http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/lo...cle_5dd77bd3-9597-57bc-a4c7-f6f75660fb8e.html
Chris Huber, Journal staff
Pennington County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Willie Whelchel speaks about the homicide investigation into the death of Jessica Rehfeld.
Rapid City authorities are calling the brutal murder-for-hire killing of a Rapid City woman in which the 22-year-old victim was held down, stabbed to death, put in a plastic bag and buried unlike anything they have seen in a long time.
During a press conference Tuesday, Rapid City Police, the Pennington County Sheriffs Office and the Pennington County States Attorney announced that Jessica Rehfeld, 22, was found dead recently in a shallow grave in a remote area of the Black Hills.
Police are calling her grizzly death a case of murder-for-hire, and have arrested five local men on charges related to her death.
This investigation has turned up a shocking and terrifying narrative of how this homicide was orchestrated, Rapid City Police Department Capt. James Johns said Tuesday at the Pennington County Public Safety building.
[...]
Rehfeld was first declared a missing person in May 2015. Police said Rehfeld was last seen on May 18, 2015.
On May 22, 2015, Rapid City police asked the public for help in locating Rehfeld.
But soon after, police issued another statement saying they did not believe Rehfeld was in immediate harm.
On Tuesday, authorities said they now believe Rehfeld's death was a contract killing, and have arrested three people on charges of first-degree murder in connection with her death.
They are: Jonathon Klinetobe, 26, of Sturgis; David Schneider, 24, of Rapid City; and Richard Hirth, 35, of Rapid City.
Authorities said Klinetobe was an ex-boyfriend of Rehfeld's. Police say they believe Klinetobe offered Schneider and Hirth "thousands of dollars" to murder Rehfeld.
According to a police press release issued Tuesday, authorities were contacted by the Newcastle Police Department on May 13 that a witness had come forward with information about a homicide in 2015. After police contacted the witness, they conducted a search and found two grave sites. Rehfeld's body was found in one of them.
Police say that on May 18, 2015, Schneider and Hirth offered to give Rehfeld a ride to work, but instead drove her to a secluded service road on Rapid City's northeast side. According to a court affidavit, Hirth and Schneider had conspired with Klinetobe at least a week prior to kidnap Rehfeld and murder her.*
According to the document, Rehfeld was in the front passenger seat of Schneider's blue Dodge Avenger. Once they reached an industrial area of town, Hirth allegedly stabbed Rehfeld repeatedly while still in the car. Schneider, though driving, held Rehfeld's legs down so Hirth could stab her, the affidavit says.
After that, Schneider and Hirth put Rehfeld's body in the trunk of the car, then picked up Klinetobe. Then, together, the three men drove to Hirth's house to get a shovel before they buried Rehfeld in the Black Hills National Forest, south of Rockerville.*
Within a couple of weeks, Klinetobe enlisted two others to move the body to a second grave site located near the first one, and burying it in a deeper hole. Police believe the move was an attempt to keep the body hidden. Arrested on accessory to murder charges were 24-year-old Michael Frye and 29-year-old Garland Brown, both of Rapid City.*
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Wow!
With all these people involved I am so surprised she was not found sooner.
I wonder what would lead LE to issue that statement that they did not believe she was in immediate harm?!
