Missoula Investigators Say They’ve Solved 1990 Murders

A thirty-six-year-old cold case has finally been broken open in Missoula, as prosecutors file deliberate homicide charges in the 1990 murders of two elderly care center residents.

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that Nickie Dean Gardiner has been charged with two counts of deliberate homicide. Gardiner is accused in the violent deaths of Bertha Scott and Nancy Lagerquist, both of whom suffered from dementia and were living at the Riverside Health Care Center when they were killed in mid-1990.

Authorities say the breakthrough came after the Missoula County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit and the Missoula Police Department used modern, advanced DNA technology to analyze preserved biological evidence. Prosecutors say tests from the Montana State Crime Lab and Bode Technology strongly link Gardiner to both victims, including DNA recovered from fingernail clippings.

     Gardiner is currently being held at the Missoula County Detention Facility on a five-million-dollar warrant.

Immigration records case arguments made

Gallatin County argues that Montana's Attorney General is "attempting to establish a dangerous precedent" of what the attorneys call unchecked "executive supremacy" in the fight over access to court records for immigration enforcement.

That's the thrust of the county's response to the dispute that's now before the Montana Supreme Court, with the briefs that were filed by the lawyers representing Gallatin County Attorney Audrey Cromwell this week.

It's the latest development in the battle that started a few weeks ago, when AG Austin Knudsen accused Cromwell and her staff of violating state laws prohibiting sanctuary cities, and refusing to release court records to federal immigration investigators. Knudsen would subsequently try to assert state control over Cromwell's office when she refused, saying state privacy laws prevent her from allowing widespread access to the court records.

READ MORE: AG Seeks Control Over Gallatin Co Attorney's Office

The attorneys argue against Knudsen's claim that his actions are "immune from judicial review", and say the fight is basically a matter of "basic statutory interpretation", which is up to the courts and isn't a political question outside the court's jurisdiction.

The county is also argue Knudsen's position is create immediate hardship to the county, and places them at risk of severe civil and even criminal penalties if the records were released.

     Knudsen has until next week to file his response.