Friling Hadley

A Minot man who pleaded guilty in the Dec. 17, 2024, murder of his wife has been sentenced to serve 30 years with The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Friling Hadley, 36, appeared in North Central District Court on Friday, Sept. 26, for his sentencing hearing. Hadley entered a change of plea to the Class AA felony murder count on April 11.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Minot Police responded to a northwest Minot apartment after receiving a report of an unresponsive female at 12:22 a.m. on Tuesday. Officers arrived on scene and discovered a man performing CPR on the victim. The man, who identified himself as the victim’s brother-in-law, said Hadley was a household family member to the victim and was supposed to be waiting outside to meet the responding officers.

The brother-in-law told investigators he and his mother-in-law had gone to the apartment after Hadley contacted them and said the victim was not breathing. He said Hadley told them the victim had stopped breathing and fell out of a chair onto the floor, but when he arrived, he started performing CPR while Hadley watched.

Responding officers observed marks on the victim that were indicative of manual strangulation and scratch marks and broken fingernails.

Hadley reportedly fled the scene and was arrested after being tracked down by a K-9 unit.

District Judge Gary Lee sentenced Hadley to 50 years with the DOCR, with 20 years suspended after the completion of five years of supervised probation. Hadley will have to serve 85% of the sentence before he can be considered for release. He was given credit for 284 days already served.

Hadley was ordered to have no contact with any member of the victim’s family or with his and the victim’s child. He also was assessed $125 in court fines and fees and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution.