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Quinterius Chappelle, 24, made his first court appearance Monday
on one count of second-degree murder in the killing of Sahela
Sangrait, 21. The court documents in the case are sealed, but
authorities said Sangrait was killed in August on the Ellsworth
Air Force Base in western South Dakota, where Chappelle was
stationed as an active-duty airman.
Chappelle is being prosecuted in federal court, and court
records show he is being represented by the federal defender's
office. A woman who answered the phone at that office declined
to comment on his behalf. He is being held at the Pennington
County Jail.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said he pleaded not guilty. If
convicted, he could face life in prison.
Chappelle is an aircraft inspection journeyman assigned to the
28th Maintenance Squadron at the Ellsworth base, according to a
statement from the base. He began serving in April 2019.
“First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the
friends and family of Sahela,” Col. Derek Oakley, 28th Bomb Wing
commander, said in a statement. “We hold Airmen accountable for
their actions, and if service members are found in violation of
military or civilian law, they will be punished."
A hiker discovered Sangrait’s body on March 4 near the
Pennington County and Custer County lines, according to a
Facebook post from the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office.
Sangrait was reported missing on Aug. 10, and her remains were
badly decomposed, authorities said. Her cause of death was not
made public.
Sangrait was from Box Elder, South Dakota, where the Ellsworth
base is located. Officials did not share whether Sangrait knew
Chappelle.
According to a missing person poster shared on Facebook,
Sangrait was staying with a friend in Eagle Butte and was going
to return to Box Elder to gather some of her things before
heading to California. It is unknown whether she ever reached
Box Elder.
Sangrait was Native American, according to the poster. There are
59 cases of missing Native Americans in South Dakota and more
than half of them are women, according to the attorney general's
missing persons database. Federal and state task forces were
created to investigate cases of missing and murdered indigenous
people across the country.
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