that would soon lead him

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far beyond those familiar roads. So it was in January

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of twenty twelve the two men they climb into waters

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green Ford Explore and they pointed north and out of Parachute, Colorado.

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Now the drive was supposed to be about work, but

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almost from the moment they left the western slopes of Colorado,

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it became something else entirely. The man had been using

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crack cocaine heavily throughout long hauls of this true up

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hours blurred together on the interstate, flat endless plains of

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Wyoming giving way to the snow dusted hills of eastern Montana.

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They smoked pipe after pipe of crack, and the drug

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fuelled a relentless wired energy that kept them pushing forward

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through the night and into a very cold morning. According

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to statements Spell later gave investigators, Waters talked openly during

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those hours about how the crack was quote bringing the

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devil out in him. He spoke of dark fantasies, including

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kidnapping a woman, taking her against her will, and Spell

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listened he was caught up in the same drug fueled haze,

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and the miles would just slowly tick by as that

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explorer ate up the highway. By the morning of January seventh,

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twenty twelve, they had crossed into Montana and rolled into

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a small oil town of Sydney, Montana, the sun just

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beginning to come up over the horizon, and the streets

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were just snow covered in a pale winter light, and

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Sidney was alive with that same energy they had left

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behind in Colorado, tanker trucks rumbling through town, workers and

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hard hats grabbing that early morning coffee at gas stations

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in the constant hustle of big money. So let me

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tell you about Sherry Arnold. She was a forty three

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year old high school math teacher, and she was a

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mother of two, and she was doing what she did

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almost every morning, heading out for a daily job. She

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lived just blocks from the route that she ran that day,

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a familiar loop through her quiet neighborhood in a Titannit

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community very similar to where Michael was from. Everyone knew

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each other, and it was still early, kind of cold

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January morning, where the breath hangs in the air and

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the world just feels hushed, right before a full day.

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Begause ends that Green Explorer crew slowly down the street.

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Waters was behind the wheel, Spell was riding shotgun, and

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they spotted her, a lone woman, moving at a steady

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pace along the sidewalk. Now, according to court documents and

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Spell's own later account to the FBI, Waters pulled the

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suv over very abruptly stopping directly in front of her path,

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and what happened next unfolded in a matter of seconds.

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Spell steps out of the passenger side. He moved quickly.

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He grabbed Sherry and forced her toward the open door

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of that explorer. She fought back hard. She was a mother,

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a teacher, and a woman who had no intention of

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going anywhere quietly. There was a violent struggle right there

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on the street. And then inside of that vehicle. The

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two men overpowered her inside the cab of that explorer,

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and Sherry Arnold was choked to death. She died within moments. Now,

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the horror of that morning, it's pretty impossible to soften.

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It was a random act of brutality in a town

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that had never seen anything like it. This was a

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beloved teacher gone in the time it takes to drive

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past just a few houses. And once that struggle ended,

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the men didn't stop. They drove north. They crossed the

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state line into North Dakota, with Sherry's body still inside

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that explore. The drugs that they had taken carried them

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this far, and now it was mixed with raw panic.

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Now somewhere along the way, they actually stop at a

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Walmart and they buy a shovel because they were going

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to do something unthinkable. Later that same day, they pull

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off into a remote rural area outside of Williston, a

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stretch of open land that was dotted with snow covered fields,

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and using that new shovel, they dug a shallow grave

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and buried Sherry Arnold's body. Then they just kept driving,

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fleeing farther east, trying to put distance between themselves in

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00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:17.000
what they had done. And for the next several days,

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the two men continued on this erratic journey. The crack

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fueled road trip that had started as a search for

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oil field jobs had now become a desperate flight. But

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00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:34.319
police they were already closing in tips from back in Colorado,

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including a conversation Spell had with his girlfriend, Angel Cruise.

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After this incident reached the FBI and investigators, they moved fast.

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Within a week of the murder, both men were arrested.

