An aviator was accused of second degree murder in relation to the murder of a woman at a base of the Air Force, authorities said.
Quinterrius Chappelle, 24, is accused of killing Sahela Sangrait, 21, whose body was found on March 4, months after it disappeared last year, said the Sheriff’s office of Pennington County on Facebook on Saturday.
The deputies discovered the “bad decomponed body” of bleeding after a hiker informed having found the remains, Sheriff’s office said.
Chappelle, an active duty aviator parked at the Ellsworth Air Force base in southern South Dakota, is accused of killing bleeding at the base, according to the Sheriff’s office. It was reported as missing on August 10.
It was not clear immediately what was the relationship between Chappelle and Bleeding.
The Ellsworth Air Force base did not immediately respond to a phone call or email looking for comments on Sunday night. The Air Force also did not respond to a phone call for comments.
A base spokesman told the New York Times that Chappelle was an aircraft inspection officer assigned to the 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squad and who entered the service on April 30, 2019.
Military officers were working with the Local Police in the investigation, Ellsworth, Colonel Derek Oakley, told the newspaper.
“We respond to aviators for their actions, and if the members of the service are in violation of military or civil law, they will be punished,” he said, according to The Times.
A poster of missing people shared on Facebook indicated that Sangrait was a native American.
It was finally known for staying with a friend in Eagle Butte, about 160 miles northeast of the Air Force base, according to the poster. Sangrait left the friend’s house and said I was going to box Elder, where she was, to get some belongings before going to a planned trip to California.
It is not clear when he traveled to Box Elder, which limits with the Ellsworth Air Force base, or if he did it there.
Chappelle is stopped in Pennington County prison. It was arrested on Friday and no bonus was established, according to prison records.
It was not clear immediately if Chappelle had legal representation, and a request for information sent to jail on Sunday night was not immediately returned.
The United States Prosecutor’s Office for South Dakota will process the case, according to the Sheriff’s office. The United States prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to a comment request on Sunday night.
The investigation included the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, the Rapid City Police Department, the Southern Dakota Criminal Investigation Division, the Office of Missing and murdered Indigenous Affairs, the FBI and the Office of Special Investigations of the Air Force.
“This investigation has been an excellent collaboration of the Local, State and Federal Law Agencies in our area,” said the Sheriff’s office.
The office asked anyone with information about Bleeding’s murder to contact the FBI Rapid City office.
