Valentine’s Day Shooter Gets 40 Years at State Hospital

A Hungry Horse woman will be sent to the Montana State Hospital for 40 years for the murder of her 71-year-old boyfriend on Valentine’s Day.

Pamela Ruth Haines, 55, was sentenced in Flathead County District Court on Sept. 24. Haines pleaded guilty earlier this summer to killing her boyfriend, Thomas Eugene Edwards, on Feb. 14.

Haines said she was under severe emotional distress at the time of the shooting and attorneys argued she needed a mental evaluation. The evaluation revealed that she did have a disorder and she was able to amend her plea to guilty with a mental disorder, enabling her to go to the state hospital instead of prison.

According to court documents, the couple was having an argument on Valentine’s Day when she shot him with a pistol.

Don’t worry, we’ll always be free.

But continued community support is what makes our reporting possible. Please consider a one-time or recurring gift to help sustain independent journalism in northwest Montana. Every donation is injected straight into the newsroom.

Thanks so much for backing us over all these years.

I’ll Support Your Work