Whitefish stabbing victim dies, wife faces homicide charge

A Whitefish man who was stabbed in the heart last month has died and his wife will now be charged with homicide.

Chad Newton had been in the intensive care unit at Kalispell Regional Medical Center since Nov. 25 when he was stabbed in the left side of his chest.

He was reportedly taken off life support Saturday and died Sunday evening.

His wife, AnnMari Newton, 39, was released from jail last week after posting $25,000 bond. She has pleaded not guilty to felony assault with a weapon and her trial was set for April 28.

Deputy County Attorney Travis Ahner says now that Chad Newton has died, some type of homicide charge will be filed against AnnMari, likely this week.

“We will be filing a homicide type charge, but right now we don’t know what that charge will be,” Ahner told the Pilot on Monday morning.

On Dec. 27, District Judge Heidi Ulbricht granted Chad Newton’s father, Billey Newton, the authority to make all medical decisions for his son, including removing him from life support.

A neurologist who testified at the guardianship hearing last week said the chance of 37-year-old Chad Newton making a meaningful recovery was zero.

Another doctor said Newton’s condition had deteriorated and he was unable to breathe on his own.

During AnnMari’s Dec. 20 bond hearing, a Whitefish neighbor and a friend from Alaska testified that Chad Newton was in a downward spiral of alcohol and anger issues, had previously injured his wife and had threatened to kill her and himself.

Bonnie Closson testified that police had been called to the Newton house twice recently and on one occasion, the couple’s son ran over to her house and said, “My dad is trying to kill my mother.”

Other revelations at that hearing included the presence of an adult witness to the crime who reportedly told law enforcement that AnnMari and Chad had each been armed with a knife before she stabbed him.

Ahner said a prosecution witness reported the couple had been involved in mutual fighting involving a significant amount of drinking, and the witness “saw AnnMari in a combative stance holding a knife.”

Court documents allege AnnMari was holding a knife when she and her husband got into an argument in the kitchen of their home on O’Brien Avenue.

AnnMari later allegedly told police that she then “thrust the knife toward Chad and stabbed him,” the document states.

She then called 911. When officers arrived, they found her still on the phone with a dispatcher. She directed them to the kitchen, where they found Chad Newton on the floor, unresponsive and bleeding from the left side of his chest.

The couple’s two children were at home at the time of the incident. They were placed in the care of a family friend at the direction of Child Protective Services.

Newton, a citizen of Sweden, had to turn over her passport as a condition of her release.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report