AP Exclusive: Kidnapping suspect promised work
Feb 28, 2012, 8:20 AM
Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – Family and friends describe one of the two suspects in a brutal Montana kidnapping as an illiterate young father who fell under the sway of a convicted criminal promising lucrative work in the Bakken oil fields.
Court documents indicate 22-year-old Michael Spell of Parachute, Colo., has confessed to his role in the crack-fueled abduction and murder of 43-year-old Sherry Arnold of Sidney, Mont.
Spell and co-defendant 47-year-old Lester Waters will appear Tuesday before state district Judge Kathy Irigoin. They will be asked to enter pleas on charges of aggravated kidnapping.
Spell’s father tells The Associated Press his son cannot read or write. Harry Spell says his son was promised wages of up to $2,000 a week if he journeyed with Waters to the Bakken region of Montana and North Dakota.
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