Prosecutors: Ex-police chief took out insurance on victim

Source: Associated Press

Prosecutors: Ex-police chief took out insurance on victim

James Nord, Associated Press

Updated 5:04 pm, Wednesday, December 30, 2015

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A former police chief in South Dakota charged with killing his pregnant fiancee in a shooting that long appeared to be a hunting accident helped take out more than $750,000 in life insurance policies on her months before she died, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors in Russell Bertram's case want to present evidence of the policies and alleged past insurance fraud during the trial scheduled to begin in February. Bertram, 64, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

He was indicted in September for the 2009 killing of Leonila Stickney, who was his 26-year-old fiancee. The Gregory County Sheriff's office initially said officials believed Stickney's death was the result of an accidental shooting. State authorities took over the inquiry as a cold case in 2010.

The attorney general's office has been reluctant to discuss the case since announcing the indictment, but court documents filed this month offer a window into the case and what may have led authorities to believe Stickney's death was a homicide, not an accident.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/State-Former-police-chief-took-out-life-6728316.php