Man admits role in Arlee trailer murder

An Idaho man accused of bludgeoning his nephew to death and hiding the body for months inside an Arlee trailer admitted last week to playing a roll in the crime, but not before continuing to allege that his wife actually struck the fatal blow.

Stephen Seese, 25, pleaded guilty on Dec. 7 in Lake County District Court to accountability for negligent homicide in the February for the death of 18-year-old Richard Warner. Last month, his wife, Kassandra Seese, was sentenced to serve five years in the Department of Corrections on similar charges.

Reading from a prepared statement, Seese explained that Warner’s death resulted from a series of confrontations which spiraled out of control.

Seese said the altercation began when he came home to find Warner, who had been living with the couple, engaged in an argument with Kassandra.

“I couldn’t take the fighting anymore,” Seese said.

Seese said he proceeded to “beat (Warner) up pretty good,” but stopped when the 18-year-old started bleeding and asking to go home.

Seese said he left the trailer to call a family member for advice. After talking on the phone for 20 minutes, Seese said he returned to find Warner unconscious on the floor.

“That’s when I noticed he wasn’t breathing,” Seese said.

Seese said he tried to administer CPR, but Kassandra kept pushing him away. Not knowing what to do, Seese said he hid the body in the trailer’s bathroom.

“I was scared, confused and emotional,” Seese said, adding that decided to tell family members that Warner had run away.

Later, Seese said Kassandra asked him to bury Warner’s body in their yard.

“I couldn’t do it,” Seese said. “I didn’t want to believe he was gone.”

Seese said he wanted to contact law enforcement, but Kassandra told him not to, threatening to take away his two young children if he did.

Seese said that when he asked her why, Kassandra allegedly admitted that she hit Warner on the head with a hammer when Stephen was outside the trailer talking on the phone.

Distraught to the point of suicidal, Seese said he resolved to turn himself in, but was arrested in Idaho on unrelated charges before he had a chance.

Warner’s body was discovered in June, after two men reported the odor of rotting flesh coming from the trailer.

Throughout legal proceedings, Kassandra and Stephen Seese have accused each other of causing Warner’s death.

Kassandra Seese received a partially suspended sentence as part of a plea deal that prosecuting attorney Steve Eschenbacher said was necessary in order to seek justice for both parties.

He said Warner’s body was so badly decomposed that it was difficult to determine exactly what happened inside the trailer.

Due to the severity of the blows, however, Eschenbacher said the state is seeking a more severe sentence for Stephen Seese.

His plea agreement calls for a maximum sentence of 40 years in the Department of Corrections. Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 18, 2017.