Inset, left to right: Christopher B. Foiles (Bonneville County Jail) and Megan Ashley Stedman (Bozeman Police Dept.). Background: The RV where Foiles killed Stedman (BPD).
A 44-year-old man in Montana will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his girlfriend, fatally stabbing the 34-year-old victim in the neck and chest nearly two years ago.
Gallatin County District Judge Rienne McElyea on Tuesday ordered Christopher Brandon Foiles to serve the maximum sentence of 60 years in a state correctional facility for the 2023 slaying of Megan Ashley Stedman, court records show. McElyea handed down the sentence after Foiles reached a deal with prosecutors in October and pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree deliberate homicide.
During Tuesday”s sentencing hearing, Stedman’s 16-year-old daughter read an emotional victim impact statement, imploring the judge to impose the maximum sentence on Foiles.
“I’ve had dreams about this courtroom. I wake up in like a sweat, because it’s just so much — but it’s finally the end of it, and I don’t have to deal with it anymore,” she said, according to a report from Bozeman CBS affiliate KBZK. “I have to go on without her, and it hurts. I know that she’s still here with me, spiritually, just not physically.”
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When given the opportunity to address the court, Foiles expressed regret for his heinous actions.
“Megan did not deserve what I did to her. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about Megan,” he reportedly said.
As Law&Crime previously reported, authorities in Montana had been searching for Stedman in January 2024 and had linked her to a 1973 RV that was later located in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Shortly after local police knocked on the RV door, Foiles exited the vehicle.
“I am Chris Foiles,” he said, according to a probable cause affidavit. “I killed my girlfriend. She is in the RV.”
Her body was recovered from the back of the RV.
In an interview with detectives, Foiles admitted to killing Stedman several weeks before his arrest while they were parked at a Walmart in Bozeman, Montana. He said they got into an argument and, afraid she was going to call the police because of a no-contact court order between them, he stabbed her in the neck and chest with a kitchen knife, intending to kill her.
Foiles exited the RV but soon returned to finish the killing — stabbing Stedman several times in the upper back until she stopped moving.
Surveillance footage from the Walmart showed Foiles and Stedman both entering the Walmart on Dec. 14, 2023, which was the last time she was seen alive. The following day, Foiles made a series of suspicious purchases.
“On December 15, 2023, the Defendant is seen entering Walmart alone,” authorities wrote in a probable cause affidavit. “The Defendant makes various purchases including, but not limited to, an area rug, paper towels, pliers/box cutter combination, zip lock bags, bleach/cleaner, spray paint, stickers, duct tape, a lock, bolt cutters, a hack saw, drywall saw, gorilla grip gloves, paracord, 55-gallon contractor bags, and various food and hardware items.”
Foiles had faced a slew of additional charges, including aggravated animal cruelty for killing Stedman’s dog, but they were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea.
