Montana Woman Sentenced to 100 Years for Killing Tattoo Artist in Carjacking

A Montana woman has been charged with homicide after carjacking a tattoo artist and pulling her from a truck. She pleaded guilty and has now been sentenced. In a conversation with People magazine, Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki said, “It was one of those scenarios where just someone’s going home from work and gets murdered.”

In December 2025, Kelsey Jo Staigmiller, 32, pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide and criminal mischief in connection with the death of the 51-year-old Sarah Bailey. On April 21, she was sentenced to 100 years in prison.

Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki said that just after 6 p.m. on May 18, 2025, Bailey was getting into her pickup truck in downtown Great Falls.

At that time, Staigmiller carjacked her by jumping into the passenger seat, and the two immediately got into an altercation. However, “It looked from there that Sarah was willing to retreat pretty soon,” Racki said.

The encounter was captured on surveillance cameras at local businesses in the area. “She was trying to get out,” the attorney said. He added that Staigmiller was trying to push Bailey out of the truck. At one point, Bailey got “hung up in the seatbelt," and Satigmiller “had her by the hair.”

According to Racki, Staigmiller quickly sped off. When the truck took a turn, the victim “kind of swung out, and then when she swung back, she went underneath the truck a little bit, and the back tire of the truck caught her foot — which then pulled her out of the seatbelt, and, of course, under the back tire and under the truck, too.”

Bailey’s body was discovered near an intersection after police were called to the scene. Racki said of the case, “It was an actual case where wrong place, wrong time, completely innocent victim. It was one of those true scenarios where just someone's going home from work and gets murdered. They didn’t know each other before.”

Shannon McNamara-Stanczak, a Bailey tattoo client, told KRTV, “She was generous. She was charitable. She was funny. She had such a love for animals.” Another client, Julie Curtis, said, “She was an incredible human. She was a bright light, and she did not deserve to go this way.”