The mother of a 27-year-old Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to aiding her son hide the slain body of his father who went missing in 2013.
Connie Lou Herbst and Austin James Herbst both confessed to killing Gary Albert Herbst, 57, whose skeletal remains were discovered in Barron County, Wisconsin.
On Dec. 3, 2017, a resident’s dog bought Herbst’s skull to its owner leading detectives to the rest of the remains.
“When he turned 17 or 18, things got a lot more tense between his mother and father,” police said adding that the family’s patriarch was abusive towards Connie and neighbors, and would curse at people and call the police for every single occurrence.
“He intervened many times and basically became his mother’s protector.”
Last June, Austin received a merciful sentence of 7.75 years behind bars and 4.75 years on supervised release after he pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder.
“To this day, I believe he was going to kill her that night,” Austin said. “If I would have stood aside, my mom would be dead. I knew what I did and why I did it, and to this day I am confident that my decisions were justified.”
