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Suspect Arrested in Beating Death of 18-year-old Arlee Man

Stephen W.L. Seese was jailed in Wallace, Idaho on a probation violation when he was arrested

By Molly Priddy

POLSON — A western Montana woman says her family lived in a trailer for more than two months with the body of her husband’s 18-year-old cousin in the shower, covered with clothing and furniture, according to court documents.

Kassandra Seese told Lake County investigators that she and her two children were in the trailer near Arlee on Feb. 17 when her husband beat Richard Warner with a hammer for apparently lying to him, court records said.

She said they put the body in the shower and continued to live in the trailer until early May, when they moved to Idaho, County Attorney Steven Eschenbacher wrote in seeking the warrants charging the couple with deliberate homicide.

Warner’s body was discovered on June 2 by two men who had planned to move the trailer before noticing the “distinctive, rancid smell of decaying flesh,” Eschenbacher wrote.

Stephen W.L. Seese, 25, was jailed in Wallace, Idaho, on a probation violation when he was arrested this week in Warner’s death, KERR-AM reported. Seese has waived extradition to Montana, Sheriff Don Bell said Thursday.

Kassandra Seese, 23, was arrested Thursday at her mother’s house in Springdale, Washington, Bell said. She has not appeared in court.

Shoshone county officials say Stephen Seese likely will be assigned a public defender in Montana.