Evergreen woman sentenced in murder case

On the one-year anniversary of the 2016 murder of Wade Rautio, an Evergreen woman initially charged in the homicide was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison with 20 suspended for a lesser charge of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs.

Melisa Crone, 29, was originally charged with accountability to deliberate homicide and possession of dangerous drugs, but pleaded guilty March 15 in Flathead District Court to the amended charge pursuant to a plea agreement with the state.

According to public defender John Donovan, because of Crone’s alleged minimal involvement in Rautio’s murder, the state would have faced difficulty in proving her guilt, leading to a jury’s inability to convict her.

Prosecutors initially said co-defendants David Vincent Toman, 21, Christopher Michael Hansen, 28 and Crone helped Robert Matthew Wittal, 28, plan and kill Rautio.

Crone admitted to selling or giving methamphetamine to Toman, but has maintained her innocence in Rautio’s murder.

Testimony presented at Wittal’s trial stated that Crone had allegedly approved of Wittal’s plan to assault Rautio and advised him of Rautio’s presence at her home before forcing him to leave, at which time he was taken into the woods near Echo Lake and killed.

Crone testified in October that Wittal told her “he stabbed him about 100 times. He said (Rautio) had a strong soul and he didn’t want to go down. His soul wasn’t ready to leave.”

A medical examiner found that Rautio had been stabbed at least 25 times.

Wittal was convicted of Rautio’s murder in 2016 and was sentenced to 110 years in Montana State Prison.

Prior to sentencing, several of Rautio’s friends and relatives took the stand to address the court on how Crone should be held accountable.

Rautio’s former fiance, Kylie Adams, was among them.

“The Wade you knew was not the Wade I fell in love with,” she said, addressing Crone. “I’ve been taught from a very young age that there are no monsters, but I’m here to tell you that there are monsters. And in my heart you are one of them.”

Adams testified that, since Rautio’s death, she has suffered from depression, insomnia and nightmares.

Rautio’s mother also took the stand.

“My son did not deserve to die,” she said to Crone. “You signed his death warrant when you kicked him out of that house that night.”

After all witnesses had taken their seats, Crone requested to make a statement.

“I’m sorry,” she said, turning to face Rautio’s friends and family. “He was a wonderful person...if I could go back and do it over, I never would have kicked him out that night.”

Throughout her statement, Crone continued to insist she had no control over what Wittal did to Rautio after they left her house.

Reporter Mary Cloud Taylor can be reached at 758-4459 or mtaylor@dailyinterlake.com.