BOULDER - A Whitehall woman accused of killing a 5-year-old child was charged with deliberate homicide here in Jefferson County Justice Court in Boulder. It’s a crime that has sent shockwaves through this rural county.
“Deliberate homicide statute is a minimum of 10 years in the state prison up to 100 years in prison or, under the statute, life imprisonment,” Judge Steve Andersen told Kathryn Garaas Monday morning.
Kathryn Garaas sometimes seemed detached and sometimes showed emotion during her initial appearance, where she was charged with a felony in connection with the death of her son, Reign. She’s accused of killing the child at this residence off Tatanka Trail in a rural area north of Whitehall about 11:25 the morning of April 24th.
“Everybody’s heartbroken. Like I said, it doesn’t matter if you knew them well, if you didn’t know them well when it’s that close to home,” Whitehall resident Kylie Hansen said.
WATCH: A Whitehall woman faces a deliberate homicide charge in the death of her 5-year-old son. She is currently being held on a $5 million bond.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has not released how the child was killed or other details about the incident, stating that the Department of Criminal Investigations is taking over the case.
“It’s fairly uncommon for our area to have a possible homicide take place, so to bring in an outside agency that has experience in that kind of investigation,” Jefferson County Sheriff John Grimsrud said.
Colleen Much, who is organizing a GoFundMe campaign and speaking for the victim’s family, said Reign’s mother has been separated from her father for years, but would occasionally spend time with her son. She said the family never noticed Garaas ever being a threat to her boy.
Much said Garaas had been staying with the boy for a few weeks without incident. The boy's father left for work on April 24th and later that morning allegedly received a disturbing text message from Garaas. He called 911, and first responders found the boy dead, according to Much.
The sheriff said counseling is being offered to those who responded to this call.
“I just think it’s very hard for a community to go through something like this, and we just have to be there for everyone that’s involved and everybody that’s feeling that pain,” Grimsrud said.
Hansen added, “Everybody’s talking about it, even people who aren’t from here. I feel like when it’s one small town, it’s the whole state of Montana feels it.”
The judge set Garaas’ bond at $5 million and remanded her to jail.
