Authorities find probable cause in assisted suicide case

The case against a 53-year-old Cheyenne County woman accused of assisting her husband’s suicide will move forward in district court this week.

Two deputies from the Cheyenne County sheriff’s office testified at a preliminary hearing in the case in Cheyenne County court Friday. Deann Kimble, of Sidney is charged with assisting suicide and concealing human skeletal remains, both class four felonies. The court found that the offenses for which the defendant is charged did occur and that there is probable cause that the defendant committed them.

Kimble’s arraignment in Cheyenne County district court is set for April 8 at 2 p.m.

Law enforcement arrested Kimble on March 26 after a citizen tip led to the discovery of Russell Kimble’s body at the igloo storage units by the old Sioux Army Depot. When law enforcement questioned Deann Kimble she informed them that her husband had shot himself with her child sized shotgun inside the igloo in which they were living on March 22.

Deann and Russell Kimble had allegedly entered into an agreement before their marriage with some unusual terms. Deann Kimble could not intervene when her husband decided it was his time to die, hold any sort of service or burial after his death and would have to deal with any backlash, whether legal or from family or the community, according to the agreement.

Both husband and wife believed that Russell Kimble was very ill at the time of the alleged suicide, although he refused to see a doctor. Deann Kimble sat in a van outside the igloo while her husband reportedly shot himself in the face.

Deann Kimble allegedly told law enforcement that she towed her husband’s body down the road a short way, hooked to her van with a cargo strap. She then covered the body with gravel, dirt and fire wood.

The body was located a couple of hundred yards from the storage unit, according to Cheyenne County Sheriff John Jenson.