Woman linked to homicide case faces bail-jumping charges
Heather Joy Meeker, 25, pleads not guilty to tampering with evidence in Flathead County District Court on Thursday. (Mary Cloud Taylor/Daily Inter Lake)
The Kalispell woman charged in connection with the April murder of Anthony Andrew Walthers has absconded from supervision and now faces additional felony bail-jumping charges after she failed to appear for a court hearing on July 19.
Authorities issued a $10,000 warrant on July 21 for the arrest of Heather Joy Meeker, 25, who is charged with evidence tampering after she allegedly disposed of evidence that could have linked her to the alleged murder.
She has not yet been located, as of Thursday evening.
Meeker pleaded not guilty to felony tampering with evidence in Flathead County District Court in May and was scheduled for a jury trial in August.
If convicted she could face up to 10 years in prison and a maximum $50,000 fine.
Meeder and her boyfriend, Cecil Thomas Rice, 26, were arrested after witnesses allegedly saw Rice shove Walthers off the Old Steel Bridge in Evergreen on April 27 after Walthers allegedly made inappropriate comments about Meeker.
Court documents state that Meeker allegedly threw a backpack belonging to Walthers out of a van after leaving the scene of the alleged crime with Rice.
Walthers’ body was found June 2 floating about 1.5 miles offshore from the mouth of the Flathead River. The determined cause of death was drowning.
Rice pleaded not guilty to the charge of deliberate homicide and is scheduled to stand trial Nov. 27.
Reporter Mary Cloud Taylor can be reached at 758-4459 or mtaylor@dailyinterlake.com.