Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings on August 14, 2008, before Chief U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, RENO JAMES RUNS ABOVE, age 36, pled guilty to accessory after the fact. Sentencing is set for November 13, 2008. He is currently detained.

In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

On May 12, 2008, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) law enforcement received a report that an adult female (R.W.T.) was missing. BIA officers initiated a missing person investigation and conducted numerous interviews. Officers learned that RUNS ABOVE was the last person seen with R.W.T.

At some point, law enforcement suspected foul play and converted the missing person investigation into a criminal investigation. After conducting numerous interviews, law enforcement learned that on the evening of May 5, 2008, RUNS ABOVE, R.W.T., and two other adult males were drinking at a trailer house in Ashland. As they drank, the men attempted to convince R.W.T. to have "group sex" with all three of them. She repeatedly told the men no. Her denials made one of other men angry. He assaulted her and attempted to break her neck and kill her.

After the assault, both of the other men left the trailer. They returned a short time later with a handgun and shot R.W.T.

After discussing different ways to dispose of her body, the decision was made to burn her body. The men placed her body into a fire pit and started burning her body and the furniture out of the trailer house. The men burned all of the furniture, including the carpet in the living room where R.W.T. was shot, in an attempt to destroy any evidence of the shooting and the subsequent death of R.W.T. Witnesses stated the fire burned for five days.

The day after the shooting, RUNS ABOVE and the other men returned to the trailer house with bleach to try to clean up the blood from the shooting. The men also had an agreement that they would not tell law enforcement officers about their roles in the death of R.W.T., or their attempts to destroy any evidence of the crime.

RUNS ABOVE faces possible penalties of 15 years in prison, a $125,000 fine and 3 years supervised release.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Harper Suek prosecuted the case for the United States.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.