Another arrest made in Mitchell murder
POLSON - A man is in custody at The Lake County Detention Facility in connection with the 2005 murder of Harold Mitchell in St. Ignatius.
Clifford Oldhorn, 23, was served with an arrest warrant for deliberate homicide, a felony, on April 28. The warrant was dated Jan. 26, but Oldhorn was already in custody at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge on a separate weapons conviction, said Lake County Sheriff's Office Det. Mike Sargeant, who served the warrant. Oldhorn was transferred to Lake County in anticipation of a May 5 arraignment in Judge C.B. McNeil's district court.
Oldhorn appeared in Judge Chuck Wall's justice courtroom last Friday afternoon. Wall informed Oldhorn that McNeil had denied him bail, and that Oldhorn would be seen Wednesday. An order from Judge McNeil explained why bail was not granted, citing Montana Code Annotated 46-9-102: "All persons shall be bailable before conviction, except when death is a possible punishment for the offense charged and the proof is evident or the presumption great that the person is guilty of the offense charged."
Oldhorn is the second man arrested in connection with the July 2005 murder of Harold Mitchell, 73, of St. Ignatius. Nathan Aaron Ross, 21, was arrested in connection with the murder on March 29, and has already been arraigned. Ross pleaded not guilty to felony charges of deliberate homicide and tampering with physical evidence on April 14. He will have an omnibus hearing on May 12.
According to a criminal affidavit related to the case, Oldhorn, wrote a letter to LCSO Undersheriff Jay Doyle in April 2008 saying that he was a witness to the homicide of Mitchell, and that he was willing to give a statement about the incident. Both Doyle and Det. Mike Sargeant, who was undersheriff at the time of the crime, traveled to Great Falls, where Oldhorn was incarcerated on an unrelated conviction.
During the subsequent interview, Oldhorn said that he, Ross, Nigel Ernst and Kyle Brown traveled to St. Ignatius with the intent of robbing Mitchell. Once there, Oldhorn said Brown started beating Mitchell at his home and forced him to reveal the location of the money they believed he had on hand. The scene apparently became too much for Oldhorn, who claimed he couldn't bear to watch the beating, and exited the house. He said he stayed close to the residence and could hear Mitchell yelling inside.
As he waited outside, Oldhorn said Ross came out and grabbed a gas can from one of their vehicles and took it inside the house with him. A while later, the affidavit states, Ross and Ernst exited the residence and the two men and Oldhorn returned to Dixon in Ernst's vehicle.
After the interview with Oldhorn, the two detectives interviewed Ross a few weeks later. Ross confirmed what Oldhorn had said, and added new details about the night from the perspective of someone inside the residence. The affidavit states that Ross said that after Mitchell was dead, Ernst told Ross to "clean up the scene." Ross then said he went outside to retrieve the can of gas and brought it back inside the house, where a blood-covered Mitchell lay on the floor. Ross doused the body in gasoline before leaving for Dixon in Ernst's vehicle.
Though he wouldn't name a name, Sargeant said that more arrests could happen.
"The case is continuing," he said. "We have one more [arrest] that Jay [Doyle] and I anticipate doing."