Fair / 61° F
Two plead not guilty in murder conspiracy
Published 11:45am Wednesday, January 2, 2013Two have pled not guilty to charges involving an alleged murder conspiracy in Pelican Rapids.
Zach Stewart, 18, of Erhard and Kimberly Ryan, 36, of Fergus Falls are two of the eight being charged with the murder conspiracy.
The alleged plot involved robbing and burning a home and murdering the occupants. The group of five adults and three juveniles took two vehicles to a Pelican Rapids home Oct. 4 with bear mace, a crow bar, a lead pipe, a knife, a machete and gasoline. Their alleged motive was to retrieve stolen marijuana and drug paraphernalia after a drug deal went bad.
They planned to use the gasoline to set fire to the house and destroy the evidence after the murders. According to court reports, one of the house’s occupants, Fikret Saric, walked into the front yard and fired two gunshots, one of which struck the passenger side front door of one of the vehicles.
