News
Individuals arrested in Williston murder case
Scott Wagar
07/16/2013
Five individuals this past week were charged in connection with Jack Sjol’s death.
According to Diane Sjol, sister-in-law to Jack Sjol and the director of the nursing program at Dakota College at Bottineau, three of five individuals who were arrested in the case are believed to have conspired to murder Sjol, two individuals allowed Sjol’s body to be buried on their property and one woman held information from investigators.
In May, Ryan Lee Stensaker, 33 years old, was arrested for the murder of Sjol, a Class AA felony, and is currently in the Williams County Jail.
Last week, Jeremy Weyrauch, 31, of Williston, and Ronald Gibbons, 27, from the state of Washington, were arrested for Sjol’s killing and were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, a Class AA felony.
Diane Sjol stated that court records show that three men agreed to kill her bother-in-law. As to why the men wanted Sjol dead, Sjol said it is still a mystery to the family.
On Tuesday, Northwest Judicial District Judge Joshua Rustad set Weyrauch’s bail at $1 million cash or bond, while extradition papers were filed in the state of Washington for Gibbons, who was returned to Washington after that state requested that Gibbons be extradited from North Dakota on a charge of domestic violence. Once Weyrauch serves out his sentence in Washington he will be returned back to North Dakota to face the charge against him.
Rustad also set a $25,000 bail of cash or bond for Issac Steen, 31, and 29-year-old Amber Jensen for hindering law enforcement agents in their investigation of Sjol’s murder.
When Weyrauch, Gibbons, Steen and Jensen were being placed under arrest last week, an arrest warrant was issued for 31-year-old Teresa Steen, Issac’s sister, for facilitation of Sjol’s death. She turned herself in to local authorities in Williston on Tuesday evening, July 9.
The Steens have been accused of allowing Sjol’s body to be buried in a garbage dump site on their property.
Jack Sjol disappeared in April and was later found dead on the Steens’ property. According to the state’s medical examiner report, Sjol’s death was a homicide and that he died from gunshot wounds to the head and chest from a .300 caliber rifle. The report also states that Sjol was shot on his own ranch and moved to the dump ground he was discovered in.
For the Sjol family, Diane Sjol stated that the family is pleased to see the arrests that were made last week, but that they are still trying to come to grips with the death of Jack.
“We have been in close contact with the detective in the case. The investigator in charge of the case said that they are interviewing the suspects in the case and are trying to confirm a motive,” Diane Sjol said. “We don’t know what the motive is.”
“However, we are very happy that they have arrested the people involved and will be glad to get to the bottom of this,” Diane Sjol added. “It is very difficult to grieve when we are in the middle of trying to figure this out.”