BILLINGS - Two men being held on murder charges in the Yellowstone County Detention Facility were charged Thursday with trying to escape from a high-security jail cell.
Terrell Lee Spotted Wolf and Christopher Adrian Brown appeared in Yellowstone County District Court and pleaded not guilty to attempted escape, a felony.
Spotted Wolf, 30, is incarcerated on a charge of deliberate homicide for the late February death of 48-year-old Susan LaForge, whose badly beaten body was found inside a suitcase inside her residence by her 12-year-old son.
On Thursday, District Court Judge Collette Davies set his bond at $1 million on the attempted escape charge concurrent to the previous bond in the same amount for the murder charge.
The same judge on Thursday ordered Brown held on $250,000 bond concurrent to a previous bond of the same amount for a charge of deliberate homicide by accountability.
Brown, 18, is accused of participating in the September stabbing death of Cody Wagoner, who was found fatally injured in North Park. A co-defendant, Vanessa Marie Delaney, 22, has been charged with deliberate homicide for Wagoner's death.
According to court records, the two men were housed in the same high-security jail cell and drew the suspicion of corrections officers on Monday who said they were "observed engaging in unusual behavior inside their cell."
The officers decided to enter the jail cell and conduct a search.
"The officers observed that both inmates became nervous and agitated when the officers entered their cell," the charging documents state.
During a pat search of Spotted Wolf an officer felt a small, solid object in his shirt pocket, which Spotted Wolf claimed was a crayon. When it was removed from the shirt pocket the object turned out to be a "sharpened screw wrapped in a torn piece of linen."
The officers reported that they saw a section of concrete from under a cell window missing, and could see concrete and caulk debris on the floor underneath the window. As the search continued the officers found a large, metal object hidden in a blanket underneath a bunk and a medium-sized chunk of concrete that appeared to have been removed from the wall, the court documents state.
The officers "deduced that the screws had been used to chip away at the caulk and concrete surrounding the window."
A further search resulted in the discovery of a metal faceplate taken from a shower area as well as multiple screws from a door hinge.
Also discovered in the cell were a handwritten checklist, extra clothes, a makeshift screwdriver and alcohol.
"The checklist included items such as 'Bend and sharpen screwdriver as much as possible tomorrow,' and 'Afterward, make plans for after getting out,'" the charging documents state.
The checklist also included a diagram of the cell window, with notes about how best to remove it.
Spotted Wolf and Brown were separated and Spotted Wolf allegedly agreed to provide a statement. He told the officers he had been moved to the cell five days prior and the damage was already there. He denied knowledge of an escape plan or attempt.
"Spotted Wolf could not explain how Brown could have chipped away at the window and door in their shared cell without his knowledge," court records state.
Brown declined to provide a statement.
A similar incident occurred last September when two men successfully escaped from the jail by removing a cell window. The men were arrested after being on the run for nearly 24 hours.
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