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Police: Second wife helped plan murder of husband’s first wife

Authorities allege that a 26-year-old Minot woman actively helped her husband plan the murder of his first wife and then helped him clean up after the crime.

Cynthia Louise Wilder is charged in district court in Minot with criminal conspiracy to commit murder, a Class AA felony, and accomplice to escape, a Class C felony. She could face up to life in prison without parole.

Her husband, Richie Edwin Wilder Jr., was sentenced earlier this month to life without parole for stabbing his ex-wife, Angila, 44 times in her bedroom on Nov. 13, 2015. Angila Wilder, 30, was pregnant when she was murdered.

A somber looking Cynthia Wilder, appeared in court via interactive television on Monday, where she told District Court Judge Gary Lee that she did not understand the basis of the charges against her. Ward County Deputy State’s Attorney Kelly Dillon read a summary of the charges and then asked the judge to set bond at $1 million cash or corporate surety. Dillon said the seriousness of the charges warrants it and Cynthia Wilder is a flight risk.

Andrew Schultz, a lawyer who is representing Cynthia Wilder in civil cases, told Lee that the bond request seems excessive. He said he read through the probable cause affidavit and the charges seemed based only on the word of a single confidential informant – a man with whom Cynthia Wilder once had a relationship. Schultz said the state doesn’t appear to have any physical evidence proving Cynthia Wilder’s involvement in the murder.

Judge Lee said he would follow the state’s recommendation and set bond at $1 million because of the seriousness of the charge. Cynthia Wilder then started crying and could be heard sobbing loudly off camera. Lee said Wilder can have a bond review in two days if she can’t make bond. He also set a preliminary hearing for June 29.

According to a probable cause affidavit submitted with the district court, Cynthia Wilder made contact with the old friend via Facebook in March. The man contacted police and said Cynthia Wilder had made some statements that made him think she was involved in the murder. Cynthia Wilder met with the man in person twice last week. She told the man, who had agreed to work with police, that she helped her husband plan the murder. Cynthia Wilder told him she watched Angila Wilder’s house at night so she would know what time Angila Wilder’s live-in boyfriend, Chris Jackson, left for his overnight shift at Wal-Mart. Cynthia Wilder allegedly said her husband told her, “it’s going down tonight,” on the evening of Nov. 12, 2015. She said she watched Richie Wilder Jr. don black clothing and leave their apartment in her Honda Pilot. When her husband returned home that night, Cynthia Wilder helped him clean the car. Investigators later found a spot of Angila Wilder’s blood on the inside passenger door of the Honda Pilot, a spot that had been missed during the cleanup. Richie Wilder Jr. took a shower and, afterwards, he and his wife had sexual intercourse. Richie Wilder Jr. then left the apartment to dispose of the murder weapon and the clothing he wore when he committed the crime.

According to testimony at Richie Wilder Jr.’s murder trial in December, the two children that Richie Wilder Jr. shared with Angila Wilder, a now 12-year-old daughter and a now 6-year-old son, were staying in the apartment with their father and stepmother on the night of the murder. The toddler daughter of Richie Wilder Jr. and Cynthia Wilder was also present in the apartment.

Angila Wilder’s 2-year-old son with Chris Jackson was the only other person present in her home at 519 16th Street NW on the night of the murder. Richie Wilder Jr. murdered Angila Wilder and then apparently locked her bedroom door behind him. The 2-year-old was in another bedroom in the residence. Chris Jackson called police when he came home and discovered that the back door of his residence had been kicked in.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed with the court, Cynthia Wilder told her former partner last week that the murder was not supposed to be a stabbing. She said police never found the knife or the clothes that Richie Wilder Jr. used in the murder. She told him that she and Richie Wilder Jr. had agreed upon a story to tell law enforcement after the murder and she “stuck” with the story.

Cynthia Wilder was also prepared to help her husband escape the Ward County Jail in August 2016, according to the affidavit. She admitted leaving a car wtih a “burner” cell phone under the Third Street Viaduct for Richie to use when he left the jail. Richie Wilder Jr. is said to have used the metal piece from a broom head to chisel away the molding from a window in his cell. Court records show Wilder was caught on security footage disposing of the window molding pieces in his cell’s toilet.

Cynthia Wilder has been an elementary teacher for the Minot Public Schools, teaching kindergarten and second grade at different elementaries during the past two years. According to a profile she wrote a few years ago at google.com, Wilder – formerly known as Cyndi Becker – attended Minot State University and had worked as an aide in the after school CLC program at Roosevelt Elementary during her college years. She also had worked as support staff at Kalix, formerly the Minot Vocational Workshop, for about two years. Cynthia Wilder graduated from MSU with an elementary education degree in May 2015. On her profile, she wrote, “In my free time I like to hang out with friends, go to the movies, and relax with my husband.” Photos on the profile show Cynthia Wilder, her husband Richie Wilder Jr., and the children.

During the trial, Cynthia Wilder told a local news station that she had been caring for Wilder’s children for the past year and expected the children to continue staying with her. Richie Wilder Jr. had adopted Angila Wilder’s daughter from a previous relationship and had a son with her. They shared custody of the children but had a contentious relationship. Richie Wilder Jr. had been convicted of domestic violence for assaulting his ex-wife. During the trial, a statement was played in which Richie Wilder Jr. claimed Angila had told their daughter that she could have Chris Jackson adopt her someday and would never have to see him again. The girl had told Richie Wilder Jr. shortly before the murder that she didn’t know which of her parents to believe. Richie Wilder Jr. and Angila Wilder had been instructed by a judge to communicate only via email and text. Shortly before she was murdered, Angila Wilder had sent her ex-husband an email with a link to an article about narcissistic fathers.

Judge Gary Lee ordered on May 3 that Richie Wilder Jr. never again have contact with his children with Angila Wilder.

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