← All cases

Murder of Sherry Arnold

Also known as: Sherry Arnold

Active

2012–2012

Region

Sidney, Montana, USA

States

MT, ND, SD

Kind

Single

Status

Pleaded guilty

Victims

1

Sherry Arnold, a 43-year-old math teacher at Sidney High School in Montana, was abducted at random while out on a morning run near her home on January 7, 2012, and killed. Two men from Parachute, Colorado, who had come to the Bakken oil boom region were arrested within about a week, and her body was found in March in a shallow grave near Williston, North Dakota. Lester Van Waters Jr. pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide by accountability and was sentenced to 80 years; Michael Spell pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide and was sentenced to 100 years.

Ask the Atlas about this case →

Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

• Sherry Arnold, 43 · January 7, 2012

  A popular Sidney High School math teacher and mother of two who grew up on a ranch outside Sidney.

Timeline of locations

1. January 2012
   Williston, North Dakota (Waters arrest) (Arrest, approximate area)

   Lester Van Waters Jr. was arrested in Williston. Both men were held at the Williams County jail there before being returned to Montana.

2. January 2012
   Rapid City, South Dakota (Spell arrest) (Arrest, approximate area)

   Michael Spell was arrested in Rapid City.

3. January 7, 2012
   Sidney, Montana (Abduction, approximate area)

   Arnold was abducted a few blocks from her home while on an early-morning run.

4. March 21, 2012
   Rural area near Williston, North Dakota (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Her body was found in March 2012 in a shallow grave in a rural area near Williston, about 50 miles northeast of Sidney.

5. October 22, 2014
   Richland County district court, Sidney (Court / trial, approximate area)

   Before District Judge Richard Simonton, Waters was sentenced to 80 years in December 2014; Spell pleaded guilty in October 2014 and was sentenced to 100 years in April 2015.

Sources

• Teacher's killer gets 80 years in Montana prison (CBS News / AP)
• Colorado man pleads guilty to oil patch murder (WTOP / AP)
• Man gets 100-year term in murder of teacher in oil boom town (Flathead Beacon / AP)
• Body of Sidney teacher Sherry Arnold likely found in North Dakota (Flathead Beacon / AP)

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.