Man, Aunt Indicted In Torture Slaying

A legally blind man was indicted Tuesday for murdering a man who authorities say was bound, gagged and tortured with a branding iron.

Marvin Lee Shephard, 32, of Keller, Wash., was indicted by a U.S. District Court grand jury on a charge of first-degree murder on an Indian reservation.

Also indicted was Dorothy Reihart of Keller, who is Shephard’s aunt. She is accused of being an accessory after the fact.

The two are accused of involvement in the April 15 torture-strangulation of Peter Swimpton, 65, of Keller, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Ohms.

A third suspect in the murder, Oliver “OJ” Reihart, 37, faces a state charge of first-degree murder in Ferry County.

Swimpton’s decomposed body was recovered in late June from a shallow grave in a ravine on Meadow Creek Road, near Keller, on the Colville Indian Reservation.

Colville Tribal Police began an investigation in mid-May after receiving a report that an acquaintance had bragged about murdering Swimpton.

Ohms said Shephard and Dorothy Reihart were federally indicted because they are tribal members. The U.S. government has jurisdiction in murder cases committed on Indian reservations.

, DataTimes