Richie Wilder Jr.

Richie Wilder Jr. told police in March that he witnessed his ex-wife’s new boyfriend stab her to death in their bedroom on the night of Nov. 13, 2015. However, police say that couldn’t have happened; there is time-stamped video footage from Walmart showing that murder victim Angila Wilder’s boyfriend Chris Jackson was working at the store at the time of the murder.

On the third day of the Wilder murder trial in district court in Minot, the state played an hour-long recorded interview for the jury in which Wilder went into great detail when he fingered Jackson as the killer of Angila Wilder.

Richie Wilder claimed that Chris Jackson had approached him in early November 2015 and asked him to help catch Angila Wilder in the act of cheating on him with another man. Jackson allegedly wanted to use that evidence to get full custody of his 2-year-old son with Angila Wilder. In return for Wilder’s help,  Jackson allegedly gave him photos proving that Angila Wilder had taken her two children with Wilder out of state in violation of their custody agreement and offered to help Wilder get full custody of his son and daughter with Angila.

Wilder told police that Chris Jackson called him early on the morning of Nov. 13 to tell him Angila Wilder was with a strange man at their house. Wilder said he went to pick up Jackson from his job at Walmart and the two men drove to Angila Wilder’s house. They went up the stairs to Jackson and Angila’s bedroom and saw two figures in the bed. Angila Wilder was alone in the bed; the other form turned out to be a stuffed body pillow. Richie Wilder Jr.  claimed that Chris Jackson attacked Angila Wilder and he eventually realized that Jackson was stabbing her violently while Angila Wilder yelled. Afterwards, Jackson allegedly threatened to kill Richie Wilder’s new wife and their toddler daughter if Wilder reported the crime to police.

Richie Wilder told police that he drove Chris Jackson back to Walmart and then went home and stayed silent about what had transpired. Wilder claimed he did not tell police what had happened during an interview the day of Angila Wilder’s murder because he does not trust police and because he was still afraid of what Jackson might do.

Police then told Richie Wilder Jr. that Chris Jackson has an alibi for the time of the murder. They do believe, however, that Richie Wilder was at the scene of the crime because he gave details about the crime and the crime scene.

Later Wednesday afternoon, Walmart personnel testified that Chris Jackson was in the Walmart building or in the Walmart parking lot throughout his shift between Nov. 12 and the early morning hours of Nov. 13. Cynthia Gerber of Walmart testified that Jackson never appeared nervous or fidgety and just seemed to be doing his job.

The state also showed the jury video surveillance footage from Longfellow Elementary on the afternoon of Oct. 27, 2015. That is the day and place where Wilder alleges that Jackson met with him and proposed they help each other out with child custody hearings and gather proof that Angila Wilder was supposedly cheating on Jackson with someone else. The video did not appear to show any long conversation between Jackson and Wilder. Instead, since it was the close of school, there were a number of parents and children entering and exiting the building. There were no surveillance cameras outside the school entrance.

Sgt. David Goodman of the Minot Police Department testified Wednesday that he received information from the defense in May that a Paul Madriles might have been involved in the murder. He collected a knife from Madriles but did not change the focus of his investigation after speaking with Madriles.

Madriles, who was Wilder’s cell mate between February and March at the Ward County Jail, testified that he became friendly with Wilder, who helped him study the Bible and worked out with him. Wilder talked with him about the murder and claimed he was being framed and it had something to do with insurance money. According to Madriles, Wilder told him he had gone over to Angila Wilder’s house that night, felt for her pulse and then someone appeared with a knife, marched him out of the room at knifepoint and threatened to kill Wilder’s family. Wilder told Madriles that he thought another inmate at the jail, a burly Native American man, was the killer.

Wilder became interested in a psychology book and told Madriles that he wanted to make up his own psychology test. Madriles testified that the questions on the test asked him where he was from. The state showed him another printed questionnaire with his name on it that asked whether he was a hitman. Madriles said he didn’t fill out that questionnaire and would never have answered questions on it. He said he was in jail on drug charges, is not a hitman, has never killed anyone and had never met Wilder before he was his cell mate. Madriles testified he was not familiar with the Wilder murder case and did not know Chris Jackson or Angila Wilder.

Sgt. Goodman testified that he heard information on Nov. 9, 2016 that Richie Wilder was responsible for the murder. Goodman subsequently interviewed Jeremiah Tallman. Tallman is facing aggravated assault and terrorizing charges for allegedly abusing his wife.

The jury was also shown an interview Richie Wilder Jr. gave police on Nov. 13, 2015, the day of the murder. During that interview, Wilder told police about his often contentious relationship with his ex-wife. Richie Wilder Jr. had twice called Ward County Social Services to accuse Angila Wilder of striking their daughter. The two had battled over custody of their children and their relationship had become so acrimonious that the judge ordered the pair to communicate only via email. Angila Wilder had accused Richie Wilder Jr. of harassment and obtained a restraining order against him that he claimed prevented him from seeing their children for three months, until September 2015. Richie Wilder Jr. claimed that Angila Wilder could be difficult to get along with and, if she didn’t like someone, would threaten to have that person’s children taken away. He said she did this with one of their daughter’s counselors. He said she also called Social Services to report Richie Wilder Jr. for perceived mistreatment of the children. Richie Wilder Jr. told police that Angila Wilder emailed him an article about narcissism on the day before she was murdered and claimed it would help him. Richie Wilder Jr. told police that their children were confused by the strife between their parents and their daughter told him the day before the murder that she didn’t know which of her parents to believe. He said Angila Wilder had told the girl that she could have Jackson adopt her once she turned 18 and she would never have to see Richie Wilder Jr. again.

During the interview in November 2015 and the interview in March 2016, given when he was already in police custody, Richie Wilder Jr. denied killing or hurting his ex-wife. He told police that he knew it would hurt his children to lose their mother.

Angila Wilder was found dead in her home at 519 16th Street NW in Minot on the morning of Nov. 13, 2015.

Dr. William Massello, the state medical examiner, testified Tuesday that Angila Wilder was stabbed 44 times in the face, neck and upper chest. Several of the stab wounds would have been fatal within a few minutes. Massello also testified that Angila Wilder was a few weeks to a month pregnant at the time of her death.

Angila Wilder had two children with Richie Wilder Jr. Richie Wilder Jr. adopted her daughter from a previous relationship and they had a son together who was 4 at the time of the murder. Angila Wilder also had a 2-year-old son with Chris Jackson. Richie Wilder, who worked as a CNA at Trinity, was remarried to Cynthia Wilder, a kindergarten teacher in the Minot Public Schools, and the couple have a young daughter together. Angila and Richie Wilder shared custody of their two children. Each parent had custody for one week and then switched off, with Chris Jackson often making the custody exchange to Richie Wilder at school or another public location. Angila Wilder was a nursing student at Minot State University at the time of her death.

Richie Wilder Jr. has also been charged separately with trying to escape from the Ward County Jail on Aug. 25.

He  faces up to life in prison without parole if he is convicted of murdering his ex-wife.

The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.