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Spell was taken into custody in Rapid City, South Dakota. Now,

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once in custody, Spell began to talk. In detailed interviews

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00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:01.559
with the FBI. He lays out the entire sequence the

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00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:06.039
drug binge on the drive north Waters, pulling over in Sydney,

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00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:10.119
the abduction, the killing inside of the Explorer, and the

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purchase of the shovel, as well as the burial outside

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00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:17.920
of Williston. He implicated Waters as the one who had

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00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:21.359
done the choking, while Waters, in his own statements in

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00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:25.480
this Always Appensall, he points the finger back at Spell.

303
00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:31.240
The physical evidence fibers, DNA, the shovel, the disturbed ground

304
00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:34.440
where the body was later found. It would eventually corroborate

305
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:40.359
the entire timeline. Sherry Arnold's body remained hidden, however, in

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00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:43.480
that frozen north to cut a field for more than

307
00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:47.039
two months. It wasn't until March of twenty twelve that

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00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:51.759
search teams, acting on both the confessions and tips, located

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00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:56.160
a shallow grave and brought her home to Sydney. Now,

310
00:20:56.200 --> 00:20:59.599
the crime itself was as senseless as it was shocking.

311
00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:02.920
To two men high on crack, hundreds of miles from home.

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They act on impulses, starting with a drug fueled fantasy

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00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:11.240
and a random encounter on a quiet morning street, and

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a life has taken in minutes, and that left the

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00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:19.319
community reeling a place Sydney, Montana where people still left

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their doors unlocked and kids would ride their bikes until dark.

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It would never feel the same again. And this was

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00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:30.160
not a crime of passion or some long simmering grudge,

319
00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:32.599
not that that makes it any better, but it was

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00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:36.480
a collision of bad decisions, powerful drugs in a moment

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00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:40.599
of pure sick opportunity for two men who had let

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the road and drugs strip away every boundary they even had.

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The charges would hit hard homicide in attempt at kidnapping.

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Prosecutors led by Richland County Attorney Mike Weber, they made

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00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:57.160
it clear from the start they intended to seek the

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00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:00.519
death penalty. This was no ordinary case in the eyes

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00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:05.680
of that town. A mother teacher neighbor snatched jogging in

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broad daylight. That kind of crime made people like doors

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00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:12.440
they never needed to lock before, and that courthouse in

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Sydney became the center of a storm. Reporters would fill

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00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:20.720
the gallery. Family members of Sherry Arnold would sit quietly

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00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:24.440
in the front rows, and the legal machinery would grind

333
00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:28.640
into motion. But almost immediately, the path to the trial

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00:22:28.759 --> 00:22:33.039
became anything but straightforward. From the very first hearing, Spell's

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00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:39.119
defense team zerote in on what they considered a central issue, competency.

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They argued that Michael Spell was not mentally fit to

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stand trial. That is, documented history of cognitive challenges meant

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he could not fully understand the proceedings or effectively assist

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00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:54.039
in his own defense, and over the next two and

340
00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:57.799
a half years, the courtroom in Sidney became the stage

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00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:03.079
for a series of intents competency hearings. Experts are flowing

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00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:08.440
in medical records from Colorado were introduced. Psychiatrists and psychologists

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00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:12.359
would take the stand, one after the other, offering competing

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00:23:12.680 --> 00:23:16.079
portraits of a young man sitting at the defense table.

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00:23:16.200 --> 00:23:19.000
His defense attorneys would paint a picture of a defendant

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00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:22.960
who had struggled with intellectual limitations his entire life. They

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00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:28.720
brought forward evaluations showing low IQ scores and functional difficulties

348
00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:33.279
that had already led Colorado courts to declare him incompetent

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in earlier juvenile and drug related cases. They argued that

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Spell simply did not have the capacity to navigate the

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00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:44.559
complex legal world he now found himself in. If the

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00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:48.400
court agreed, the charges could be dismissed and Spell could

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instead be committed to a state mental health facility, potentially

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00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:56.240
opening the door to an eventual release rather than a

355
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lifetime behind bars, but the prosecution would push back. They

356
00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:03.799
called their own experts, including doctors from the Montana State

357
00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:07.799
Hospital in Warm Springs who had evaluated Spell during its

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00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:12.400
time in custody, and those professionals testified that while Spell

359
00:24:12.519 --> 00:24:17.720
had limitations, they believed he was exaggerating some symptoms and

360
00:24:17.960 --> 00:24:21.720
was in fact competent enough to understand the charges and

361
00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:25.440
participate in his defense. So the judge in this case,

362
00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:30.480
Richard Simonson, he would listen carefully through hours of testimony,

363
00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:33.839
and in May of twenty fourteen, after weighing all of

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00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:38.960
the evidence, he makes his ruling Michael Spell was competent

365
00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:42.960
to stand trial and this case was going to move forward.

