Woman charged for being accomplice in alleged ND murder

A former North Dakota woman has been charged with being an accomplice to murder.

Crystal Herman, who is 38 and lived Warwick, ND before moving to the Twin Cities, is charged with helping her husband, Billy Herman kidnap and kill 36 year-old Amanda Engst in October 2015.

Police arrested the couple in 2015 after a string of armed robberies in North Dakota and Minnesota. They were driving a car owned by Engst, who was listed as missing at the time.

On February 11, 2016, a body found in the Sheyenne River near Warwick was positively identified to be Engst.

Her death was later ruled a homicide.

A criminal complaint accuses Crystal Herman of opening a car door, allowing her husband to strangle Engst, clearing the trunk of the vehicle to allow transportation of Engst and holding a flashlight while Billy Herman beat Engst with a shovel.

Crystal Herman is currently being held on $1 million bond at the Stutsman County Correctional Center.

She'll make her initial appearance in Southeast District Court in New Rockford Friday afternoon.