Photo courtesy of Heather Fredenberg
Heather and Dan Fredeberg had a whirlwind marriage. Heather watched the man she was seeing shoot and kill Dan three days before their second wedding anniversary.
“I’m not scared. I have a gun.” Brice Harper fatally shot the unarmed husband of the woman he was seeing. Montana law made sure he was never charged. by Jamie Rogers
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arlier in the day of Sept. 22, 2012, Dan and Heather Fredenberg were once again feeling in love. Their second wedding anniversary was three days away, and though their first two years of marriage were turbulent, the couple woke up that day gushing. From the morning shift at the drive-thru coffee hut where she worked, Heather texted Dan: “Hey baby have i told you lately how much i love you?!...Thank you for always being by my side.!” Dan received the text message at the shop where he refurbished classic cars for resale. That day he was prepping a 1978 Z28 Camaro for a new engine. He responded, “Thank u beautiful. I wish u knew how deeply I love u even though i cant always show it.”
They made plans to meet after Heather got off work to lower the engine into the Camaro’s front end. Even if things had happened differently that night, there is reason to believe their marriage would still be over. Members of Dan’s family say their union was on an inexorable path toward dissolution. Heather had already disclosed her relationship with another man to Dan, and Dan had expressed to his father that things were coming apart. But what happened on and in the weeks following the night of Sept. 22 make up the sort of tragedy that transcends reason. Hours after exchanging text messages, Dan would say his final words to Heather as he crumpled to the floor of an empty garage: “Call 911.”
[14] Missoula Independent • January 31 – February 7, 2013
Six days later, Sept. 28, Flathead County issued Dan’s death certificate. It read: “Date of Birth: 09/19/72; Spouse: Heather Fredenberg; Manner of Death: Homicide; Date and Time of Injury: September 22, 2012 20:38 Military; Describe How Injury Occurred: Victim was shot multiple times by his wife’s boyfriend.” On Oct. 9, Flathead County Prosecutor Ed Corrigan issued a press release. Corrigan concluded: “I am acutely aware that the Fredenberg family and others believe this matter should be presented to a jury and strongly disagree with the position I am taking. I am, however, ethically precluded from charging an individual with an offense, particularly Deliberate Homicide, when I do not believe the ev-
idence and the law will support a conviction. “For these reasons, I am declining to charge Brice Harper with Deliberate or Mitigated Homicide.” In his decision, Corrigan invoked a law updated in 2009 by the Montana State Legislature often referred to as the Castle Doctrine. The law gives a homeowner the right to use lethal force if the individual “reasonably believes” force will “terminate the other’s unlawful entry into or attack upon an occupied structure.” The “wife’s boyfriend,” Brice Harper, was released from police custody 10 hours after fatally shooting an unarmed Dan. By the time an ambulance arrived, Dan lay in a pool of blood on the concrete floor of Harper’s garage, already dying.