Murder conviction for Montana man who set woman on fire

BILLINGS, Mont. – A federal jury in Montana has found a man guilty of strangling a woman, pouring gasoline on her and setting her on fire. She died more than two months later.

Jurors on Thursday convicted 20-year-old Dimarzio Swade Sanchez of first-degree murder in the June 2016 death of 28-year-old Roylynn Rides Horse.

Sanchez faces a mandatory life sentence at his March 29 sentencing.

Co-defendant Angelica Whiteman pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting first-degree murder for beating and strangling Rides Horse on the Crow Indian Reservation.

Prosecutors say the group was drinking and driving around when Whiteman and Rides Horse got into a fight that continued after Sanchez parked the car.

A passerby found Rides Horse 14 hours after the attack.

She was suffering from third-degree burns and frostbite.