Marine Corps 1st Lt. Curtis Lee Krueger was convicted Sept. 10 for murdering a man who was having sex with his girlfriend, according to court documents.
Krueger was a communications officer with Combat Logistics Battalion 7, based out of Twentynine Palms, California, when the body of 54-year-old Henry Stange was found half buried by the side of the road in Joshua Tree National Park on June 2, 2018, Marine Corps Times reported in 2018.
Stange had multiple skull fractures and the coroner determined the death was caused by homicidal violence, Marine Corps Times previously reported.
The Marine was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and of murder, according to court documents.
Stange, a divorced man with two kids living in Murrieta, California, had a sexual relationship with then 27-year-old Ashlie Stapp, Marine Corps Times previously reported. Stapp was dating Krueger at the time of the murder and the two lived together in a trailer park outside the Marine Corps base in Twentynine Palms.
Prosecutors argued that Stapp’s and Stange’s relationship was fueled by prescription drugs both were dependent on, The Press-Enterprise reported.
In an effort to end the relationship, Krueger threatened and assaulted Stange before he eventually killed the man on May 24, 2018, the paper reported.
Krueger and Stapp worked together to clean up the crime scene and bury Stange in the desert.
In 2019 Stapp pleaded guilty to accessory in a felony and was sentenced to 10 months in jail and three years of probation, the Press-Enterprise reported.
Krueger will be sentenced on Oct. 16, according to court documents.
His sentence could be 16 years to life in prison, John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, told the Press-Enterprise.
