Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
The family of Amanda Engst got some closure on Thursday as 39-year-old Crystal Herman was sentenced to serve 20 years for her role in Engst's October 2015 murder. The charge was AA felony accomplice to murder.
Engst was a mother whose children will grow up without her. “(Engst’s daughter) Madison lost her mother. And she’s going to be graduating at the end of this month, and her mom won’t be there to see her graduate,” said Engst’s mother, Denise Stevenson, in her victim impact statement. Engst also has two sons. “They don’t understand what’s going on,” Stevenson added.
“I just don’t understand why they had to take Amanda’s life, because she was the type of person that would give anything, to anyone,” Stevenson said.
Police say that Crystal and her husband Billy Joe kidnapped Engst and stole her car. On the day of her death, or or about October 13, 2015, Crystal opened the car door so Billy Joe could force Engst out of the car. Billy Joe then strangled Engst and wrapped her in a tarp. Crystal opened and prepared the trunk of the car so Engst could be put in there, still alive as evident from Engst’s screams. “In order to drown out those screams the car stereo was turned up,” said State’s Attorney Travis Peterson. They then drove six miles to a bridge over the Sheyenne River. Crystal then opened the trunk and held a flashlight as Engst was beaten with a shovel and wrapped in the tarp again. Ultimately, a cinder block was tied to Engst’s body and she was thrown into the river.
Judge James Hovey imposed 20 years in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the maximum sentence allowed per the plea agreement. Herman will not be eligible for parole until she has served at least 85 percent of her sentence. Then, upon her release, Herman will be under supervised probation for a period of five years. Hovey did not order her to pay any fines, fees or restitution at sentencing, as he said it was unlikely that she would be able to make reparations to Engst’s family given the length of her sentence.
In making his ruling, Judge Hovey said he considered that only two of the more than one dozen sentencing factors weighed in Herman’s favor, which included her cooperation with authorities and acceptance of responsibility for her role in the crime.
It was Herman that led authorities to Engst’s body in the Sheyenne River in eastern Eddy County on February 4, 2016. “I’m not going to stand up here today and minimize Crystal’s role in this crime,” stated Herman’s attorney Nicole Bradol. Bradol said Herman also made “numerous statements in this case going back 18 months” as she sat in jail. Herman was given credit for 183 days served during that time. The defense requested a 13 year sentence.
Hovey said that he was concerned with her violent criminal history and the fact that it seemed to escalate over the course of her life. In the pre-sentence investigation, Peterson had identified several felony convictions attributed to Herman over the past 19 years, including theft of property, neglect of a child, writing an NSF check and revocation of probation. Most recently, Herman pleaded guilty to robbery and assault in Norman County, Minn. in November 2015. She served time in the Women’s Correctional Facility in Shakopee, Minn. as a result of that crime.
Herman also made a statement. “The events of October 13 have been weighing on me very heavy that I will have to live with for the rest of my life,” she said. “I just want to apologize to everyone that is here that I have hurt.”
So, why has Crystal’s husband, Billy Joe, not been tried for Amanda Engst’s murder? According to Eddy County Sheriff Paul Lies, Billy Joe Herman is an enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Nation. Because the crime initially took place on the Spirit Lake Reservation and is a felony, he must be tried federally. The U.S. Attorney’s office would be the agency to file any charges, and as of today (May 15, 2018), to our knowledge no charges have been filed against him in connection with this case. According to Minnesota court records, Billy Joe is currently serving a 57-month sentence in a St. Cloud, Minn. correctional facility for second degree assault. He was sentenced for that crime on March 15, 2017.
