SD - Meshell Will, 38, Custer County, 24 Aug 2013

[Mr Obvious]

The decomposing body of Meshell Will was discovered in a wooded area just off a pigtail bridge on Iron Mountain Road in Pennington County. Law enforcement has been investigating her death ever since, labeling it as a “suspicious death. Will, of Custer, was last heard from Aug. 24, 2013, when she texted her late sister, Amanda Dillon, to tell her she was headed to Keystone and would talk to her later. Her body was found a week later near mile post 54 by a tourist snapping photographs in the wooded area between the higher and lower part of Iron Mountain Road near one of the bridges. She had been reported missing four days earlier, Aug. 27, by her coworkers at the Wrangler(restaurant in Custer). Will was last seen when she and the boyfriend checked into the Brookside Motel in Keystone. Since she was new to the area, the couple were apparently sightseeing, Nancy Herman(who knew Will) said. Herman said the last time someone talked to Will was around 10:30 or 11 p.m. Aug. 24, when the hotel manager spoke to her.

Five years later, death of Meshell Will still unsolved

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Meshell...it's now been 7 years.

 

[Mr Obvious]

Hill City Man Arrested In 8 Year Old Homicide Case

 

[TootsieFootsie]

https://kfgo.com/2021/07/18/man-accused-in-2013-death-of-south-dakota-woman/

RAPID CITY, S.D. – A South Dakota man is accused in the death of Custer woman, whose decomposed body was found in the Black Hills in 2013.

53-year-old Richard Melvin Schmitz, was arrested at his home near Hill City on Friday. Schmitz will make his initial court appearance Monday on the second-degree murder charge. 38-year-old Meshell Will was last seen alive on Aug. 24, 2013. Originally from Wisconsin, she had been in Custer for about six months.

Authorities say Schmitz has long been a person of interest in the case.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

More than a decade after a tourist found the decomposing body of Will in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the boyfriend accused of her murder took a plea offer the day before trial.

On Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, Richard Schmitz entered an Alford plea, acknowledging the state has enough evidence to convict him while maintaining his innocence, to second-degree manslaughter, a felony with up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine

Black Hills Body Arrest

FILE - Nancy Herman holds a reward poster for information about the death of her friend Meshell Will, in Cluster, S.D., on Aug. 22. 2017. More than a decade after

tulsaworld.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

On Tuesday, Schmitz entered an Alford plea to second-degree manslaughter, a class 4 felony with a maximum of 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. In exchange, the state agreed to drop the second-degree murder charge, which carries a mandatory life sentence.

When a defendant enters an Alford plea, they are acknowledging the state has enough evidence to convict them while maintaining their innocence. Second-degree manslaughter is the reckless killing of another person.

Deputy Pennington County State’s Attorney Roxanne Hammond said that Schmitz “at the very minimum" recklessly caused Will's death.

10 years after Custer woman found dead, boyfriend takes a plea deal

Richard Schmitz entered an Alford plea Tuesday to second-degree manslaughter for the death of 38-year-old Meshell Will in 2013.

rapidcityjournal.com