Christopher Michael Kepler, 54, walked away from a group home at Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs on Sept. 28 and was returned to custody the following day after area residents identified him.
Officials had advised the public not to approach, engage with or try to detain Kepler. He was taken to Montana State Prison on Oct. 2.
Earlier Montana Case
Kepler pleaded guilty, but mentally ill, to negligent homicide and criminal endangerment. Powell County sentenced him in 2022 after revoking suspended portions of an earlier sentence.
The case began with a January 2013 wrong-way crash on Interstate 90 that killed Patricia Graves, 57. Kepler was driving west in the eastbound lane when his vehicle struck a pickup pulling a horse trailer. Benjamin Graves survived the collision.
A blood draw after the crash detected marijuana and methamphetamine. Kepler was initially charged with deliberate homicide and later ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.
In 2014, he received a 40-year sentence, with 30 years suspended.
In early 2017, the Department of Public Health and Human Safety’s Forensic Review Board determined that Kepler had a mental defect but was no longer dangerous while receiving community-based treatment. He was placed on supervised release in March 2017 and allowed to live with his parents.
Four years later, the state sought to revoke the suspended sentence after Kepler entered a recovery facility in Peoria, Arizona, following a traffic incident. He was arrested in July 2021 and returned to Montana five months later.
During the 2022 proceeding, Dr. Bowman Smelko testified that Kepler was stable and posed a low risk to the community. Probation Officer Sean Daly testified that Kepler had extensive violations before absconding and had made an unverified report to law enforcement about threats to a school in Big Sky.
The district court found Kepler dangerous to himself or others and revoked the suspended sentences. The Montana Supreme Court upheld that ruling in August 2024.
Benjamin Graves, Patricia Graves’ husband, said he had observed at least five hearings in the case. “He’s a danger. He’s a danger not only to himself, but to other people when he gets out on the street,” Graves said.