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		</div><h6><span style="color:#1c0202;"><strong>Russell Bertram, 64, police chief in Harrisburg was found to have fatally shot his pregnant fiancée out of jealousy, in 2009</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color:#1c0202;"><strong>Bertram collected $920,000 in insurance benefits after he murdered 26-year-old Leonila Stickney, the policy was taken out a few months before Stickney&#8217;s death in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.<br />
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<h6><span style="color:#1c0202;"><strong>In finding him guilty of first-degree murder, jurors ruled jealousy was a factor in the killing because Bertram had undergone a vasectomy and knew the child Stickney was expecting couldn&#8217;t be his.<br />
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<h6><span style="color:#1c0202;"><strong>He was sentenced to life in prison without parole, Tuesday </strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color:#1c0202;"><strong>After Leonila&#8217;s death, Bertram married her sister, Melliza Del Balle, who filed for divorce after Bertram&#8217;s arrest</strong></span></h6>
<h6><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-104476" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/former-south-dakota-police-chief-russell-bertram4.png" alt="Former South Dakota police chief Russell Bertram4.png" width="640" height="360" /><br />
<strong>Russell Bertram sentenced to life in prison without parole in the 2009 slaying of his pregnant fiancée</strong></h6>
<p>A former Harrisburg, South Dakota police chief has been given a life in prison without parole in the 2009 slaying of his pregnant fiancée.<br />
Russell Bertram, 64, the one-time top cop in Harrisburg, was found to have fatally shot his pregnant fiancée out of jealousy and to collect $900,000 in insurance benefits. A jury in Burke had found him guilty of first-degree on Sept. 26 after a two-week jury trial in Burke, and he was sentenced to life, Tuesday.<br />
He was convicted of killing 26-year-old Leonila Stickney, of Bridgewater, Souix Falls, during a hunting trip near Gregory, on Oct. 24, 2009,<br />
According to the court papers, Stickney pregnant by another man, prosecutors said jealousy was one of Bertram’s motives for murder.<br />
Bertram, then 57, had told authorities that he was putting his shotgun away after a hunting trip when the weapon fired accidentally, striking Stickney in the abdomen and investigators initially ruled her death an accident.<br />
That is, until Leonila’s estranged husband, David Stickney, asked the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office to reopen the case during a legal suit surrounding $920,000 in life insurance policies, which named Bertram as the beneficiary and were taken out a few months before Leonila’s death.</p>
<h6><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-104413" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/former-south-dakota-police-chief-russell-bertram2.jpg" alt="Former South Dakota police chief Russell Bertram2.jpg" width="860" height="484" /><br />
<strong>Russell Bertram had undergone a vasectomy and knew the child <strong>his pregnant fiancée</strong> was expecting couldn&#8217;t be his</strong></h6>
<p>David Stickney received a letter from a life insurance company that was processing a claim from Bertram. David Stickney contacted authorities after getting the letter, setting in motion an investigation that led to a murder charge. Bertram, a former Colome police officer and Harrisburg police chief, was then charged with murder in December 2015.<br />
Prosecutors argued that jealousy was a factor in the killing because Bertram had undergone a vasectomy and knew the child Stickney was expecting couldn&#8217;t be his.<br />
Speaking with <a href="http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/news/local/4164909-former-police-chief-sentenced-life-prison-murder" target="_blank">the Republic</a>, Assistant Attorney General Paul Swedlund said the police chief-turned-construction worker saw himself as being above the law: &#8220;He was an officer of the law, and his badge became a shield,&#8221; Swedlund said.<br />
&#8220;It’s no surprise he developed a sense of impunity that led him to believe he could commit and get away with murder.&#8221;<br />
Swedlund cited that the thrice married Bertram’s ex-wives, saying he was jealous and abusive to each of them, and used his status as a police officer to show he was above the law.<br />
After Leonila Stickney&#8217;s death, Bertram married her sister, Melliza Del Balle. The marriage collapsed after his arrest, and she filed for divorce citing &#8220;extreme cruelty.&#8221;<br />
&#8220;Justice prevailed, but I’m also saddened to find out that my ex-husband is responsible for her death,&#8221; Del Balle said.</p>

Former Harrisburg, SD police chief sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder of pregnant fiancée
