Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
Melissa R. Snow, aka Missy Snow, of Havre pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of tampering with physical evidence connected with the homicide of Lloyd Kvelstad last fall. James J. Main Jr. Of Hays, 47, faces trial on Jan. 7 on a charge of deliberate homicide in the death of Kvelstad on or about Nov. 25. Kim A Norquay Jr. Of Havre, 28, faces trial, which has not been scheduled, on felony charges of deliberate homicide by accountability and tampering with physical evidence and a misdemeanor charge of obstucting a peace officer in connection with Kvelstad’s death. Snow, 39, pleaded guilty to the charge in a plea agreement with the Hill County Attorney’s Office. In the agreement, the county attorney will dismiss a mi s d eme a n o r c h a rge o f obstructing a peace officer and recommend that Snow receive an 18-month deferred imposition of sentence. If the judge follows that recommendation and Snow follows all conditions of her release for 18 months, she can petition to have the charge struck from her record. Snow was charged on July 5 with cleaning blood from a carpet with the purpose of impairing an official proceeding or investigation she believed was pending, the charging document said. Judge David Rice scheduled Snow’s sentencing hearing for Nov. 9. According to court documents, police officers responded to a call on Nov. 25 in which the caller reported a man was in Snow’s residence who may have Been dead. The officers found Kvelstad, who was determineddead on the scene, when they entered her residence. A witness on the scene said Main had tried to leave before the police had arrived, and the witness restrained him, the document said. A witness also said a man the witness thought was Norquay had left earlier, the document said. A police officer reported that the victim’s features were swollen, bruised and bloody but he could be identified by a tattoo on his hand, the document said. A drawstring from a hooded sweatshirt and a discount card on a lanyard were around his neck, accordin to the document. Snow originally said she did not know about any fight because she was in a back room with Main, the document said. She said that when she came out, she saw blood on the floor and started cleaning it up. Later, Snow recanted her story and said Main and Kvelstad had been fighting. She told a police officer that Main had “pretty much” asked her to lie for him and tell police he and she were sleeping when the fight occurred, according to the document. Main initially maintained that he had been in a back room and had not fought Kvelstad. On Nov. 26, he told officers he wanted to talk to an investigator and told the investigator that he had fought with Kvelstad, but that he was up and moving around afterward when Main left the room, so he said he had not killed Kvelstad, the document said. An autopsy of the victim showed he had died of a combination of blunt force trauma to the head area and strangulation, the document said. According to a court document, Norquay on Nov. 25 said he had left the residence and when he returned found the victim lying on the floor. He said he had tried to wake Kvelstad up and did not realize the victim was dead, the document said. Norquay agreed to give the interviewing officer his clothes, and the officer noticed that there was blood on Norquay’s sweatshirt and shoes, and that the sweatshirt was missing its drawstring, the document said. On Nov. 27, the document said, in another interview after a police officer told Norquay there were inconsistencies in his statement, Norquay said Main and Kvelstad got into a fight. Norquay said Main had the victim in a headlock and was punching his face. Norquay said he tried to stop Main, and that was probably when Main pulled the drawstring from his sweatshirt, the document said. On Nov. 30 after an officer said witnesses had seen Norquay pull the drawstring out, Norquay said he had done it himself and threw it in a garbage bag in the kitchen, the document said. Norquay said he did not know how Main eventually got the string, the document said. An analysis of the victim’s sweatshirt by the state crime lab showed impressions that could have been caused by the impact of the shoes worn by Norquay, impressions “from someone repeatedly lifting his foot and putting it back down in the same vicinity, as opposed to one footprint,” the document said. An analysis also found blood on Norquay’s shoes saturated with with water, consistent with someone trying to wash the blood off of the shoes, the document said. An omnibus hearing for Norquay, which typical l y includes scheduling a trial, is set for Nov. 7.
