Convicted killer's gun found in Clark Fork River

For a case that dragged on for nearly three years, there’s maybe little surprise the saga of convicted murderer Danielle Wood continues with the recent discovery of the murder weapon.

Wood, of Polson, is serving a 100-year sentence in the Montana State Women’s Prison after she was convicted of murdering Matthew LaFriniere on Jan. 29.

According to court documents, a man found a handgun in the Clark Fork River at the Flat Iron fishing access site, 2 miles west of Thompson Falls. The serial number on the gun matched one bought by Wood a few months before the shooting death of LaFriniere.

LaFriniere and Wood had a child together and prosecutors alleged during her murder trial earlier this year that ongoing custody issues led her to kill him.

Wood was convicted of shooting LaFriniere three times with a .38 caliber revolver. During the jury trial, prosecutors claimed Wood used a “burner” cellphone to try and lead investigators away from suspecting her.

Now, Daniel Guzynski, an assistant attorney general for the state who led the prosecution of Wood, wants to have ballistic tests done to see if a bullet removed from LaFriniere’s body was fired from the gun found in the river.

At the time of Wood’s conviction, Guzynski said the case was challenging in that the firearm used was never found.

But now it appears there will be at least an opportunity to see if the bullet recovered from LaFriniere was fired from the gun bought by Wood.

Guzynski filed the motion to do tests on the bullet and gun July 20.

District Court Judge Deborah “Kim” Christopher first must make a ruling on the motion. According to Guzynski, the defense counsel for Wood has no objection to the testing.

LaFriniere was found dead at his home in Thompson Falls on May 3, 2018, by a coworker after he didn’t come to work that day.

Wood was arrested on March 20, 2019, and charged with deliberate homicide.

Wood’s neighbor, Henry Cheeseman, was interviewed by a detective and said he had been in a relationship with Wood three years earlier.

“Cheeseman stated that during that time Wood asked Cheeseman if he would be willing to ‘take out’ Matthew,” court documents said. “Cheeseman stated he took this to mean that Wood was propositioning him to kill Matthew.”

One of LaFriniere’s neighbors told a detective he had observed eight to 10 physical confrontations between Wood and LaFriniere, and that “half of the confrontations became physical and that Wood was ‘the aggressor,’” according to court documents.

State investigators probing the shooting said cellphone records linked Wood to the crime and the jury agreed.

Wood filed a motion for a new trial shortly after her conviction, claiming her attorneys were ineffective and citing the delay of trial by the state Office of the Public Defender.

But Judge Christopher denied the motion, writing in her order “The defendant has filed an appeal with the Montana Supreme Court which will be able to review these issues.”

Wood’s trial was delayed more than once as attorneys defending her left the case for various reasons.

Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 758-4441 or sshindledecker@dailyinterlake.com.