A Montana man has been sentenced to 140 years in prison after killing his wife and her suspected lover.
Kraig Walter Benson shot and killed his wife Jenny Benson and bartender Logan Gardner at the Four Aces Bar in Superior, Mont., on Aug. 27, 2023. He was sentenced on two counts of deliberate homicide on Friday, Jan. 3, NBC Montana, KRTV and Law & Crime reported.
Benson was found guilty by a Ravalli County jury in October 2024. He received 60 years for each count and an additional 10 years for using a weapon in a violent crime, which he will serve at Montana State Prison, according to the reports.
In surveillance footage from the incident, obtained by the outlets, Kraig and Jenny, 49, can be seen sitting at a table together at the Four Aces Bar, before Kraig leaves to smoke a cigarette outside. Taking a gun from his wife’s Chevrolet Tahoe, he then returns to see Jenny sitting on a stool by the bar, where Garner, 43, was bartending.
Kraig next pulls out the gun from his waistband and shoots Jenny in the head, before firing at Gardner. As he retreats to the door, he shoots his wife a second time as she lies on the floor, and Gardner three more times, before leaving the gun on the bar and exiting in his wife’s car.
Jenny died in the hospital, while Gardner died at the scene, according to KRTV.
On Aug. 28, 2023, Kraig was arrested after he was caught driving his wife’s car on a Missoula County highway, Law and Crime and KRTV reported.
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Kraig said during cross-examination, per Law and Crime, “[Jenny] told me that she was not going to go home with me, that she was going to go home with Logan. I went outside, and I’m pretty sure that’s why I went outside … and was going back into the bar and having the last conversation.”
He reportedly claimed in court this month that he had no recollection of what occurred afterward.
In a statement before being sentenced, Kraig apologized. “I too lost my best friend that night … the love of my life. Shooting two people in a bar, with witnesses, are not actions with memory, having no memory is no excuse,” he said, per NBC Montana.
Agent Ward with the Division of Criminal Investigation testified that recent phone calls made by Kraig in jail mentioned him wanting to take a paternity test for his two daughters shared with Jenny, per NBC Montana.
Jenny’s daughter Paige called Kraig “narcissistic” in a statement via Zoom in court. Jenny’s father, Terry Savage, added while crying in court, “Jenny was my only daughter, the joy of my life, my best friend,” the outlet reported.
The Mineral County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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