366
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So with competency settled, the pressure would mount a trial

367
00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:51.200
day would set, but behind the scenes, plea negotiations were underway.

368
00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:55.400
On October twenty first of twenty fourteen, a deal was filed.

369
00:24:55.799 --> 00:25:00.119
The very next day, October twenty second, Michael Spell to

370
00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:03.799
it before Judge Simonson in the same Sydney court room

371
00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:09.200
and entered a guilty plea to the charge of deliberate homicide. Now,

372
00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:13.079
in exchange, the attempt to kidnapping count was dropped and

373
00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:17.559
prosecutors agreed to recommend a one hundred year prison sentence,

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00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:23.519
no restrictions on parole eligibility. After the mandatory minimum period,

375
00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:27.359
and the plea hearing itself, it was tightly controlled. Spell

376
00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:30.359
was now twenty five years old. He appeared in court

377
00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:34.000
wearing a simple cardigan. He would speak quietly, confirmed that

378
00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:36.680
he understood the rights he was giving up, and that

379
00:25:36.759 --> 00:25:40.599
he was pleading guilty because he was in fact guilty.

380
00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:45.160
The courtroom was packed. Sherry Arnold's family members sat just

381
00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:49.400
feet away. Their grief was still fresh more than two

382
00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:52.200
and a half years after her death, but this fight

383
00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:56.119
was far from over. Sentencing was scheduled for the following spring,

384
00:25:56.200 --> 00:25:59.960
and both sides prepared to argue what that sentence should

385
00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:05.000
should look like. April seventeenth, twenty fifteen, arrives. It was

386
00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:08.960
a crisp spring day in eastern Montana, and once again

387
00:26:09.400 --> 00:26:13.799
the Richland County Courthouse was filled with spectators, media, and

388
00:26:13.839 --> 00:26:18.839
the Arnold family. Defense attorneys made an impassioned plea. Rather

389
00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:22.960
than send Spell to prison, they asked Judge Simonton to

390
00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:26.640
committee them to the Montana Department of Public Health, a

391
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:31.880
facility they said was equipped to handle individuals with intellectual disabilities.

392
00:26:31.960 --> 00:26:34.680
They argued that prison was not the right place for

393
00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:39.119
someone with his limitations, that treatment and structure care would

394
00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:44.200
better serve both justice and public safety. But prosecutors would

395
00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:48.480
stand firm. They wanted Spell behind the walls of Montana

396
00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:52.480
State Prison the full one hundred years recommended in that

397
00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:55.720
plea agreement, and they reminded the court of the brutality

398
00:26:55.759 --> 00:26:59.680
of the crime, the randomness of the attack, and the

399
00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:04.079
day a stating impact on Sherry Arnold's husband, her two children,

400
00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:07.839
her students, and the entire Sydney community. And y'all that

401
00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:13.000
often gets forgotten. Now, this was not a case for leniency,

402
00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:16.799
they argue. This was a case that demanded accountability in

403
00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:21.279
the strongest possible terms. And then came the moment everyone

404
00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:26.000
had been waiting for. Michael Spell himself was given the

405
00:27:26.119 --> 00:27:28.680
chance to speak. He kept his hands in his pocket,

406
00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:31.920
his head slightly bowed, and he addressed the court in

407
00:27:31.960 --> 00:27:34.680
a quiet voice, saying, quote, I know that I heard

408
00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:38.000
a lot of people. I'm just hoping that someday they'll

409
00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:41.119
be able to forgive me. It was brief, but it

410
00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:44.599
was one of the first expressions of remorse from a

411
00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:48.240
man who had helped and Sherry Arnold's life on that

412
00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:53.880
cold January morning, if you believed that he was actually remorseful.

413
00:27:54.039 --> 00:27:57.319
So Judge Simonton, he takes all that in. He reviews

414
00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:01.160
the evidence, the plea agreement, the argument from both sides,

415
00:28:01.400 --> 00:28:04.839
and the profound laws suffered by the Arnold family, and

416
00:28:04.920 --> 00:28:09.480
in the end he sided with the prosecution. Michael Key

417
00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:13.160
Spell was sentenced to one hundred years in the Montana

418
00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:17.599
State Prison. He would be eligible for parole after serving

419
00:28:17.799 --> 00:28:21.519
twenty five of those years, and of course Spell's legal

420
00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:26.079
team they immediately appeal, arguing once again that the competency

421
00:28:26.200 --> 00:28:29.960
rulings had been wrong and that his intellectual challenges should

422
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:32.880
have kept him out of prison. The case would wind

423
00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:36.480
its way all the way up to the Montana Supreme Court,

424
00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:40.680
and in November of twenty seventeen, that court issues a

425
00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:46.160
unanimous decision They found no reversible error in Judge Simonson's

426
00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:51.200
handling of the competency issues or the sentencing. That conviction

427
00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:54.680
in the one hundred year sentence was affirmed in full.

428
00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:59.000
So this long legal journey that started with two men

429
00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:02.279
in a Green four Explore on a drug fuel drive

430
00:29:02.359 --> 00:29:07.759
from Colorado had finally reached its conclusion. Michael Spell would

431
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:12.000
service time in Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, Lester

432
00:29:12.200 --> 00:29:16.799
Van Waters Junior. He had pleaded guilty earlier and cooperated

433
00:29:16.839 --> 00:29:20.519
with prosecutors, and he received his own one hundred year

434
00:29:20.599 --> 00:29:24.599
sentence as well. So on April seventeenth, twenty seventeen, Judge

435
00:29:24.759 --> 00:29:29.680
Simonton he hands down that sentence. Spell is shackle process

436
00:29:29.720 --> 00:29:34.359
transported west across Montana and into the Montana State Prison,

437
00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:39.359
which is a sprawling maximum security facility nestled in the

438
00:29:39.400 --> 00:29:43.359
Deer Lodge Valley and surrounded by the rugged mountains of

439
00:29:43.400 --> 00:29:47.480
the Continental Divide. Montana State Prison is a world of

440
00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:53.319
concrete walls, razor wire control, movement, constant surveillance. Inmates here

441
00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:58.160
follow a rigid daily schedule, early wake ups, head counts,

442
00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:02.440
meals in the chowhall, assignments, in very limited yard time.

443
00:30:02.839 --> 00:30:06.200
And for Spell, who arrived at age twenty five with

444
00:30:06.279 --> 00:30:11.160
a history of intellectual challenges and a reputation already marked

445
00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:15.960
by a brutal crime, the adjustment was immediate and unforgiving.

446
00:30:16.119 --> 00:30:19.119
Almost from the time he got there. Prison records showed

447
00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:21.880
he struggled to stay out of trouble. Within his first

448
00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:27.559
few months behind bars, Spell racked up several major discipline violations.

449
00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:30.240
In May of twenty fifteen, he was written up for

450
00:30:30.359 --> 00:30:33.880
fighting with another inmate. A month later, in June, he

451
00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:37.839
flooded his cell and refused a direct order from staff.

452
00:30:38.359 --> 00:30:41.599
By April of twenty sixteen, he was cited yet again

453
00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:46.839
for assaulting another prisoner. Each incident would move him deeper

454
00:30:46.960 --> 00:30:51.920
into the prison's discipline system, from medium security housing into

455
00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:56.200
higher security areas, where the movement gets even more restricted

456
00:30:56.599 --> 00:31:00.519
and more privileges get stripped away. But the most serious

457
00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:04.119
trouble came in April of twenty sixteen. This is just

458
00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:08.880
a year into his sentence. Court documents later revealed that

459
00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:13.640
Spell in another inmate by the name of Thomas Crill Lanham,

