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IDAHO STREET BANK
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killed 2-year-old Forrest Groshelle
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Mother of Slain Toddler Charged With Negligent Homicide Takara Kay Juntunen was charged with negligent homicide a year after her boyfriend
BY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
The mother of a 2-year-old boy killed in Evergreen in 2015 has been charged with negligent homicide and criminal possession of drugs.
Takara Kay Juntunen, 22, was charged in Flathead County District Court on May 23. The charges come a month after Juntunen’s boyfriend, Brandon Walter Lee Newberry, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for mitigated deliberate homi- cide for the February 2015 death of For- rest Groshelle.
In court documents led last week, Deputy County Attorney Andrew Clegg accuses Juntunen of being responsible for her son’s death because she failed to seek medical attention for the boy in the days before his death, even though he showed signs of being abused.
On Feb. 17, 2015, the Flathead County Sheri ’s O ce responded to the report of an unresponsive child at a home in Ever- green. Upon arrival they determined that the child was deceased. First responders also observed injuries to the child’s face,
BRIEFS
Kalispell Women Accused of Locking Children in Basement
Two Kalispell women have been accused of felony criminal endangerment after allegedly locking three children in a basement without food, light or access to a toilet.
Amy Newman, 46, and Crystal Mears, 37, were charged with three counts each of felony criminal endangerment on May 18 in Flathead County District Court.
According to court documents, the Department of Family Services removed four children from a home on Fifth Ave- nue West in Kalispell in March. The chil- dren were removed from the home after family services learned that Newman and Mears were regularly locking three of the children, ages 9, 11, and 12, in a basement.
After the children were removed from the home, the Kalispell Police Department conducted a search and found numerous locks on the basement door, including padlocks and zip-ties. Upon going downstairs, law enforcement found that all of the windows had been boarded up. They also found a bucket that
neck, arms, legs, back and buttocks.
An autopsy revealed that Groshelle had been hit multiple times in the abdo- men, causing a laceration of the small intestine that slowly poisoned the boy. During an interview with law enforce- ment, Newberry told them that in the days before Groshelle’s death he had been
“roughhousing” with the child. Newberry had been dating Juntunen for three months at the time of the death and was living at her home in Evergreen. He frequently watched the child while
Juntunen was at work.
In an interview with law enforcement,
Juntunen said Groshelle had refused to eat and was “throwing up brown stu ” in the days before he died. She also said the boy had “turned purple” at one point and had a temperature of 101 the day before he died. Despite the fact that the boy was throwing up and had a high fever, Jun- tunen stated that she did not believe Gro- shelle’s symptoms were serious.
Witnesses later told law enforcement that Juntunen’s level of care and atten- tion for Groshelle declined because of
the children used to go to the bathroom. During separate interviews, Newman and Mears allegedly told police that they both kept the kids locked in the basement
at night.
If convicted, the women could face up
to 30 years in prison.
Bigfork Man Sentenced to Prison For Sexually Assaulting Coworker
A 67-year-old Bigfork man has been sentenced to six months in prison after he was convicted in federal court of sexually assaulting a coworker while on a work-re- lated trip in Glacier National Park.
Lawrence L. Lockard was sentenced on May 20 in U.S. District Court in Mis- soula after taking a deal in February where he pleaded guilty to abusive sex- ual contact. Lockard was scuba diver employed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
According to court documents, Lockard and two co-workers were on a work-related trip to Qyartz Lake in Gla- cier National Park in September 2015. During the multi-night trip, Lockard and a female coworker slept in the same cabin
continued drug use. During the investi- gation, law enforcement found drug par- aphernalia in the home.
In February 2016, Juntunen’s father contacted the sheri ’s o ce after dis- covering drug paraphernalia inside his daughter’s backpack. A residue on the paraphernalia was later determined to be methamphetamine. In an interview with law enforcement, Juntunen admitted to using meth on a daily basis, speci cally on the days leading up to Groshelle’s death.
If convicted, Juntunen could face up to 25 years in prison and $100,000 in nes.
Newberry was arrested and charged with deliberate homicide in February 2015. Earlier this year, Newberry pleaded Alford to an amended charge of mitigated deliberate homicide. An Alford plea occurs when a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence that, if presented to a jury, would likely result in a conviction. On April 19, Newberry was sentenced to 40 years in prison with no parole restrictions.
jfranz@ atheadbeacon.com
while the third employee slept outside in a tent because he had sleep apnea and did not want to disturb the others.
On the second night of the trip, the female co-worker woke up to nd Lock- ard in bed with her, touching her inap- propriately and attempting to remove her clothing. The woman immediately got out of bed and Lockard returned to his bed. The following morning, the woman told Lockard that he never had permis- sion to touch her.
Because the assault happened in Glacier the National Park Service inves- tigated the crime. During an interview with detectives, Lockard admitted that he knew at the time of the assault that the woman had been drinking, had taken pre- scription sleep medication and was wear- ing earplugs. He told the detective that he knew what he had done was wrong.
Besides spending six months in prison, Lockard will also have to pay more than $21,000 in restitution to the victim. He will be subjected to ve years of supervised release following his prison
term. news@ atheadbeacon.com
www.ThreeRiversBankMontana.com
JUNE 1, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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