9-inch butcher knife used in alleged weekend slaying

POLSON — A Polson murder suspect is being held without bond for the Saturday stabbing death of his mother’s boyfriend.

Aaron Jess Spang, 18, made an initial appearance Monday afternoon before Justice of the Peace Chuck Wall on a charge of deliberate homicide.

Frank He Does It, 32, had called 911 Saturday to report his girlfriend’s son was threatening him with a knife.

Polson police arrived a few minutes later and found He Does It dead from eight stab wounds apparently inflicted by a 9-inch butcher knife.

Crying, screaming and pleas for help are heard on a 911 tape right before, or possibly during the murder, Deputy Lake County Attorney Mark Russell said Monday. A threat of murder by the alleged killer also can be heard in the background, Russell said.

Russell said the victim was found in the back bedroom of a D Street apartment building; the butcher knife was found near the body. He Does It was Spang’s mother’s boyfriend, Russell said.

“She’s still in shock over this matter,” he said of his attempts at an interview with the mother. “He stabbed [He Does It] in front of her and she asked me to leave.”

Spang allegedly had been told to leave the apartment the three shared by his mother, Vicki OneBear. Russell said Spang had been drinking and re-entered the apartment through a partially opened window before beginning an assault on the sleeping OneBear and He Does It.

The first 911 call from OneBear came in at 6:40 a.m. Saturday, Russell said. She said she needed police to respond to her residence as her son was assaulting her and her boyfriend. More calls came in but were not connected until He Does It made a call at 6:51 a.m. pleading for quick assistance since Spang had a knife and was threatening him. Screams and crying are heard in the background before the line went dead, Russell said.

When Polson police arrived at the scene, Spang was standing outside the home covered in blood and was detained. Once inside, law enforcement discovered the victim. Spang is a Northern Cheyenne tribal member living in Polson while He Does It was a Crow tribal member from St. Xavier, Mont. Spang, who calmly answered questions throughout the proceeding, will be appointed a public defender but Steve Eschenbacher, who appeared on Spang’s behalf for Monday’s proceeding, said the case will be contracted out to a different office. Spang will have a chance to request bail once his case is transferred to District Court in the next week or two, Judge Wall said. If convicted of deliberate homicide, Spang faces a $50,000 fine and 100 years or life in prison.

The case remains under investigation by the Polson Police Department and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. The victim’s body was sent to the Montana State Crime Lab for an autopsy.

The homicide is the first in Polson since 2006, Polson Police Chief Doug Chase said. In that case, Brandon Orr killed his mother while she slept on July 29, 2006. Orr received a 50-year sentence to the Department of Corrections, but hanged himself last December while an inmate at the Montana State Prison.