Interview with Detectives Reveals Defendant Telling Conflicting Story
Flathead County jurors during the third day of Kenneth James Floyd’s negligent homicide trial were shown interview footage of the defendant telling detectives a different version of events compared to earlier witness testimony and evidence
By Maggie Dresser
Testimony continued on Wednesday in the negligent homicide trial of 40-year-old Kenneth James Floyd, where a Flathead County jury was shown interview footage of the defendant telling detectives a story that conflicted with a witness’s testimony and evidence.
Floyd has pleaded not guilty to a felony count of negligent homicide for the June 2023 death of 37-year-old Kimberly Gilham after he allegedly ran her over with his vehicle and fled the scene. He has also pleaded not guilty to a second felony count of leaving the scene of a vehicle accident involving serious bodily injury or death to another person and a third felony count of tampering with physical evidence.
Flathead County District Court Judge Dan Wilson is presiding over the trial, which began Oct. 27.
Floyd told Flathead County Sheriff’s Office Detective Cody Shields that he and his ex-wife, Kimberly Gilham, were sitting in his Chevy Silverado outside of the residence she shared with her husband, Chris Gilham, on June 18. When Chris showed up and began yelling and punching his truck window, he said Kimberly exited the vehicle and Floyd backed his truck up and left heading west, denying that he pulled forward to the east. The defendant also said his Silverado made contact with Chris’s Chevy Trailblazer.
However, surveillance footage at the Martin City Volunteer Fire Department showed Floyd’s vehicle driving east through the alley before heading west on Central Avenue shortly after 911 was dispatched.
Floyd admitted that he was “pretty buzzed” at the time.
“There’s surveillance showing you on Central Avenue going past the fire hall – so you didn’t back up,” Shields said during the interview.
After Floyd left the scene, he told Shields he drove to Browning to help his cousin with some chores and stayed the night on his couch.
Shields also brought up a Facebook message that Chris’s brother-in-law, Doug Crosswhite, had sent Floyd, which mentioned that he “took the life” of his son’s mother, referring to Kimberly.
During the interview, Floyd denied having any knowledge that his ex-wife had died and when Shields told the defendant that she “didn’t make it,” he hung his head in silence.
Jurors also heard from Nic Salois, a former Flathead County Sheriff’s Office coroner who was tasked with transporting Kimberly’s body from Logan Health to the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula for an autopsy.
When questioned by Montana Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Eric Kitzmiller, Salois told the jury he noticed automotive grease on her hand when he picked her up from the hospital.
Following the autopsy, doctors concluded multiple blunt force injuries to be the cause of death while the manner of death was declared an accident.
“Sometimes in a negligent act, even though another person causes the death of another human being, it’s an accident,” Salois said.
Testimony will continue in Flathead County District Court on Thursday at 9 a.m.