Jessica Kilde Sentenced For Murdering Boyfriend

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A few months ago, Jessica Kilde was convicted for murdering her boyfriend.

His body was tied to the back of her pick–up truck and then dragged 160–feet from his driveway.

It’s been months of trial since the horrific night in Ogema last August.

Today, Jessica Kilde pleaded guilty to second degree intentional murder in the killing of her boyfriend, Richard Baity.

The judge sentenced her to nearly 31–years in prison, something both his family and the prosecution say they are satisfied with.

Gretchen Thilmony says, “The court is free on a plea such as this to sentence within the guidelines. We requested the top end which was 367. The defense requested the low end of 261 and the court believed that the top of the box was the most appropriate in light of the circumstances.”

When announcing Kilde’s sentence, the judge noted the extremely tragic event involved cruelty at the hands of another person intentionally inflicting of pain.

The Becker County Attorney says, “She exhibited particular cruelty to this victim by tying this ligature around his neck. He was dragged over 166–feet down the driveway and down the road.”

Prior to the sentencing, Baity’s family made a few remarks.

His cousin Keri Abner said “No one wants or should ever lose someone the way that we did.”

His mother Marie Goble said, “I hope Kilde receives the sentence we’ve receive…a lifetime one.”

Then his brother Daniel Goble added “Makes me sick to my stomach to think what could have made her so mad. She could have just walked away. She could have just left.”

Thilmony adds, “There’s so many unanswered questions. That’s one thing that’s hard for the families. They’ll never know why. They’ll never know what her motivation was because there was no indication prior to this that they were fighting.”

Kilde did manager to utter a few words tearfully prior to sentencing saying, ” There are no words for how truly sorry I am for doing what I did…He was a great man…” and as she went to take her seat she said, “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

Thilmony says, “I think one of the biggest impotent for her to plea guilty was that we were going to be going to a grand jury for first degree indictment and that’s what scared her enough to really consider the evidence.”

Two thirds of Kilde’s sentence will be done in prison and the other third under supervised release.