Crime & Safety
Marine Pleads Not Guilty To Murder Of Murrieta Man
The victim's remains were found in a shallow grave in the Joshua Tree area.
MURRIETA, CA – A U.S. Marine Corps officer accused of killing a Murrieta man pleaded not guilty today to a murder charge.
First Lt. Curtis Lee Krueger, 30, of Twentynine Palms was arrested last week by investigators from the Riverside County District Attorney's Office following an investigation that began six months ago. Krueger was initially arrested in August, along with his girlfriend, on suspicion of murdering 54-year-old Henry Stange of Murrieta.
Prosecutors declined to file a complaint against Krueger in late August, when Murrieta police detectives initially submitted a request for charges.
His girlfriend, 27-year-old Nicole Ashlie Stapp of Joshua Tree, is not named in the criminal complaint lodged against Krueger.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Department assisted the U.S. National Park Service on June 2 in the investigation of partially buried human remains, later identified as Stange's, found in a shallow grave in the Joshua Tree area, the Murrieta Police Department said. An autopsy confirmed Stange was the victim of homicide, the agency said.
Further investigation on June 6 identified Stange's Murrieta residence in the 24000 block of New Clay Street, near Kalmia Street, as a "crime scene" and the case was taken over by the Murrieta police.
Additional evidence, which police did not disclose, was recovered Dec. 7, which led to Krueger's arrest and the Riverside County District Attorney's Office's filing of charges of suspected murder, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder against the marine, who on Dec. 13 was transferred from military custody at Camp Pendleton and booked at the Cois Byrd Detention Center, police said.
The Marine lieutenant was arraigned before Superior Court Judge Kelly Hansen, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Jan. 15 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. Krueger is being held in lieu of $1million bail at the Byrd Detention Center nearby.
The cause of death was listed only as homicidal violence. There was no word on a possible motive, and investigators would not say how Krueger was identified as a suspect.
His first arrest was on Aug. 29, when San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies stopped his vehicle near the south entrance to the Marine Corps' Twentynine Palms Air-Ground Combat Center. Stapp was taken into custody on the campus of Copper Mountain Community College in Joshua Tree that same day.
When prosecutors did not file charges within 48 hours, their window of opportunity closed based on a constitutional guarantee that suspects be entitled to a speedy arraignment after being jailed.
Both Krueger and Stapp were released from custody, with a statement from the D.A.'s office saying that the case remained "under review.''
According to Reid, on Dec. 7, Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents and Murrieta police detectives "recovered additional evidence which corroborated already established case factors.'' Reid said the corroborating evidence -- the nature of which wasn't disclosed -- proved decisive in persuading the D.A.'s office to move forward on the case, culminating in Krueger's second arrest on Dec. 13 at Camp Pendleton.
Marine Lt. Adam Miller, spokesman for the Twentynine Palms public affairs unit, told City News Service in August that Krueger enlisted in April 2005, beginning his career as a private. He continued up through the non-commissioned ranks until he qualified for officer candidate school. He earned his lieutenant's bars in 2015.
Krueger has been a communications officer assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 7, Combat Logistics Regiment 1 at Twentynine Palms, where he's been stationed since June 2017, Miller said.
The D.A.'s office did not immediately respond to City News Service's request for comment regarding whether Stapp remained under investigation.
Neither Krueger nor Stapp has documented prior felony convictions.
--City News Service contributed to this report/Image via Murrieta PD
