Former girlfriend takes stand in Thomas trial

Heather Henson took the stand Wednesday in Stephen Thomas’ murder trial, recounting the bizarre events that led the two teenagers to shoot to death 67-year-old Larry Kingsley last July at a remote campground outside Libby.

Henson told the defense that though she still cared for Thomas, she would not lie for him on the stand.

“You’re asking me if I’d lie to protect Stephen?” Henson said to defense attorney Ann German. “No, because the truth is easier to tell. What we did, we did in self-defense, so why should we need to hide it?”

Henson claimed that she and Thomas were held captive at a Sylvan Lake campground 40 miles south of Libby by a mentally unstable man. Henson said that Kingsley had become increasingly possessive of her and threatening toward Thomas.

Henson’s testimony, though tweaked in places, was generally consistent with recorded police interviews after her arrest and with testimony during her December trial. Henson was convicted of attempted mitigated deliberate homicide and sentenced to five years in prison for her part in Kingsley’s death.

Thomas listened solemnly as his former girlfriend recounted how Kingsley showed up in their lives only four days before they shot him. Kingsley gave Henson $2,300 in cash, along with marijuana, prescription pills and alcohol the day he met her, July 8,  2008, as she was hitchhiking to Kalispell from Happys Inn, according to her testimony.

Kingsley took the two homeless teenagers on shopping sprees in Libby and Kalispell – though he primarily spent money on Henson – and provided them with drugs and alcohol.

They stayed with Kingsley in his camper at Sylvan Lake and allowed him to watch them have sex, Henson said, but after she had a sexual encounter with Kingsley, he began to act more bizarre and possessive.

Henson and Thomas had safely separated from Kingsley the day of his murder, July 12, but opted to return to his campsite – against a sheriff deputy’s advice – to get their belongings.

William “Sterling” Goodrich testified during Henson’s trial that he gave the two a ride from Libby to Kingsley’s camp the night of the murder. Goodrich said that Kingsley would not allow him to leave with the teenagers.

Though Kingsley was drunk and sitting in a camp chair with his eyes closed when the two opened fire on him, he posed a threat, Henson testified. Kingsley had scared off neighboring campers the day before, held a knife to Thomas’ throat that night and possessed a small arsenal of loaded guns, said Henson.

“He told me that I saved 200 hundred people’s lives by coming back that night,” Henson said. “He said he would have hunted me down, and he had all his guns in his truck and they were all loaded.”

Goodrich is expected to be called as a witness by the defense. The trial began Monday and was scheduled to last seven days.