HOMESTEAD (AP) A man was shot and killed in this tiny town in far northeastern Montana, the Sheridan County sheriff says.
Darryl S. Norby, 60, was found dead in his home, and Keith A. Waller was in custody on suspicion of murder. Waller, who lives in Sheridan County, was ordered held on $2 million bail Monday during an initial appearance before Justice Court Judge Lester Kolste. Sheriff’s deputies discovered Norby’s body at about 1 p.m. Saturday. He had suffered a single gunshot wound in the left side of his chest. Deputies went to the house after someone in the neighborhood called 911 to report hearing a gunshot. The caller said before the gunshot, Waller sped into a nearby driveway in a red pickup towing a camper trailer and a box trailer. Afterward, he drove east out of town and then north toward Medicine Lake on state Highway 16, the caller said. A sheriff’s deputy stopped Waller within the hour and found an empty gun holster on his hip. Upon questioning, Waller told the deputy he had two weapons in the truck: a .45 semiautomatic pistol and a rifle. Ammunition and an ammunition belt also were found in the vehicle, court records said. Waller admitted he had come from town and that he had fired his weapon, court documents said. When Sheriff Patrick Ulrickson asked him where he had shot the gun, Waller allegedly answered, “Nowhere in particular,” then added, “Darryl Norby’s house.” Norby, who lived alone, was found lying on his floor, and investigators recovered a single .45 shell casing on the porch outside, court documents said. The Sheriff’s Office is working with the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation on the case. An autopsy was conducted in Billings on Monday. Sheridan County Coroner Dave Fulkerson would not disclose the cause and manner of death, saying he had been instructed not to by County Attorney Steven Howard. Howard said he hadn’t been told the results and declined to say if investigators had determined a motive in the case. Howard said he was reluctant to discuss an ongoing investigation. “Everything is in the early stages, and we’re still determining the facts,” he told The Billings Gazette. Ulrickson estimated that Homestead has perhaps 20 residents. It is located just south of the Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge. “Everybody’s pretty much working around the clock on this,” Ulrickson said. “It’s a major case for us.” The last homicide in the
