BUTTE — A Montana woman has pleaded guilty in the death of her older boyfriend and said she strangled him with a rope after a heated argument.
Sandy Rose Moore faces up to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to mitigated deliberate homicide in the January 2020 death of Larry Coon, 49, in Dillon.
Moore, who was 19 at the time of Coon’s death, said during a Tuesday court appearance that she got into an argument with Coon on the day of his death at a rental house where they were staying, The Montana Standard reported.
When Coon threatened to report a family member to child protection workers, Moore said, she got the rope, put it around his neck and killed him.
Two alleged accomplices — Christina VanDuinen and Kerry Samuel Johnson — were accused of trying to conceal the crime. VanDuinen and Johnson were charged with obstruction of justice and VanDuinen also was charged with tampering with evidence.
VanDuinen pleaded guilty to the tampering charge Tuesday and faces up to 10 years in prison.
Johnson has been offered a plea deal from prosecutors on the obstruction charge but has not decided whether to accept it, his attorney, Nicholas Hyde, said.