Suspect in St. Ignatius murder pleads innocent
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POLSON — Nigel Ernst, one of four suspects in the 2005 murder of St. Ignatius resident Harold Mitchell Jr., pled not guilty Sept. 15 to felony deliberate homicide.
Ernst was transported to the Lake County Jail Aug. 24 from federal prison in Victorville, Calif., where he was serving time for felony possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute, Lake County Undersheriff Jay Doyle said.
Doyle said then that the murder investigation isn’t over, but “it’s getting closer.”
Three more suspects — Nathan Ross, Clifford Old Horn and Kyle Brown — are all being held in county jail. The four allegedly broke into 73-year-old Mitchell’s mobile home to rob him because they’d heard he kept large amounts of cash around, beat him to make him tell where the money was hidden, killed him and burned the house.
According to the affidavit, when firefighters responded to the fire on July 7, 2005, they recovered Mitchell’s partially burned body from the home. An autopsy determined he died from a knife wound to the neck before the fire started, and the investigation into the fire show that gasoline was used as an accelerant. Mitchell’s death was ruled a homicide, but it wasn’t until nearly three years later that investigators got a real lead.
In April 2008, Doyle received a letter from Old Horn, then an inmate in the regional prison in Great Falls. In the letter, Old Horn claimed he was a witness to Mitchell’s murder, so Doyle and Lake County Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Sargeant went to Great Falls and interviewed Old Horn.
On the night of Mitchell’s death, Old Horn told them, he, Ross, Ernst and Brown planned to rob Mitchell, because they had heard he kept large amounts of cash in his home. When the four entered Mitchell’s home, Brown began beating Mitchell to make him tell where the money was hidden.
At that point, Old Horn claimed he left the house because he couldn’t stand watching the beating. A short while later, Old Horn said he saw Ross come out of the house, take a gas can from Brown’s car and go back inside. Later Ross, Ernst and Old Horn drove back to Dixon in Ernst’s vehicle.
According to the affidavit, Ross confirmed Old Horn’s story, adding that Ernst told Ross to clean up the bloody scene after Mitchell died. Ross poured gasoline on and around Mitchell’s body and left with Ernst and Old Horn.
Ernst is scheduled to appear in District Court for an omnibus hearing Oct. 6. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death — the maximum penalty for deliberate homicide.
