On Thursday, Montana authorities arrested a 52-year-old man and charged him with the first-degree murder in connection with the killing, dismembering, and throat-slitting of his stepsister back in 1999.
Police found the mutilated body of 22-year-old Kimberly Ratliff in a Council Bluffs parking lot. This week, her stepbrother, Matt Kennedy, was named a person of interest in the slaying after important evidence linked him to the case.
Ratliff went missing after leaving her workplace in Omaha. She was likely killed somewhere in the car where police found a large amount of her blood.
The victim’s mother and Kennedy told investigators in 2016 that she was dealing with drug consumers and sellers.
But her biological dad kept blaming Kennedy for Ratliff’s drug addiction and described him as extremely aggressive.
The motive of the killing remains unclear. The suspect is being held in a Montana prison and expected to be extradited to Iowa to face charges pending against him.
