Carri Standsoverbull and the Murder of Jeffrey Hewitt

Carri Elizabeth Standsoverbull is a Montana woman sentenced to 40 years in prison for her role in the 2015 beating death and dismemberment of her boyfriend, Jeffrey Christopher Hewitt. She pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, aggravated assault by accountability, and two counts of tampering with physical evidence, and was sentenced on October 18, 2017, in Yellowstone County District Court by Judge Michael Moses.¹

What Happened to Jeffrey Hewitt

Hewitt, 38, was killed in early March 2015 inside Standsoverbull’s apartment on the 1300 block of Industrial Avenue in Billings. Charging documents said he was beaten at least twice, and that the first beating involved as many as five people, including Standsoverbull and her brother Patrick Saint Standsoverbull III. Standsoverbull’s own children later told police they had witnessed the assaults.²

After the beatings, Hewitt was kept alive in a back room of the apartment. Investigators later determined that both law enforcement officers and Child Protective Services representatives visited the apartment during that period, but Standsoverbull refused to let them intervene or take Hewitt to a hospital. He died from his injuries.¹

Dismemberment and Discovery of the Body

After Hewitt died, Standsoverbull and two of her brothers, Patrick and Isaiah, loaded the body into an SUV and drove it to a remote drainage area on the Crow Indian Reservation southeast of Billings. Patrick tried to dismember the body with a chainsaw, and when the chainsaw broke, he and others used an axe. The remains were then set on fire. Carri Standsoverbull separately discarded Hewitt’s head at a different location.³

On April 15, 2015, a badly burned torso was found in a canyon between Pryor and St. Xavier on the reservation. A coupon mailer used as kindling carried an address linked to Standsoverbull’s Billings apartment, and a search warrant there turned up Hewitt’s wallet. A partially burned tattoo across the torso’s shoulders spelled “E-W-I-T-T,” matching the end of the victim’s last name, and DNA testing confirmed the identification.³

Arrest, Charges, and Sentence

Standsoverbull was arrested in January 2017, nearly two years after the body was found, and was held on $500,000 bond. She initially pleaded not guilty to deliberate homicide (which carried a potential 100-year sentence) or in the alternative negligent homicide, along with aggravated assault by accountability and three counts of tampering with physical evidence.²

In July 2017 she changed her plea to guilty on four counts: negligent homicide, aggravated assault by accountability, and two counts of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. The deliberate homicide charge was not among them.³

Judge Moses sentenced her to 40 years at the Montana Women’s Prison with 20 years suspended, making her eligible for parole after serving 10 years. She was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and roughly $4,500 in restitution. At sentencing, Deputy County Attorney Ed Zink called the case “a level of cruelty and depravity that is rarely seen.” Standsoverbull told the court she was sorry and that she “thought I was protecting myself and my kids.” Her attorney, Roberta Drew, said Standsoverbull had suffered long-term abuse from her ex-husband, a different person from Hewitt, and had struggled with substance abuse. Prosecutors argued she had initiated the violence against Hewitt.¹

The Brothers

Patrick Saint Standsoverbull III was charged separately with aggravated assault and two counts of tampering with evidence. He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of evidence tampering and one misdemeanor count of assault. District Judge Don Harris noted that Patrick “did nothing to help Hewitt before he died,” and Patrick received the maximum sentence of 20 years and six months if the counts ran consecutively.⁴⁵

The third brother, Isaiah Standsoverbull, cooperated with investigators. He led them to where the chainsaw and axe had been hidden and helped them recover Hewitt’s head. He was never charged.³

Charging documents named at least four other people beyond the Standsoverbull siblings who may have taken part in the initial beatings. The research does not indicate that any of them were ever charged, and police said at the time of sentencing that the investigation into those other participants remained open.⁵

1
Billings Gazette. Woman Sentenced to 40 Years in Beating Death, Dismemberment of Boyfriend
2
Billings Gazette. Siblings Charged in Beating Death, Dismemberment Plead Not Guilty
3
Oxygen. Woman Beat Boyfriend to Death, Then Had Her Brothers Help Dismember Body
4
NBC Montana. Man Gets 20 Years for Role in Dismembering, Burning Body
5
Billings Gazette. Man Pleads Guilty in Beating, Dismemberment in Rural Big Horn County