HELENA — Journey Wienke, the third and final man sentenced in connection with a 2018 double murder in the Helena Valley, has been sentenced to life in prison.
District Court Judge Mike Menahan announced Wienke’s sentence after a hearing on Friday afternoon.
In October, a jury convicted Wienke on two counts of deliberate homicide in connection with the deaths of David and Charla Taylor. The Taylors’ bodies were found in their home on Cayuse Road in March 2018.
Wienke went to the victims’ home that night, along with the Taylor's son Kaleb and another man, Kyle Hamm.
Kaleb admitted he then attacked and killed his parents.
The jury found Wienke guilty of participating in both murders.
Taylor is already serving two life sentences in prison, after he pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide. Hamm was also convicted of deliberate homicide in October and sentenced to 80 years in prison last week.
Wienke may become eligible for parole after 30 years.
(March 27, 2018) The third suspect in last week’s double murder at a home in the Helena Valley made his first appearance in court Monday.
Journey Ryder John Wieneke is charged with two counts of deliberate homicide, tampering with evidence, burglary and theft. His bond was set at $500,000.
The bodies of David and Charla Taylor were found in their home on Cayuse Road last week. Their son, Kaleb David Taylor, and another man, Kyle Alexander Hamm, have also been arrested in connection with the crime.
Prosecutors say Kaleb Taylor, along with Wieneke, Hamm and a fourth man, burglarized his parents’ business, Lincoln Road RV Park, on March 10. They believe the Taylors confronted their son about the crime.
Hamm allegedly told investigators he stood outside the victims’ home on the night of the murder, while Taylor and Wieneke went inside.
According to court documents, security video from a nearby car wash shows the three men washing Kaleb Taylor’s truck after the murder. Prosecutors say Wieneke also washed his feet and a long bar investigators believe may have been the murder weapon.
Also on Monday, the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office announced that they had located a person of interest in the case. They said Andrew Nam Duncan was arrested at a Helena residence Sunday night. He is being held on a petition to revoke and a warrant for felony theft charges. He is also facing a misdemeanor charge for criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.
The sheriff’s office announced Duncan was a person of interest last week, but he has not been named a suspect in the murders.
Duncan did not appear in court Monday. Two other people, Kevin Matthew Finley and Deeanna Petersen Wright, did appear, on charges that they helped hide Duncan from law enforcement, knowing that he had a warrant for his arrest. Both were charged with felony obstruction of justice.
