Elizabeth Ehlers 25 yr.old case solved

[Sister Iroz]

Elizabeth Miles Ehlers (EL'-ers), of Jackson Hole, was murdered
in June 1984 while she was traveling to Florida to be with her
husband.

The body of the 25-year-old woman was found near her car at the
mouth of Hoback Canyon in western Wyoming's Sublette County. She
had gunshot wounds to her head, chest and hand.

The Sublette County Sheriff Office says Troy Dean Willoughby, of
Wickes, Mont., was arrested Sunday for the murder of Ehlers.

Sheriff's officials say Willoughby is being held in Helena on
felony charges unrelated to the homicide, and a charge of
first-degree murder is pending.

Willoughby is formerly from Daniel in central Sublette County.

http://www.kgwn.tv/story.aspx?ID=1695&Cat=2

[Abroad]

I wonder what lead them to him after all that time? DNA, do you think?

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Willoughby was being held at the Lewis and Clark County jail in Helena on felony charges unrelated to the homicide.

The charges included failing to give notice as a sexual or violent offender to local authorities upon moving to an area. Willoughby also was charged with failing to appear in court.

Sublette County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Brian Ketterhagen said Willoughby lived in Daniel in central Sublette County at the time of the slaying and was an acquaintance of Ehlers’.

Ketterhagen said he interviewed Willoughby in Helena last week, before he was jailed.
[...]
The initial investigation went cold and remained unsolved despite being reopened by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation in the mid-1990s, according to the sheriff’s office.

Ketterhagen said Sheriff Wayne Bardin asked him to reopen the case last fall. Ketterhagen said the new investigation took thousands of hours and involved interviewing witnesses in four states.

Sgt. K.C. Lehr, an investigator with the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office, told the Jackson Hole News&Guide in June 2007 that investigators took blood samples from Ehlers in 1984 that have been used in the ongoing investigation. He said investigators also lifted fingerprints from Ehlers’ car.

“Technology is so much more advanced now than it was in 1984,” Lehr told the paper. “We didn’t have DNA tests then and now it’s so prevalent in murder cases.”

Ehlers, a newlywed, was killed just days before her 26th birthday. Passers-by on Highway 191 found her dead next to her car. Authorities estimated she had been dead about five minutes.

Three witnesses reported seeing two white men standing over a body at the time of Ehlers’ death. They were driving a “dark sedan.”

Ehlers had $500 in cash on her for the trip. Her car was full of her personal possessions and nothing seemed to be missing. There was no evidence she had been assaulted.

http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=4307

I wonder if there will be another arrest?

His record as a sexual or violent offender:

Montana Statute: Aggravated Assault Counts: 1
Sentence Date: 08/02/1996

Montana Statute: Partner/Family Member Assault Counts: 1
Sentence Date: 06/13/1996

http://www.doj.mt.gov/SVOR/searchdet...Key=MT01209021

[Shellie435]

It really makes me so happy when these old cases are solved. I mean we've had two case in a row solved after 30 years. Good job to LE for never giving up. And big ups to Dakota And Wicked for brining them to our attention!Thank you ladies :)

[Shizz]

Yesss, I love when cold cases get solved.
JUSTICE !!!!!

FUCK YOU to the cunt got away with it for 25 years though. Burn you worthless, despicable motherfucker, burn.

[witzah]

hmmm.....

found articles june 2011 showing s.ct upheld his guilty conviction but an aug 2011 article comment posted from a radio byte saying the state wont appeal his winning a new trial?

in any event, havent read the transcript yet but its got a summary of facts leading up to why he killed her along with the ruling.

http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx...WAR3-2007-CURR

FACTS

[¶ 3] During the evening of June 20, 1984, the victim attended a party with friends in Jackson, Wyoming. The appellant and his wife (R.H.) and a companion (T.B.) were also present. At some point during the party, the appellant sold some "dope" to the victim, who said that she would go get the payment money from her car. The appellant, watching from a window, saw the victim get in her car and drive away. He hurried to follow her, and was joined by R.H. and T.B. as he left. As they were leaving, the appellant saw R.C., the person from whom he had purchased the "dope," and to whom he still owed the purchase money, and the appellant commented to R.C., "I might need that piece."

[¶ 4] Driving his car, with T.B. in the passenger's seat and R.H. in the back seat, the appellant chased after the victim. At some point, as they headed south out of Jackson, the appellant pulled over to the side of the road, and R.C. pulled in behind the appellant's car. The appellant went to R.C.'s vehicle and returned with a pistol. He then resumed the chase of the victim, eventually coming upon her car pulled over in a turnout. Upon seeing the vehicle, the appellant said something like, "I've been looking for her." He pulled in behind the victim's car, got out of his car, approached the victim's car, and dragged her out by the hair. A struggle and screaming match ensued, during which the appellant punched the victim twice in the face, causing her to fall to the ground. The appellant returned to his car, retrieved the pistol, walked back up to the victim and shot her twice.

[¶ 5] When the appellant returned to his vehicle, R.H. demanded to know what he had just done. The appellant responded that "this will teach the bitch to rip me off." The appellant then drove to his home in Daniel, a small town south of Jackson, where R.H. drove him to work. T.B., being too afraid to leave and having no transportation, stayed with the appellant and R.H. for a few days. At some point, the appellant told R.H. he needed help hiding the gun, which was eventually hidden in the couple's septic tank. When R.H. initially refused to assist the appellant, he struck her in the face with the butt of a rifle. After witnessing that violence, T.B. hitchhiked back to Jackson, where he made an anonymous telephone call to law enforcement saying the appellant had killed the victim.

[¶ 6] During the trial, several witnesses implicated the appellant in the victim's murder. Much of the preceding factual scenario came from the testimony of R.H. and T.B., the eye witnesses, and from B.C., a fellow inmate with whom the appellant had discussed many aspects of the crime. In addition, another witness, D.S., testified that, during a hunting trip in 1984, the appellant had described how the victim was murdered, and that the appellant's account scared D.S. to the point that he eventually reported it to authorities. At the time of the murder, however, not everyone was so forthcoming, and insufficient evidence was developed with which to charge the appellant.

[¶ 7] The appellant's trial defense was that of alibi. He claimed to have been at work at the time of the murder. The State presented expert testimony, however, indicating that the appellant's signature and initials on the "drilling log" had been forged. Further, the appellant told B.C. that he had paid the driller $100.00 for the forgery. Beyond that, the appellant's defense focused upon inconsistencies in the details of the testimony of the State's witnesses. The jury found the defendant guilty of first-degree murder, and the appellant's post-trial motion for a new trial was deemed denied when it was not determined by the district court within the time constraints of W.R.Cr.P. 33.