Montana romance novelist charged in slaying of motel owner

WHITE SULFUR SPRINGS, Mont. — A 73-year-old romance novelist has been charged with murder after sheriff’s deputies say she walked into a Montana motel and shot and killed its owner.

Kyle Ann Morrow is charged with one count of deliberate murder for the killing of Gene Gudmundson, longtime owner of the Spa Hot Springs Motel in White Sulfur Springs,

On July 12, sheriff’s deputies responded to the motel at 202 W. Main St. just before 2 p.m. and found Gudmundson dead “due to a single gunshot wound,” according to a news release from the Meagher County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators were able to identify Morrow as the suspected shooter from interviews with witnesses and video surveillance at the location.

A police booking affidavit, obtained by the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, says the Morrow arrived at the motel, asked for Gudmundson, and then shot him dead.

The affidavit says the front desk clerk, who witnessed the incident, told police that “(Morrow) said, ‘He is a son of a b****. I shot him.'” The clerk then went into Gudmundson’s office and found him on the floor surrounded by blood, according to the document.

Sheriff’s deputies apprehended Morrow near her home in White Sulfur Springs, according to the release. Officers from the Montana Highway Patrol and Montana Fish and Game also aided in the arrest.

Following her arrest, deputies said they found a handgun case in her car, the Daily Chronicle reports. A collection of suicide notes, in which Morrow allegedly admits to the killing of Gudmundson, was reportedly found in her home.

Morrow is well-known in the community, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports, and has published three romance novels, one of which allegedly begins with the main character considering whether to kill her abusive husband. Morrow had been a previous employee of the Spa Hot Springs Motel, the outlet reports, and the owners had allowed her to sell her books there.

Murder is a recurring theme in all three of Morrow’s novels, which she wrote under the pen name “C. Pussy Buck,” the outlet says.

Meagher County Sheriff Jon Lopp told the Daily Chronicle that Morrow’s repetitive inclusion of themes of death and violence in her books is just one part of the investigative puzzle.

Morrow is being held in the Broadwater County Detention Center on a $1 million bond, the jail’s website says. Court documents show she is scheduled to be in court on Aug. 11 for a preliminary hearing.

Meanwhile, the Meagher County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information about the shooting to contact its investigators at 406-547-3397.

“Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, Montana Crime Lab, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the Montana Highway Patrol are assisting the Meagher County Sherriff’s Office with the investigation, which is in its very early stages,” the release states. “The Meagher County Sheriff’s Office asks everyone to respect the privacy of the families involved in this tragedy.”

Although Morrow has been charged with a crime, it does not necessarily mean she committed it. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.