Montana Teacher Murder Suspects In Court Tuesday

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The suspects in the killing of eastern Montana teacher Sherry Arnold are due in state court in Sidney Tuesday to face new murder charges filed by prosecutors who are seeking the death penalty.

Forty-eight-year-old Lester Van Waters Jr. and 23-year-old Michael Spell allegedly snatched Arnold off a Sidney street, killed her and buried her body in a field in North Dakota's booming Bakken oil patch.

They were arrested about a week after Arnold disappeared in early January. Authorities did not recover her body until late March.

Court documents indicate that Spell has blamed Waters for choking Arnold to death; Waters allegedly said Spell did it.

The two Colorado men previously pleaded not guilty to aggravated kidnapping, a charge that was filed before Arnold's body was found.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)