Two South Dakota men charged in Montana murder that has ties to Ben Affleck crime drama, "The Town"

Part 2

‘I’m an accessory to this shit’

During the trial, Montana Assistant Attorney General Dan Guzynski asked Montana Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Brad Tucker at what point Burghduff became aware the nighttime trip was for more than drinking beer and spotlighting deer and raccoons.

Jake Burghduff said he did know about the custody dispute between Isaac Carrier and his ex-wife Jackie Bivens, who married Sterling Brown (seen above in a photo from the Dawson County Correctional Facility in Glendive, Mont.) in August 2022. Burghduff said on the drive, he realized Brown “was gonna go kill Isaac” but Brown did not say it in those exact words.

“He didn’t, not in specific terms,” Burghduff told the agents. “He said he was gonna take care of him, the kid wasn’t goin’ back to him.”

When they headed back to South Dakota, Burghduff said he was struck by what had happened.

“Jake said, ‘I’m an accessory to this shit. And I just wanted to get drunk,’ according to the court filing. “When asked if he was sorry about what occurred, Jake said, ‘I understand why Sterling did it, but it’s pretty fucked up what … that it did happen, so. Yeah, I am sorry that I was part of that, and there’s probably … there’s better ways to go about that than killin’ a guy.’”

Both Brown and Burghduff admit to driving around and drinking beer on Jan. 23. But their stories vary on what happened as the night went on.

Brown, 29, has denied killing Carrier or even being in Fallon on Jan. 23. During a Jan. 31 interview with Montana investigators, he said while he had a strained relationship with his wife’s ex-husband, he did not enter his apartment, shoot him and set the four-apartment building at 605 Whittier Ave. in Fallon on fire.

Two residents of neighboring apartments heard loud noises between 11-11:30 p.m. and after a fire alarm sounded, they learned the four-unit building was on fire, with the blaze starting in Carrier’s apartment.

Del Linda Frost, who lived in one of the three other apartments, said she heard a gunshot.

Another neighbor, Matt Dziurdzik, reported hearing cowboy boots in the hallway. Brown had been wearing muck boots, commonly worn while doing outdoor chores, and he had texted Burghduff and asked him to bring some tennis shoes, between sizes 9-10. He did, although it’s not certain Brown changed footwear.

Burghduff, who told the DCI he did not leave the pickup during the shooting, was wearing cowboy boots. Does that mean he was inside the apartment building? It was not clarified during the trial, but prosecutors do believe he was inside the building.

According to him, the two men quickly left Fallon and headed back to South Dakota. Burghduff said he saw flames rising from the building as they drove away.

He said his friend acted “nervous as hell” when he returned to the pickup that night. “He just jumped back in and he goes, ‘Holy shit, holy shit,’ and huffin’ and puffin’ and hit the gas and we took off.’”

The question during the trial was, did he know Brown intended to commit murder?

“I knew he was pissed off,” Burghduff told Tucker, the agent testified. “But I didn’t know he planned on doing anything like that. I had no idea what was going on.”

But when Tucker asked him if he had known the whole time, would he have gotten into the pickup and headed to Fallon, Burghduff admitted he wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know,” he told him. “I couldn’t tell you if I wouldn’t or not, if I knew.”

Tucker wasn’t buying it. He said Brown and Burghduff met in a Ludlow bar, and when they left for Montana, they placed both their cell phones in Burghduff’s vehicle before setting out on a three-hour drive on back roads.

Tucker said he has seen such behavior before when people don’t want their movements recorded.

“To me, that’s a significant fact that they intentionally left their phones when they left to do this,” he said.

After they stopped in Baker, Mont., to buy gas, the agent said, Burghduff knew they weren’t going to merely assault Carrier.

“You know you’re going to fuck someone up?” Tucker asked Berghduff, Guzynski said in reading from a transcript of the Feb. 7 interrogation.

“Yes,” Tucker said. “He clearly said yes.”

Later, during cross-examination by public defender Haase, Tucker said Burghduff was well aware what they were going to do when they got to Fallon, a small town in eastern Montana. They took a winding path from northwest South Dakota to the small apartment complex where Carrier lived.

“I knew where the road led, so I guess this is where we are going,” he told Tucker on Feb. 7.

A question of honesty

The DCI agent said Burghduff was not entirely honest with him. He said Brown purchased and pumped the gasoline that he used to ignite a fire in Carrier’s home after shooting him, according to court documents. But when Tucker reviewed a security tape from the store where they bought the gas shortly before 10 p.m., he saw Burghduff pump it into a container and place it in the back of the pickup driven by Brown.

Burghduff bought engine starting fluid, a gas can with two gallons of fuel, and an 18-pack of Coors beer — even though he was a few days short of his 21st birthday, the legal age to purchase alcohol in Montana. The total came to $50.87, and he paid with a $100 bill.

Then, it was on to Fallon. Brown parked just down the street from the wooden fourplex.

Burghduff told the agent he saw Brown walk toward Carrier’s apartment building with a scarf covering his face. He was carrying a .45 caliber handgun and the can of gas.

