Markus Kaarma appears on court video
A Missoula man who baited his open garage with his wife’s purse and told his hairstylist that he was waiting up nights to “shoot some [fudging] kid” has been charged with deliberate homicide in the death of Diren Dede, 17. Dede was an exchange student at Big Sky High School. According to Kaarma’s wife, Janelle Pflager, the couple set up motion detectors and a surveillance camera in their garage in the hopes of catching burglars who had previously stolen phones and credit cards. They left the garage door open and left Pflager’s purse visible inside “so they would take it.” When the motion sensors went off late Sunday night, Kaarma fired four times with a shotgun into the darkened garage, in what police called a “sweep pattern.” He aimed high so as not to hit his car.