460
00:31:14.200 --> 00:31:17.799
they planned and carried out a vicious attack on a

461
00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:22.720
fellow prisoner named James Marshall. Now, according to prosecutors, the

462
00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:26.759
assault stem from a disagreement the day before. On the

463
00:31:26.759 --> 00:31:31.960
morning of the attack, Laam enters Marshall's cell. Marshall turns

464
00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:35.359
his back. Spell then grabbed him from behind and locked

465
00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:38.200
him in a choke hold, holding him in place while

466
00:31:38.359 --> 00:31:43.039
Lanam beat the victim repeatedly with a combination lock wrapped

467
00:31:43.079 --> 00:31:46.920
in a sock. Marshall suffered fractured bones in his face

468
00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:50.759
and broken ribs. In prison. Video captured parts of the

469
00:31:50.839 --> 00:31:55.759
chaotic scene in the day room area outside of that cell. Afterwards,

470
00:31:55.799 --> 00:32:00.880
investigators said Lanam was reportedly upset that Marshall had survived

471
00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:04.319
that beating. Now it took nearly two years for charges

472
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:07.680
to be filed. In March of twenty eighteen, both Spell

473
00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:11.960
and Lantam were formally charged with attempted murder in Powell

474
00:32:12.200 --> 00:32:16.559
County District Court. The two men pleaded not guilty. The

475
00:32:16.599 --> 00:32:21.400
case would highlight how dangerous these high security prisons are,

476
00:32:21.799 --> 00:32:26.160
where old grudges, limited space, and the constant pressure of

477
00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:31.599
incarceration can just explode into violence. And Spell's rolling that

478
00:32:31.720 --> 00:32:36.519
attack would keep him in restrictive housing for extended periods

479
00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:41.160
and further cement his status as a high risk in May.

480
00:32:41.400 --> 00:32:45.640
So for the next several years, Spell's life inside Montana

481
00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:50.079
State Prison would settle into a pretty grim routine. He

482
00:32:50.200 --> 00:32:52.839
served his time in the shadows of that one hundred

483
00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:57.480
year sentence, with parole eligibility still decades away. As a

484
00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:01.160
matter of fact, twenty forty would be his first chance,

485
00:33:01.640 --> 00:33:05.119
and like most long term inmates, he was assigned various

486
00:33:05.240 --> 00:33:08.759
jobs within the facility, but these were common prison labor

487
00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:12.680
jobs such as kitchen work, laundry detail, or maintenance crews,

488
00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:17.880
because through his discipline record, he would get limited access

489
00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:21.200
to better programs or lower security units. They're not going

490
00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:24.279
to reward you for acting like a freaking idiot. Visits

491
00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:28.119
were rare. They were heavily supervised. Letters and phone calls

492
00:33:28.119 --> 00:33:32.279
would provide only a slight connection to the outside world,

493
00:33:32.359 --> 00:33:37.200
including an occasional contact with family back in Colorado. Now

494
00:33:37.240 --> 00:33:41.039
the president itself, it's a self contained city, keep that

495
00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:44.359
in mind, roughly fifteen hundred men, its own medical unit,

496
00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:49.599
education classes, religious services, wreck areas. But for someone serving

497
00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:54.359
a virtual life sentence, every day carries the same gray

498
00:33:54.440 --> 00:33:59.359
weight as it should, the same corridors, same fences, same

499
00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:03.680
cycle of counts in lockdowns. In the twenty sixteen attack

500
00:34:03.839 --> 00:34:07.960
and its legal fallout added yet another layer of scrutiny

501
00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:13.639
to Spell's file, keeping him under closer watch by correction staff.

