Fort Totten, ND man enters guilty pleas in federal court in two separate cases

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — A Fort Totten, North Dakota man has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Fargo to a number of charges including voluntary manslaughter.

33-year-old Kolby McKay, who also goes by Kolby Woods, will be detained pending sentencing on July 22.

His guilty pleas were entered in two separate cases.

McKay killed Monte Herman Sr. in April 2024 on Spirit Lake Reservation and was at large for several days prompting a community curfew.

The month before, McKay had assaulted a woman he was dating by holding a knife to her neck and then strangling her until she almost lost consciousness.

This case was investigated the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Benson and Eddy County Sheriff’s Department, North Dakota Highway Patrol, North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the Lake Region Narcotics Task Force, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Samantha Schmidt and Lori Conroy.