Transients say homicide victim sought sex

BUTTE  — Two transients charged in the death of a Butte man at a southwestern Montana campground told investigators they attacked the man after he drunkenly suggested the three of them have sex in his motor home, prosecutors said.

Christopher Lee Stiles, 29, is charged with deliberate homicide in the Aug. 8 death of Mark Robert Mullen at a campsite near Wise River. 

Sandra Lee Ann Cantrell, 49, is charged with accountability to deliberate homicide. 

They remain jailed with bail set at $500,000 each and are scheduled to enter pleas in District Court in Dillon in two weeks.

Cantrell told investigators she stabbed Mullen, 60, in the side with a filet knife after he tried to have sex with her and suggested Stiles join them, court records said. 

Stiles said Cantrell told him to “man up” and he hit Mullen in the head with a stick several times, charging documents said. 

Mullen’s body was found Aug. 9. 

An autopsy found the blows to the head were fatal.

Stiles and Cantrell were arrested in Missoula on Aug. 12 near Mullen’s motorhome. They also face charges of stealing the motor home and tampering with evidence, including hiding Mullen’s body in willow trees near the campsite and burning several items, including camping equipment and personal belongings.