502
00:34:13.800 --> 00:34:16.239
So you would think this guy from here forward would

503
00:34:16.280 --> 00:34:20.599
fly right. Well, not exactly. In the summer of twenty

504
00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:25.320
twenty four, Spell makes headlines yet again. On June eighth

505
00:34:25.400 --> 00:34:29.800
of that year, he and another inmate, Bradley Chrisman, they

506
00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:33.639
were involved in a brazen and disturbing attack on a

507
00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:38.760
female corrections officer right inside those prison walls. According to

508
00:34:38.840 --> 00:34:42.559
charging documents filed in Powell County, the two men grabbed

509
00:34:42.599 --> 00:34:46.559
the officer while she was conducting routine door checks. They

510
00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:50.199
force her into one of the cells, held the door shut,

511
00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:54.559
and attempted to sexually assault her. The incident was stopped,

512
00:34:54.559 --> 00:34:58.000
to thank Goodness, before it could escalate further, but the

513
00:34:58.119 --> 00:35:01.639
charges were severe as they should have been. An attempt

514
00:35:01.679 --> 00:35:07.000
at aggravated sexual intercourse without consent, both felonies that could

515
00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:11.920
add decades more to Spell's already lengthy sentence if he's convicted.

516
00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:15.360
So Spell and Cressman they both pleaded not guilty, and

517
00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:18.719
as of this recording, that case is still working its

518
00:35:18.840 --> 00:35:22.920
way through the courts. The attack itself would send shockways

519
00:35:23.079 --> 00:35:27.079
through the Montana Department of Corrections and the prison system

520
00:35:27.119 --> 00:35:30.920
as a whole. It underscored the constant rests that are

521
00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:35.079
faced by corrections officers, men and women who walk into

522
00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:40.280
dangerous situations every single day, and it raised fresh questions

523
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:44.920
about how high risk inmates like Spell are housed and monitored.

524
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.400
So Today, Michael Spell remains at Montana State Prison in

525
00:35:49.639 --> 00:35:53.440
Deer Lodge. He's still serving that original one hundred year

526
00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:56.960
term for the murder of Sherry Arnold. He is now

527
00:35:57.079 --> 00:36:00.639
in his late thirties, and that boy who once rode

528
00:36:00.679 --> 00:36:05.039
his bike past oil riggs embattlement Messa has become a

529
00:36:05.239 --> 00:36:10.199
long term prisoner whose every single move is dictated by

530
00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:14.320
the state. The twenty sixteen attempted murder charge in twenty

531
00:36:14.360 --> 00:36:18.360
twenty four attack on that corrections officer have marked him

532
00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:21.559
as one of the most evil inmates in that system,

533
00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:26.920
limiting any chance of meaningful programming or eventual transfer to

534
00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:31.039
lower security facilities. So prison life for Spell is not

535
00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:35.320
the dramatic escape or redemption story we sometimes see in

536
00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:39.960
the movies. It is a slow grinding reality of concrete

537
00:36:40.119 --> 00:36:44.760
and steel, of lost years in daily survival. It's a

538
00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:49.480
place where consequences of that cold January morning in Sydney

539
00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:53.039
have played out in full, not just for Spell, but

540
00:36:53.119 --> 00:36:56.400
for the officers who guard him, the inmates who share

541
00:36:56.480 --> 00:37:01.400
his cell blocks, and the families whose lie were shattered

542
00:37:01.960 --> 00:37:08.000
years earlier. And he is right where he deserves. And

543
00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:12.880
with that we come to another end of an episode

544
00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:15.679
of fifty Shades of Evil, and I hope this episode

545
00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:18.639
brought to the forefront of your mind that behind every

546
00:37:18.760 --> 00:37:24.000
prison number is a person whose choices ripple outward. They

547
00:37:24.039 --> 00:37:29.320
affect victims, families, communities, and the men and women who

548
00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:32.480
work the hardest job in the justice system, which is

549
00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:37.119
correctional officers that deal with these inmates on a daily basis.

550
00:37:37.920 --> 00:37:41.239
Thank you so much for listening. Check out the Patreon

551
00:37:41.400 --> 00:37:45.920
for commercial, free early releases and more at patreon dot com,

552
00:37:45.920 --> 00:37:49.559
slash Bloody Andngola podcast and I'll be back next week

553
00:37:49.719 --> 00:37:53.639
with another fifty Shades of Evil. You'll have to stay

554
00:37:53.679 --> 00:37:56.559
tuned to find out where I'm going. And until next

555
00:37:56.559 --> 00:38:00.599
time for Bloody and Gola, I'm Jim Chapman, my child