After a decade, a prominent South Dakota murder case finally closes. The 2015 murder of Jessica Rehfeld took years to investigate and prosecute. Now, the final accused party is receiving a life sentence.
Richard Hirth, 44, will serve the rest of his life in the South Dakota State Penitentiary for his role in the now decade-old murder-for-hire plot that left 22-year-old Jessica Rehfeld dead.
The last of five to be sentenced in the case, it is believed Hirth was the hand that fatally stabbed the young woman. Prosecutors say that plan was premeditated and orchestrated by Rehfeld’s former boyfriend, Jonathan Klinetobe.
Klinetobe, who Rehfeld had received a protection order for following repeated threats to her safety, claimed to have a bounty from a biker gang to kill her. Court documents say Hirth ultimately took the bait, stabbing Rehfeld to death on a remote service road in the Black Hills and burying the body in a shallow grave near the community of Rockerville.
On Monday, Hirth entered a guilty plea to aiding and abetting first-degree manslaughter.
In exchange for that plea, the state dropped the initial first-degree murder charge that could have resulted in the death penalty.
In turn, Judge Heidi Linngren served Hirth with the maximum sentence — life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Many of the perpetrators in the case have faced similar results. Klinetobe was sentenced to life without parole while David Schneider, who drove the car, received 75 years.
Two men accused of moving the body to disrupt the investigation, Garland Brown and Michael Frye, were sentenced to four and five years respectively. Now, Hirth’s sentencing marks the end of the legal saga.
Despite the manslaughter charge, prosecutors say they are happy with the resulting sentencing, even if not a formal first-degree murder. They say the manslaughter charge offers a chance for closure to the victim and surviving family.
“Justice did not come quickly. It did not come easily. But it came,” Assistant Chief Deputy States Attorney Kelsey Blair said. “And that is why we do this work, to fight for what’s right, to stand up for victims, to make our community safer, and to ensure that every life taken is honored with accountability.”