The 26-year-old man accused of shoving another man off a bridge to his death in April has pleaded not guilty of deliberate homicide.
Cecil Thomas Rice appeared in Flathead County District Court before Judge Dan Wilson on June 1. Rice will stand trial in November.
Rice allegedly pushed Anthony Walthers, 34, into the Flathead River on April 26 near Evergreen after Walthers had reportedly made an inappropriate comment about Rice’s partner, Heather Joy Meeker. Meeker was also arrested and charged with tampering with evidence.
Authorities have described both the defendants and the victim as transients who were living in the Kalispell area.
Law enforcement didn’t find Walthers’ body until May 29, when the boaters spotted it about 1.5 miles from the mouth of the Flathead River. Sheriff Chuck Curry said he believed the body to be Walthers’, but sent it to the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula where, on June 1, technicians verified Walthers’ identification.
According to court documents, law enforcement responded to Holt Stage Road shortly after 7 p.m. on April 26 after receiving a report that a man had fallen into the river. A witness said she was fishing nearby when she heard a splash and then saw a man, believed to be Walthers, in the water screaming for help. Another witness reported seeing Walthers’ head drop below the surface. Witnesses said they saw two males and a female on the bridge when the man fell into the river. All three people left the scene in a maroon minivan.
The female, later identified as Meeker, found a backpack in the van that she believed belonged to Walthers and threw it out the window.
The following morning, one of the men on the bridge told law enforcement that Rice had pushed Walthers off the bridge. Later, detectives spoke with Meeker, who confirmed that Rice had pushed Walthers off the bridge. Meeker said Rice was upset because Walthers had said something inappropriate about her earlier in the day at a nearby church that gives meals to the homeless.
Rice is being held in the Flathead County Detention Center on $500,000 bail.
Meeker pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence last week. She will stand trial in August.