TOKIO, N.D. (KVRR) — A Tokio, North Dakota man pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter, two counts of child neglect and assault of a child with a dangerous weapon. Austin Lester, 29, is charged with the neglect and death of a three-year-old child on the Spirit Lake Reservation in August 2022. Lester’s co-defendant Krissy Hinsley was also charged with Involuntary Manslaughter…
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR) — A man is charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder for a shooting last week on Spirit Lake Reservation south of Devils Lake. Johnnie Gaking, 27, of St. Michael is accused of shooting and killing his sister, 31-year-old Tiana Walking Eagle, and her 3-year-old daughter, Lokia, on March 4. He also shot his mother in…
FARGO (KVRR-KFGO) – A 29-year-old man from St. Michael has pleaded guilty to child abuse in the death of a one-year-old on the Spirit Lake Reservation. In February 2023, Collin Delorme’s co-defendant called 9-1-1 to report a child was not breathing. The child died at the hospital in Devils Lake. The medical examiner determined the cause of death was battery…
FARGO (KFGO) – A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal by Erich Longie, the Tokio, N.D. man convicted of neglecting and abusing four children, killing one of them – a five-year-old boy he and his wife Tammy were fostering on the Spirit Lake Reservation in 2020. Longie was sentenced to serve life in prison by Judge Peter Welte after…
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — Two men from Fort Totten, North Dakota are sentenced to prison for the sexual abuse of an incapacitated person. 34-year-old Reese Ironshield was given just over 7 years in prison while 32-year-old Kyle Langstaff, Sr. was given nearly 5 years. The men were caught in the act by three kids on the Spirit Lake Reservation on…
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — A St. Michael, North Dakota man is sentenced to just under five years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of manslaughter. Prosecutors say 19-year-old Winter Bigtrack was driving a vehicle on Spirit Lake Reservation that was involved in a two-vehicle crash last August. Three people in his vehicle died. They say Bigtrack was under…
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — One of the two people involved in the death of a five-year-old girl on the Spirit Lake Reservation has been sentenced to life in prison. Chief Judge Peter Welte handed down the sentence to Erich Longie, Jr. of Tokio, North Dakota in federal court. Longie, Jr. plead guilty multiple felony charges involving First-Degree Felony Murder, Child…
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — A Tokio, North Dakota woman pleads guilty to second-degree murder, three counts of child abuse and child neglect in Indian Country. A five-year-old foster child in the care of Tammy and Erich Longie was found dead in their home on the Spirit Lake Reservation. Authorities say the child died of multiple episodes of inflicted trauma. A…
BENSON CO., N.D. — Tribal leaders on the Spirit Lake Reservation are requiring people to wear masks to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. It’s a rare move in a state where face coverings have not been mandated despite a steady increase in overall cases. The reservation is located primarily in Benson County which has seen the state’s most…
FARGO, N.D. (KFGO) – Federal prosecutors have filed new charges against the foster parents of a 5-year-old girl who died on the Spirit Lake Reservation. Forty-four-year-old Erich Longie and 45-year-old Tammy Longie are each charged with first-degree murder in the death of Raven Thompson. Court documents say first responders determined that “resuscitation was futile” when they arrived at the Longie…