The pickup windows were rolled up — it was a typically cold January night in Montana, and snow fell during the evening hours — so Burghduff said he did not hear any gunshots.

“That’s his claim,” Tucker said.

When Brown returned, they immediately headed back to South Dakota, with Brown driving. Burghduff told Tucker he started to drink heavily.

While Burghduff never took the stand, his words were at the center of the case. Tucker, who was called by both the prosecution and the defense, recalled his interview — which Judge Rieger termed “an interrogation” with Burghduff, and quoted his comments to the jury.

On Wednesday, Aug. 23, Rieger denied a pair of defense motions to end the trial.

In the morning, the defense requested a directed verdict, saying the state had not proven its case and the judge would find that a reasonable jury could not have sufficient evidence to convict. The jury was not present to hear that motion, and Rieger summoned them to tell them she was taking an extended break.

Forcella said Burghduff had not fired the gun or lit the fire, so he was not properly charged. It’s a question of accountability, she argued, and their client was not responsible for the murder, since the state had relied on evidence of the fire during the first two days of the trial.

“I don’t think it’s proper for the state, through their entire case, to assert one theory and then after they’ve rested, assert a new theory,” Forcella said. “The defense, I don’t believe, could have provided Mr. Burghduff with adequate representation based on this shift.”

Guzynski rejected that, saying the fire was a major part of the crime, and it had to be fully explained to the jury.

“There’s been no changing of theories,” he said. “This is the same theory that the court ruled was admissible and that there was probable cause to go forward with.”

When she reconvened the trial, Judge Rieger declined to issue a directed verdict, although she did say there were parts of the prosecution’s case she found confusing.

That afternoon, she announced that while there were some confusing elements to the state’s case, she would allow the jury to decide Burghduff’s fate.

The defense then asked for a mistrial, but Rieger rejected that as well.

“If I’m wrong, someone that wears a heavier black robe than me will decide that, but this is all relevant information,” she said.

The defense then presented its case, recalling Tucker and questioning him on his impartiality.

Haase asked him how important it was to be thorough while investigating a case and honest while testifying. The lawyer asked the agent if he put equal value into finding proof someone was innocent or guilty, noting that Tucker was sitting with the prosecution and his testimony was at the heart of their case.

Tucker said it was crucial to be fair and accurate. He also said it would be inappropriate to mislead a jury.

Fourteen jurors — including two alternates — were selected for the jury panel, and 12 of them, six women and six men, voted guilty on Aug. 23. They were out less than three hours when they revealed they had reached a verdict.

The trial was held in the Dawson County Courthouse in Glendive, Mont. It was moved to the larger courthouse in the adjacent county. While the courtroom was not packed with spectators, at times more than 100 people were watching on Zoom. Prairie County staffers still worked the trial, and the jury was chosen from Prairie County residents.

Burghduff was initially charged with arson and tampering with physical evidence. However, those counts were later dropped, and he was charged with deliberate homicide.

Issac Carrier’s mother Jackie Carrier testified, as did Sheriff Lewis, and Deputy State Fire Marshals George Lane and Mike Spini.

Frost, Dziurdzik, and Walt Harms, who lived in the same small apartment building with Issac Carrier, testified about the fire. They all lost their homes, since the fire left the house inhabitable. Carrier’s apartment was destroyed by the fire, while the other three units had smoke damage that prevented them from returning.

Harms, a retired ranch hand, said his unit was next to Carrier and they knew each other and got along well. He said when he realized the building was on fire, he covered his mouth with a wet T-shirt, which was found by state fire marshals during the investigation.

“And out I went,” Harms said.

He said he was not able to return to the fire-damaged building, and still feels the effects of the fire.

“Every once in a while, I lose my air,” Harms said.

Brown, who maintains his innocence, is being defended by Lance Jasper and Jordan Rhodes Kilby, both Missoula, Mont., attorneys. He turned 30 four days before Burghduff’s trial started.

Both Brown, whose bond was set at $1 million, and Burghduff, who is being held on $250,000 bond until the Oct. 17 sentencing, are being held in the Dawson County Correctional Facility in Glendive. They are kept in separate pods to ensure they do not interact.

If convicted of all five offenses, Brown faces a sentence of up to 160 years — 100 years for deliberate homicide, with an additional 10 years for having used a firearm while committing a felony; 20 years for arson; and 10 years each for the criminal endangerment counts.

Each offense also has a potential fine of $50,000, which totals $250,000.

Brown made an initial appearance on Friday, Sept. 1.

Bivens remains under suspicion. She denied any knowledge of the murder of her ex-husband, but Sheriff Lewis is asking anyone with new evidence or insights to contact him or the Montana DCI.

“They may know more than they think they know,” he told me.

Carrier’s parents Chuck and Jackie Carrier, who live in southwest Missouri, plan to view Burghduff’s sentencing via Zoom, but said they will return to Montana for Brown’s trial in March. They returned to their home on Saturday, Aug. 26.

The couple met with County Attorney Rice and Sheriff Lewis on Thursday, Aug. 24, the day after the trial ended. They had mint chocolate chip ice cream — Isaac’s favorite.

It would have been his 31st birthday.

Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states and contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The  Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets.