Woman who admitted to second-degree murder given a 21-year prison term

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - An Allen woman was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison Thursday after earlier pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

According to the factual basis statement in the case, 20-year-old Jonnie Fineran, along with a juvenile identified in court only as TSB, stabbed Thomas Sitting Bear more than 60 times back in July of 2020.

The two culprits had first met two years earlier in a mental health facility.

An FBI agent testified at the sentencing, saying that the two had previously discussed an interest in cannibalism, however he testified there was no proof any cannibalistic acts were performed at the particular scene of the crime.

The FBI agent, along with Oglala Sioux Public Safety officers, were the ones who discovered the body in a tote crate.

The family of Sitting Bear did not seek restitution, and along with the prison sentence, Fineran will serve five years of supervised release.

Copyright 2022 KEVN. All rights reserved.