A mother and her daughter were shot and killed Christmas Day after a man opened fire at a home west of Kalispell, authorities said.
Jaimi Lynn Hurlbert, 35, and Alyssa Burkett, 15, both of Kalispell, died Saturday, said Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan.
Meehan said a suspect, 34-year-old Tyler Michael Cheetham, was arrested Saturday night at an abandoned trailer not far from the crime scene.
Meehan said Cheetham fled the scene in Hurlbert’s car, abandoned it and then stole another one. He abandoned that one also and fled on foot, but authorities tracked him through the snow to a vacant trailer where he was arrested without incident. He remains in jail.
Meehan told the Missoulian newspaper that Cheetham knew the victims, and that drugs played a role in the slayings.
Authorities said they received a report about 3 p.m. Saturday of a disturbance involving a weapon. Police arrived at the home to find Hurlbert dead from a gun shot and Burkett shot but alive.
Meehan said Burkett was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center where she later died.
Their bodies have been taken to the State Crime Lab in Missoula.